"Careful Azula!," Her father whispered, glaring down at her, "What have I told you about being quiet?"
"Sorry father." Azula nodded, as she followed him through the forest. The morning air was crisp, her skin felt like ice. Ozai and her were on their monthly hunting trip. He had woken her up before dawn; told her they needed to move fast, and keep quiet. Azula couldn't spot the animal they were tracking; she wasn't tall enough to see above the bushes, however she knew it was much larger than the deer they usually went after.
Ozai stopped beside her; his hunting rifle steady in his hands. She positioned herself accordingly, copying his position. Her father said she was too young to hold a gun, but he let her carry a knife. The forest was silent, just still sounds of wind whistling through the leaves; It was suffocating her. She watched Ozai scan the trees. The sound of twig snapping echoed through their ears, she snapped her head in the sounds direction; trying to see anything.
"Let's go," He mumbled, moving slowly from tree to tree. He never looked back to see if she followed; she was expected at his side. Her face almost slammed into his legs when he stopped suddenly. Azula felt his hand on her back as he pushed her down behind a boulder; his eyes never left the target. She studied him carefully as he readied his weapon; she heard his breath steady. The shot echoed through the trees; she could spot a few birds fly away,
"Did you get it?" She whispered up to him, gripping her knife tighter,
"You doubt me?" He coldly replied as he lowered his gun. Her father left her next to the boulder; he slowly walked next to his target; staring down at it before kneeling over the corpse. He looked up at her smirking as his body slowly dissolved before her.
"Father?" She panicked, running toward where he was, "D-dad?"
Azula could feel the cold air wrap around her throat as darkness surrounded her. There was no corpse, just a puddle of blood. Ozai was missing; not even his gun could be found. The trees around her were quickly dissipating, turning into dark smoke.
"Dad!" She cried, searching rapidly for him. Her breath quickened; air tightening around her as she backed away, "Where are you!"
She tried to grip her knife but it vanished into smoke. What had once been a forest was now nothing but a thick black fog. Her mind frantically tried to search for anything; she could no longer breathe. Her heart pounding in her chest. Suffocating she looked down to her hands; barely visible; she could only see blood.
"Father!" Azula jolted awake, sitting up and looking frantically around her. Her hand quickly went to her left shoulder, it was still there. She was no longer in a forest; just her bedroom; everything was perfect, just as she left it. She took a deep breath and stared down at her hands, her nails were perfect; spotless; no blood. A small breath of relief escaped her lips. Since when did she have nightmares? Azula usually didn't dream, and if she did they were of her winning. She shook her head,
"This is ridiculous," She sighed, "Getting so worked up for some dream, father would be disappointed."
It was barely dawn outside; the night still seeped over her room, but she decided to get up regardless. Azula has always been an early riser, especially on the weekends; despite her best efforts. It was already saturday; she spent most of the week trying to get information out of Chan, but after Ty Lee told him she was enrolled in their school, he had been making sure to avoid her. She couldn't blame him, since she was going to threaten him after all, but it was still annoying.
Two more deep breaths, and she could feel her heartbeat calm to its normal pace. She took a look at herself in the mirror, her hair was a chaotic mess; how unbecoming. She was quick to brush it out, making sure to part it perfectly down the middle, before pulling her hair back into a top knot. She looked at herself again, bangs symmetrical to her face, it couldn't look more perfect if she tried.
Azula opened her closet; it was mostly empty, she had only unpacked the necessary amount of clothes, everything else was left in the boxes neatly stacked against her wall. She dressed herself carefully, putting on her shorts, t-shirt, half-cut hoodie, and her favorite pair of running shoes.
Neither Zuko nor Ursa were awake when Azula slipped out of the house, but she would make sure to be back before they noticed she was gone; Ursa wouldn't believe she was actually just jogging. She used to be able to properly work out every morning at her father's home gym, but Ursa didn't have any such equipment. Instead she just opted for jogging every morning, doing her basic stretches; pushups and situps. Ozai would kill her if she lost all of her athletic progress. She just wished she had someone to spar with. She had thought she could just beat Zuzu up like the good old days, but that will just end with her getting in more trouble.
The cold air felt great against her skin, she tried not to think about how cold she felt in her dream. Azula just wanted to forget about it, hunting trips with her father had been some of her best memories with him, why would her head try to villainize that?
Her feet picked up off the ground, her jog had turned into a hard sprint. She was going to be fine; Ozai wouldn't disappear like that; she needs to stop being ridiculous.
It was around eight by the time she got home. Azula was already showered and properly dressed by the time Ursa woke up for work. She sat at her desk doing her homework as she listened to the mumbles coming from downstairs. They were eating breakfast; without her, as usual. Sokka should be over around ten, he always came over to hang out with Zuko on the weekends, something about not wanting to be around Katara and Aang. They were usually too scared to come upstairs and bother her, so she was able to stay locked in her room.
"Azula!" She could hear Ursa call from downstairs, "I'm leaving! Please try to unpack today, I'm sure Zuko will help you!"
Azula just rolled her eyes, refusing to respond. Ursa didn't say anything else to her, but she could hear her sigh. Why did she care so much about her unpacking anyway? She never wanted her here in the first place.
She missed you. Zuko's words echoed through her head.
Lies.
Azula heard Ursa mumble one last thing to Zuko before leaving for work, if only she had better ears. She leaned back in her chair, homework hadn't taken long and now she had nothing to do. Her currents covered her windows, but she could see Sokka leaving his room through the cracks. Their rooms have always been across from each other, they always used to spend all night talking to each other.
It wasn't long before she could hear the two boys laughing from downstairs. She almost felt left out, almost. They weren't friends; she made peace with that; regret was wasteful; friends were, well useless of course. Right?
"You can just say you asked, and you know, lie," She heard a voice come up the stairs,
"I promised my mom I'd at least try," She her Zuko say, closely approaching her room,
"Mama's boy."
"Shut up Sokka," Zuko said before knocking on Azula's door,
"What do you want Zuzu," She said, opening to door and glaring at him,
"Mom doesn't want you to stay in your room all day- again." He said, attempting to smile at her,
"Oh well if Ursa doesn't want me too then of course," She said as sarcastically as possible,
"Come on! It's not healthy," He insisted, "You could at least unpac-"
"This isn't my home, so I am not unpacking to pretend that it is," She glared, "but fine Zuzu if you absolutely insist on me leaving my room, I guess I can find some entertainment with you."
Azula walked past the two boys, she saw Sokka elbow his friend in the stomach,
"I-i meant more like uh hanging out with Ty Lee and Mai, for instance," He said, "I know Ty Lee has been dying for you to go to her house."
"I thought "mom" put you in charge of making me leave my room, therefore you can entertain me," She smirked, walking down the stairs,
"Look what you did!" Sokka whispered,
"How was I supposed to know she would want to hang out with us! She hates us!" Zuko replied, "This isn't my fault!"
"How could you not think this would happen!" Sokka insisted, "It's Azula!"
"Your bickering is cute and all, but if you're going to keep that up perhaps you should just bring Sokka to your room Zuzu," Azula smirked, sitting down on the couch,
"Really Azula? That's the best you got." Sokka rolled his eyes,
"Come on, it was pretty funny," She stated,
"Can you please try to not be difficult Azula.," Zuko said, glaring at her,
"Whatever do you mean Zuzu?" She snickered,
Sokka and Zuko both sat down, trying to make the best of this situation, they went back to playing whatever video game. This felt more awkward then being stuck in a car with them for some reason, it was clear they were ignoring her, how boring. She just sighed and watched them play. Azula remembered Zuko being much worse at shooters before, but now he was kicking Sokka's ass.
"Wow Sokka, good job dying!" She chuckled, receiving a glare from him,
"Like you could do better!" He said,
"Easily," She assured, nodding her head. Zuko walked over to her and placed his controller into her hands,
"Then prove it, I'm going to go make lunch. Don't strangle each other please!" He said while walking into the kitchen,
"No promises," Sokka mumbled, "Are you ready to lose Zul- Azula?"
"Oh please, the only one losing here is you." She smirked, for a second it almost looked like Sokka smiled at her. They used to play shooter games with each other all the time, to be honest he would play with her more than he would play with Zuko. She could still get away with playing them when her father wasn't around, it was the one thing she did for fun. They played round after round, Azula winning most of the rounds; passively making Sokka more and more irritated, until he finally won of course,
"What!" Azula yelled, standing up; throwing her hands into the air, "Impossible! You had to have cheated!"
"Oh come on Zula," Sokka said confidently, a smirk creeping onto his face, "I didn't think you were still such a sore loser."
"I'm not a sore loser!" She insisted, sitting back down, "We're playing again! Come on!"
"You two are getting along well- I thought one of you would be dead by now." Zuko said, walking back into the room with a pizza. Both Sokka and Azula looked at each other before returning to their sour mood,
"Were not getting along," Azula insisted; Sokka nodded in agreement, stealing a piece of pizza and shoving it in his mouth,
"Right-" Zuko replied, sitting down next to Sokka. They both continued to eat as Azula switched her controller for her phone. She had fifty unread messages from Ty Lee; all about her date with Chan next week, how annoying. She wasn't sure how to tell Ty Lee what a jerk Chan was, but she was sure Chan would just make up some lie about how Azula was jealous; couldn't be further from the truth.
"Are you not going to eat?" Zuko asked, biting into his pizza,
"Greasy food isn't in my diet," She said, not looking up from her phone,
"Greasy food isn't in my diet," Sokka mimicked, "When did you become such a killjoy? No wonder we're not friends"
"I'm not a killjoy!" She glared, "Unlike you I actually take care of myself!"
"So this was your choice?" He asked, glaring right back at her, "Not daddy's?"
"I don't see how that's relevant." She answered, looking back at her phone. Sokka opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, there was a knock at the door,
"I'll get it." Zuko said, getting up and leaving the living room. They didn't say anything to each other, Sokka just kept eating the pizza grumpily. Why did it matter if father cared about what she ate? He was just looking out for her like he always did; clearly Sokka wouldn't understand that since he's such a glutton. Earning takes sacrifice, she nodded to herself.
"Azula," Zuko said as he came back into the room; a tall man following him, "Dr. Lawton wants to see you."
Thank you for the nice reviews so far! I've never really written a fanfic before so I really appreciate it :D