gemsofformenos: That one was fun to write. :P The apocalypse is rough lol. At the moment, she only really has Li. And Li only has her. Yes, Bujing would have rather been dead than have his mind claimed by the spirits. "The scene as Azula burns down the Palace was so strong. It can be a symbol for some sort of vlosure with her past. No kindom, no Fire Nation, no place to return, no home anymore." That scene was one of my favorites to write. I was indeed a symbol of her having to let go. They still have an objective but how it will play out is to be seen. As for other characters like Katara, Zuko, Aang, and so on, that is also to be seen.
CeCeHigganbotham: No worries lol, I'm just happy to know that people are reading the fic. :) I feel like Li would retain her loyalty to Azula despite it all. "I could totally see Bujing offing himself in order to die on his own terms. Perhaps he and Azula had more in common than they cared to admit." Yeah, I feel like that is a very Azula-like thing to do. They had a bit in common and that's partly why they didn't get along. I've always felt like Azula is one of those people who would not get along with someone who shares a lot of personality traits with her, that's why she liked TyLee because Ty is so much UNlike her. "So many questions that need answering..." I'll be outright here and say that some of these questions won't get a crystal clear answer or an answer at all. Namely the how it happened and why; this is because (as a reader) I like stories where the cause for the apocalypse isn't entirely known. To me it feels more realistic; I think that if the world were to end its safe to know that we wouldn't know how or why it happened and so I try to create that in my stories. "Great story!" Thank you! :D
The blaze of the palace is a beacon in the night, with any luck it will draw the infected to it and away from them. Burning with it is the remaining semblance of what Azula's life used to be. Having gone numb some hours before, it doesn't bother her as it probably should.
She and Li wander across a beaten and battered path.
"Are you alright, dear?" Li asks.
The former princess isn't entirely sure how to answer. She has lost all of her people. Her subjects, what is a Fire Lord with no subjects? She has to remind herself that she had never been a Fire Lord at all, not truly. She has lost everyone and everything. Ruon's face resurfaces in her mind; his kind eyes and the compassion and trust he spared her. In the short time that she'd known him he'd probably done more for her than anyone save for Li. She can't help but ponder upon what they could have been were he still alive.
But then she wonders what had really been left for her if the comet didn't bring death with it. She imagines that she'd still be miserable and empty inside. The differences lie in that she'd be alone in her torment. Alone and locked away.
Here she has freedom. At least until the parasites gain control and steal that away from her too.
"Are you?" She asks Li.
The woman clicks her tongue a few times. "As well as I can be without my other half."
Azula doesn't know how to respond to that so she takes to staring straight ahead. She does so with special care not to look back. The sight of the palace turning to ash is one that she can't come to terms with so soon after. Perhaps she won't ever come to terms with it. Regardless of looking back or not, the smoke is so dense that she can taste it on her tongue. A few cinders drop to the ground like grey snow.
They are reminders enough.
She isn't sure how much time has gone by, but night is beginning to turn to sunrise and she hasn't hurt a whisper or groan of a host. Neither has she seen a tendril nor wisp. She supposes that it is just as well; they are due for a quiet and uneventful venture.
Even so, there is a part of her that wishes that they would show up. She craves the delay; for as much as she yearns to see her father again, she dreads the encounter. The way that he will probably look at her and her crutches. She doesn't want him to see her in her weakened state. All the same she wants his comfort while she is in it.
She flinches to herself as a small voice reminds her that he might not be alive to look upon her as a pitiful creature.
"You're being terribly quiet, even for you." Li mentions.
Azula shrugs. "Just thinking." She finds that she likes these quiet walks almost as little as the chaotic ones. They both present their own special brands of torment. "What if father isn't there?" What if she is just wasting their precious time.
But then, she considers that they shouldn't try to reach the port at all. Morally, she has always danced within the grayer shades, but bringing the infection into a possible sanctuary just for her own comfort…
"Then we can head for the Tribes." Li replies. Azula begins to tell her what she had just been thinking. She finds that the words die on her tongue and so they fall back into silence once more.
.oOo.
The prison looms directly before them. As it stands now it looks more like a palace than the structure that she had set aflame. It's relative beauty looks more impossible than the walls of Ba Sing Se. It's sturdy metal paneling, though beginning to rust in places, has yet to crack or crumble. It isn't' so littered with blood and viscera as the palace had been.
Having done exactly its job, the hosts, from the looks of it, have yet to drag their rot inside and smear it around.
How cruel it is that what was once the lowest standard of living is now the highest; the beauty in a dying world. Azula hopes that it is as secure as it appears. That there isn't a grotesque mess waiting for them within the walls.
She finds that the gates still hold very steady, another good sign. If there are people left uninfected within, she wonders if they are even aware of what is happening beyond their cells. Another ripple of dread radiates through her soul; what if they had never been let out and they had met a similar fate to what would have been her own?
"Help me with this?" Azula requests.
Li steps forward, her brittle bones are just about as useless as Azula's handicap. Between the two of them, one by one, the locks that they fuss with fall away. Each with a loud clatter that echos their defeat. The abandoned streets amplify their metallic cries. "We should hurry." Azula mutters. Now that they have drawn attention to themselves.
The flaming palace might have the hosts captivated for now, but she doesn't want to test her luck, being as it is in such short supply these days.
She manages to unlink a final chain and with a few grunts and huffs, Li opens the gate just enough to let them slip in. Azula finds that it is significantly easier to the the gates back up and relink the chains than it was to undo them all.
A burst of fire just misses her head.
She is aggravated only briefly before the feeling gives way to relieve; the guards and inmates are uninfected.
She isn't sure if it had been the male guard or the female guard who had sent fire their way, but the woman goes in for a second toss.
"Do I look infected to you?" Azula asks. Beaten and broken, she certainly looks of that. But infection, it still doesn't show on her face and skin.
The pair exchange a skeptical look.
"What do you want?" The man asks.
"I want to know where my father is."