Zuko sat next to Azula's bed as he watched his sister lay unconscious on the hospital bed. The Fire Lord did everything to erase the image he saw of his sister when he found her. Seeing his sister laying on the ground skinny, pale, unconscious, and almost dead traumatised him. Every time he goes back to it, he would almost cry because what would he do if he saw the corpse of someone he grew up with?
No matter the situation, Zuko would always be there for his sister. Being Aang's friend made him learn that violence is never the answer and is only used for defence reasons as well as forgiving is better than taking another one's life because otherwise, it might kick you in later on in life. From now on, Zuko is going to help Azula recover from her dark side and change her perspective in life and maybe, they could become the siblings that her mother wished for. His first is to remove whatever his old father implemented into Azula and it looked like it was going to be a long one.
Looking at his sister, Zuko heard the door behind open and a caring voice filled his ears. "Not leaving Azula's side I see?"
Zuko turned around to see that Uncle Iroh stepped into the room. A large smile appeared on Zuko's face as he says, "Uncle!"
"Zuko! It's good to see you again!" Iroh received a tight hug from his nephew. He'll never get over those hugs. "I heard that you found Azula during your search for her. How is she doing?"
"I don't know uncle..." Zuko replied now with a worried expression. The thought of his sister came back into his mind. "Seeing her on the ground near dead 3 weeks ago terrified me. I don't think I can handle that again."
"Don't worry, Zuko," Iroh then placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder trying to calm him down. "Think positively here, Zuko. You managed to find your sister and I don't anyone in the Fire Nation would have done it but you."
"Yeah but, I'm just worried about her," Zuko added as he sat down on one of the provided seats next to the hospital beds. "I just can't imagine seeing her like this."
"You know she isn't going to die, right?" Zuko said as he sat down on the chair next to Zuko. "She'll never go down without a fight."
"I know," Zuko replied. "The healers said they did everything to make her recover. Apparently, she was extremely malnourished and dehydrated. Because of that, her body was too weak to support itself causing her to collapse."
"Has Katara tried to heal her? I know she's a great healer from what I heard." Iroh asked.
"No," Zuko replied looking like he wants to change the topic. "I asked her and she denied."
"Why's that?" Iroh looked at Zuko surprised.
"Well, long story short, as you already know, she struck down two people: me and Aang. But what Katara hate about her the most was when she struck down Aang and you know how close Aang and Katar are?. Katara had to use the special water from the Northern Water Tribe and use it on Aang. And you probably know the rest."
"I can see why now," Iroh replied understanding. "Hopefully she comes around."
"Hopefully..." Zuko replied looking at his sister again.
Silence filled the room again but this time, Zuko has a feeling inside of him that something was not resolved. He thought of the time he and Aang were talking to each other as they walk down the palace halls, getting ready to depart. Zuko asked a question.
"Am I making the right decision?"
Aang did give him an answer, but he wanted to make sure he was going in the right direction and what better way to verify it than to ask his uncle himself? Zuko knew that his uncle provides an unlimited amount of wisdom to anyone that asks for help. That is what he loves about his uncle; cares about anyone no matter who they are.
"Hey, uncle?" Zuko asked looking at Iroh.
"Yes, Zuko?" Iroh replied looking away from Azula.
"I have this question that's kinda been bothering me for a while now and I was hoping you can help me with it," Zuko asked.
"Please," Iroh replied. "What is this question that you have in mind?"
"Well, I was wondering what I did was right? Do you think looking for Azula and bringing her back to the Fire Nation was the right idea? Am I risking the safety of my people by bringing Azula back home? What if I'm not there when Azula attacks?"
Iroh laughed at Zuko before replying, "That's what I love about you, Zuko. You put the safety of your people before yourself. That is a sign of a good leader. And to answer your question, of course, you made the right choice! Your reason for bringing back Azula to the palace is because you care about your sister. Right there is what true siblings are about; having each other back no matter what they are and who they are. You might not see it but you're already a step ahead already in your plan, Zuko."
Zuko smiled at his uncle's response. Hearing two of the same response felt like a weight has been removed from his shoulders. Zuko hearing that he was a good leader gave him more determination to do more good in the Fire Nation. Maybe he and Aang can do something together that could unite the world together. So many ideas are coming to him.
"Thank you for your response, uncle!" Zuko replied hugging Iroh again. Where would he be without him? "I was just worried if I was going the wrong direction. I asked Aang the same question a couple of weeks ago and he gave the same answer."
"Well, there you go!" Iroh replied pulling out of the hug. "I'm guessing you're goal is to also change her?"
"Yeah," Zuko replied again looking at his sister still unconscious on the hospital bed. "My plan is when she wakes up, I'll try and get us to maybe somewhat close. And then from there, maybe I can get her to become friends again with Mai and Ty Lee."
"I like where this is going!" Iroh replied hoping that his plan goes well. "I will wish you good luck."
"Thanks, uncle," Zuko replied smiling.
"Now, let's leave Azula to rest. We'll talk more when we meet your mother in the dining hall."
Azula ducked to the right, just barely dodging the fireball that her father made. She felt a slight burning sensation on her right arm that she was familiar with. Looking to where the burning sensation is, she noticed that her sleeve was burned, exposing a red blistering skin where her father burnt her.
Azula looked at her father with a shocked but also scared expression. Her father was crazy! She tried her best, but her father wanted something that she couldn't give to some people, that's okay, but her father was different, and not the good kind of different. Ozai, her father, always had high expectations for her which pressured Azula a lot. She just wants to make her father happy, but that was too much for her.
Knowing that her father was crazy and mental, Azula did what anyone would do, run! She knew that her skill wouldn't compare to her father so she didn't fight back. Azula wasn't stupid.
She can hear her father's deep and growly voice in the distance yelling at her demanding for her to come back. She can hear his footsteps not too far behind her which caused her to start running faster. She was terrified at this point because she doesn't want to know what'll happen if her father caught up to her.
Azula's breathing quickened and tears started rolling down her cheeks. Her throat had this choking feeling which made it even harder for her to breathe. She noticed that she was at an intersection in the palace halls and doesn't know where to go. Wiping a tear off her cheek, she looked left, right, and straight. She had to look for her mother or even Zuko. She just wants someone near her just to feel safe away from her father.
"AZULA!" Her father's voice echoed from behind her. Her fear caught up to her again. "COME BACK HERE IMMEDIATELY! I'M NOT FINISHED YET WITH YOU!"
Azula jumped from the loudness. She decided that she run left. It doesn't matter at this point. She might as well hide somewhere so that father can pass her.
In the distance, she noticed a door that could lead to a room. Maybe Zuko or her mother could be inside! Azula found a reason to run faster even though exhaustion is catching up to her. She'd rather live than die trying.
Azula opened the door and entered the room to see nothing but a table and a couple of chairs. There seems to be a bed as well in the corner of the room. She could use the bed as a hiding spot! Closing the door as slow as possible, Azula ran under the bed and lay in the corner where barely light can reach. Hopefully, her father won't find her the-
The door smashed open causing Azula to almost scream in fear. The girl immediately recognised the footwear on the ground. Her father would never give without getting what he wants.
The choking feeling returned and Azula was dripping tears as she lay on her sides with her knees brought a close to her. Azula faced the wall with her eyes closed listening to the sound of footsteps walking around the room. Unable to hold it in anymore, Azula quietly sobbed away. She just wished her brother and mother were here to protect her from their devilish dad.
All of a sudden, the door slammed shut making, Azula jump again and the sound of footsteps faded away through the walls. Azula finally calmed down slightly and wiped more tears away so that she can see clearly before leaving. Finding this another opportunity to escape and find her mother, Azula crawled out under the bed and walked to the door.
Opening the door slowly to prevent any creaking, Azula looked left and right to check if her father was around. Not seeing him or hearing him, Azula saw this as an opening and left. Closing the door behind her, she left and kept looking around for her mother's bedroom. She remembered that her door had a better design than the others around so she kept that in mind.
Azula kept running around trying to avoid her father until she recognised a doorway in the distance. Running towards it without any hesitation, Azula pushed the doors open to see Zuko and her mother reading a book, enjoying each other's company. She can see they were both shocked to see Azula roughed up, with burnt arms and tears running down her cheek. Ursa was the first to jump out of bed to cheek upon her daughter. She couldn't believe what she was seeing!
"Azula!" Ursa ran and kneeled to check around her body to see any more wounds. "What happened to you?! Who did this?!"
Azula clung to her mother tightly not wanting to let go of her. Feeling her arms around her, she didn't want to let go, afraid that she might lose her warmth. Tears fell more as she felt safe again in her caring arms. But the danger never left her.
"F-Father d-did!" Azula replied between sobs. She then pointed to the cheek that a handprint on it. "H-He even smacked me on the f-face!"
"He did what!?" Ursa replied in disbelief
"AZULA!" A voice yelled at the doorway.
All three looked up to see a man that is way past angry. They were met with Ozai, sweat dripping down his face with a massive frown on his that could say otherwise. Zuko, who was still in the bed, pulled the blanket over him, trying to cover his father's face. Ursa on the other hand looked mad at Ozai for treating Azula the way he does,
"Ozai! What do you think you're doing?!" Ursa yelled in pure anger while still hugging Azula. "You can't just treat 7 year old like she's a slave! How could you do such a thing?"
"These children, especially Zuko, need to become firebending masters! I've been told that Azula has the chance to become a firebending prodigy! If I don't teach her, what's the point of having her?! Plus, you should've seen her in the courtyard, she was such an embarrassment."
"How could you say that!?" Ursa looked at her husband with disgust. " You know what, I don't want to hear from you anymore! Just get out!"
"But, Ursa-" Ozai was pushed out of the door forcefully by Ursa.
"No! Just get away from us!" Ursa pushed Ozai one more time out the door until she slammed the door on him. "How could he..."
Ursa walked toward Azula and picked her up from the ground and gently laid her on the bed between her and Zuko. Azula was still crying from the traumatic experience that just happened to her. How could a 7-year-old go through such things?
Looking at her daughter, Ursa brought Azula to her arms and cooed at her as she tried to calm her daughter down from crying by rubbing her back gently.
"Shh... It's okay, Azula. You're safe with us, sweetie." Ursa said quietly.
"I-I'm so scared mommy! Dad hurt me so much! It hurts everywhere!" Azula said between sobs still clinging to her mother.
"Don't worry," Ursa said rubbing Azula's head. "We'll go to the healers soon, okay? Just calm do-"
"Ow! Mom! That part hurts!" Ursa felt a rather large lump on Azula's head.
"What happened there?" Ursa asked.
"After father slapped me and I hit my head on the ground hard because of it," Azula replied feeling the pain in her head.
"My goodness..." Ursa said to herself quietly. The mother of two resisted crying. How can such a monster hurt their children? Ursa can't imagine herself without her kids by her side.
"Mom, I'm too scared to walk around the palace..." Azula said quietly, fatigue sets in.
"Don't worry, sweetie," Ursa said almost in a whispering voice. "When you're scared and alone, just pretend that I'm with you everywhere you go. Just imagine me with you."
"Can we go to the healers now, please?" Azula asked wiping away any more tears. The pain and aches worsen as Azula groans in pain. She can barely move without the feeling of stinging coming in.
"Sure, sweetie. Let's heal those wounds that monster gave you." Ursa said now carrying Azula in her arms. "Come on, Zuko! I know you're under the blankets the whole time!"
"Alright!"
Azula moved to lay on her side as her head throbs in pain. Her previous headaches didn't feel like this and won't compare to what she has right now. Her head hurt so much that she barely opened her eyes and looked to her left table to see anything that could help ease the pain. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything.
Using all the strength she has left, Azula sat up and opened her eyes to notice that her room is dark to the point she has to use her firebending to see where she is. The room then lit up in her all too familiar blue fire revealing everything that was in the room.
Azula noticed a room with a table on her left and two chairs on her right. In front of her was a door that leads could lead anywhere. Looking at herself, she was still wearing the usual clothes that she wears every day.
Then it kicked in...
This isn't the camp that she sleeps in every night.
This place is entirely different.
This can't be happening!
They caught her off guard! But how?!
'I need to escape!' Azula said mentally. 'They're going to send back to that torture room again! I can't go back there!'
Removing the blanket off her, Azula got off the bed and placed her feet on the floor until her legs gave up on her and she landed on the floor hard making a loud noise that could wake up anybody that was next door. The girl muttered to herself for making herself fall to the ground in stupidity. Next thing you know, guards are going to run in and alert her brother that she's awake. Hopefully, that won't happen.
The door in her room suddenly smashed open revealing it to guards. One of the guards said, "Azula is awake!"
"I'll alert the Fire Lord. You stay and keep her guarded!" The second said leaving to wake up her brother.
Zuko slept as he has never slept before. The Fire Lord had been to several meetings during the day and the pile of the load he has never changed. Before Zuko had closed his eyes, he wished that he never chose the Fire Lord, but did he ever have a chance? He has to undo all the changes that his father had done. He wasn't kidding when he said the road ahead will be challenging. His father made his job so much harder than it should be.
But his beauty didn't go as planned when someone gently knocked on his door.
"I greatly apologise your highness, but your sister, Azula, woke up from her coma." Said a guard as he opens his door slightly.
Zuko just barely woke but wasn't conscious enough to hear what the guard said at the door. Instead, he replied with a, "Huh?"
"Your sister, Azula?" The guard repeated. "She woke up from her coma. You said to notify you when she wakes up?"
Zuko's eyes shot wide as if he woke up from a nightmare. Did he say that Azula finally woke up after countless weeks? This is it! There is where he can finally execute the plan that he's been planning for a while now. This is the part of his life where he and his sister can finally start building his trust with his sister and they could become the true brothers and sisters that they're overdue to become. Zuko knows that the journey is going to be difficult, but he has free access to his friends to help him the whole way. He just hopes that Katara will agree to help him.
"Of course!" Zuko replied removing the blankets off him. "I'll be on my way! Just let me get ready."
The guard bowed the closed the door behind him walking back to the room.
Zuko quickly went to his bathroom and washed his face just to wake him up. He didn't have enough time to take a shower. He thought maybe in the morning he could shower in the morning. Running towards his closet, he brought out the same clothing that he used when he recently joined the Avatar a couple of 2 years ago. Walking out the door, Zuko began his new chapter.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Azula yelled as she was tied down to a wheelchair. The teen tried to break out of the straps that were tied to the armrest but didn't work. "Do you know how uncomfortable this is?!"
"Sorry, Azula, but it's the Fire Lord's request." Replied the guard.
"Don't reply to her!" Whispered the other guard. "You're gonna cause more problems!"
"How dare you say that?! I'll have you know that I am the princess of the Fire Nation and I demand you to untie me this instant! This is pure disrespect to your princess!" Azula replied with her voice starting to become raspy from the yelling. She didn't care if anyone outside the room hears her.
Azula got no reply from the two guards. The so-called 'Princess' sat in the middle of the room as the two guards stood in front of her with their backs facing her as they wait for the Fire Lord to arrive in her room. Deep inside Azula, she was nervous to meet her brother again. The likely thing that could happen is that her brother would mock her saying that he became Fire Lord and she didn't.
She prepared herself as the door to her room opened revealing the brother that she hasn't seen in 2 years.
"Azula." Her brother, Zuko, said sweetly. Azula can tell numerous changes from the last she met him. Appearance especially. Azula was wearing the same clothing she wore when she was with the GAang looking for their mother but it was barely fitting and severely damaged. It's a miracle that it's still attached to this day.
"Zuko," Azula replied in a flat tone, not caring at all if it came out rude. "It has been quite a while since we've seen each other hasn't it, Zuzu? I can see you've changed a lot."
There it was. Zuzu, the nickname used by his sister used as a way to tease or annoy her brother. Whenever she wants to show dominance towards her brother, she would say, 'Zuzu' in every sentence and it would work 70% of the time. But for some reason, it looked like Zuko was unaffected by her teasing causing Azula to look at her brother confused. Why hasn't it worked?
"It's great to see you again, Azula!" Zuko said in the same tone as before. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better than that camp I was in previously." Azula in a sassy tone. "But I would feel better if you removed these tie-down ropes."
Who would've thought that his first test was this quick? Not Zuko. Does he have to untie the ropes this early in the plan? His uncle was right; he doesn't think things through and he needs to resolve that problem since it's overdue. But if things go south, he's able to defend himself and the same could be the same with the guards.
"Alright, Azula. I'll do it. But only under one condition." Zuko replied now with a stern voice. He looked at his sister dead in the eyes making sure that his sister know that he was being serious. "If you try to hurt us, you're going back into the chair until you can be trusted again."
"Of course," Azula changed the tone in her voice to make it look like she was innocent.
Zuko continued to look at her and under that so-called 'innocent' face is a lying bastard. Zuko can tell that she's going to betray his trust and attack him when he's at his most vulnerable. He's gonna have to prepare himself for what's to come.
Looking at her sister a little longer, Zuko got ready to kneel before he looked at the two guards giving them a heads up for what was to come. "Okay. Let me take them off."
Zuko then started to untie the ropes around Azula's arms. He knew his sister is better with her right hand so Zuko started on her left hand to begin with. Removing the rope of her arm, Azula moved her arms around to get the feeling back. The guards around her slowly got into position making sure Azula doesn't see them. As Zuko moved to the other arm, Azula slowly generated power on her right hand so that she can get a good blast.
"Alright, your arms are fr-"
Azula moved her arms as fast as possible to catch her brother off guard until Zuko grabbed her right hand preventing her from releasing her well known blue fire into the enclosed room. Azula looked at her brother dumbfounded as to how her brother prevented her from attacking. How in the world did Zuko, her brother, stop her so quickly?
"C'mon, Azula. Your old tricks won't work anymore." Zuko looked at his sister in pure disappointment. It's going to be a long process. "Can you at least try and cooperate with me here?"
Azula tried to hide her surprised face but is unknowingly failing. "O-Of course! Please proceed with what you were doing previously."
"Well, firstly," Zuko pointed to her arms. "Unfortunately, I have to tie your arms into the armrest again until I can fully gain your trust."
Azula groaned in frustration for a response. It looks like her relaxation has to wait. "Fine."
"Look. I know you don't like being tied down and it's a trashy way of doing it, but I can't let you keep blasting fire all over the palace and the kingdom. If more people found that you've been discovered, it could cause mayhem!"
"Cause mayhem, I see?" Azula replied with a devilish smirk on her face. Zuko can see how much she can do knowing that not a lot of people she's here.
"Sorry, Azula. You can't leave this room or even the palace. Not until you can change." Zuko looked down at the ground in sadness. "I know father grew you up to be used as a weapon, but I know deep down, somewhere inside of you, you're the sister that mother and I always wanted. The real Azula."