Hi everyone, final chapter. Just on time for coronavirus 2020! Dark jokes aside, I hope you guys like the final chapter.
Adrimore: I'm really glad that you like it so far. There is a lot of mystery meant to surround exactly what caused the disease and as to what exactly it is. I've mentioned in my responses to other reviewers that the reader will only know what Azula knows. And Azula doesn't really know much at all about it. Just theories. If you want I can PM you some of the behind the scenes stuff. As for the raising body temp thing; that will be answered in this chapter.
HammerTide: Yeah, I had to put at least one tearjerker moment in there. Seeing him hit home for Azula.
gemsofformenos: I'll send you the PM after you read this final chapter.
"The nightmares are haunting and so strong written, great job." Thank you, I still love my nightmare scenes. And Zirin is right. "A fact Azula probably have known all the time but so far she has pushed this fact aside." It is something that she has anticipated, but still needed something to cling to. "An unexpected move to let her meet Zirin." Thanks again! Initially I was going to have all of the Kemurikage make an appearance as Azula's new band of survivors but I decided to take a different route all together. "It doesn't looks good for the group and especially for Azula." Li and Azula are in very deep, that is for sure. "Excited and sad at the same time that this story seems to get closer to its end." Yeah this actually will be the conclusion as I don't feel like I can keep it going without becoming too repetitive or losing that air of mystery.
Kaktus Kaktus: Thanks :) Yeah, the outlook is pretty bleak.
She wonders if this is what fire feels like as it splays across skin. The raw patch on her chest tingles painfully as though it is trying to let her know that it is spreading.
She resists the urge to check, in part because she doesn't want to know but mostly because she doesn't want to raise suspicions in her father.
Her mind drifts to her fire once more, for as single heartbeat she ponders burning the spot of rot. Maybe, by some miracle, it would burn the infection away.
But she knows that it is too late; the same bruning tickles her hip and lower back.
"We just need to get past them and then we're home free." Zirin points. Azula follows the line of her finger to a band of afflicted.
Ozai, with no word of warning, blasts a few of them off the side of the pier. The remaining cluster faces them in unison. "Father!" Azula hisses.
"They're corpses." He shrugs. "Don't tell me that you're slower and dumber than a corpse."
He was the one who'd made the impulse decision, yet it is her cheeks that burn with shame.
"She only means that rash decisions are dangers, Fire Lord." Li comes to her defense.
Before he can snap at Li for her disrespect, Azula mumbles, "let's just clear the rest of them out."
Not that her father needs any further prompting.
Zirin is another matter, she scans the docks for a moment before reluctantly attacking. Li lingers on the fringes of the first while Azula sets flame to the neglected wooden pillars that support the dock. Several more hosts dump into the waves where they disappear into the murk. The remaining few shamble closer and Azula's heart seizes all over again.
The girl's braid is scraggly and unruly and her shirt is in tatters. Her stomach is wide open and dragging innards. She must have bled out already because the only other thing that trickles from her belly are waving tendrils. In a most morbidly uncanny way, the girl is still beaming from ear to ear as she had in life.
Some manner of undignified and stressed sound escapes Azula's lips. A pair of cold, wrinkled hands come to cover her eyes, keeping her from inspecting her former friend further. "You don't have to look at that, princess, you've seen enough already."
She silently thanks Li for the small mercy.
When Li removes her hands, Tylee is gone and her father's hands are still smoking. He looks at her with a rare expression of sympathy.
It is nearly enough to unravel her. "Let's just get on one of those boats and get out of here."
Zirin wanders to the nearest dock.
"Wait!" Azula calls. "Come here."
Zirin steps back and Azula releases her held breath. The has a churning carpet of silver-blue as though the parasites have eradicated the seaweed and took its place. It clings to the rotting wood in an evil parody. "Let's use that one. This dock is about to crumble." Azula lies.
The dock next to it looks just as rickety. But the boat tethered to it, though small, looks sturdy enough.
.oOo.
Azula had never been a fan of the open ocean but today, the salty spray is a breath of fresh air. And there is a certain comfort in knowing that, should she throw up, she can blame it on seasickness rather than infection.
For the first time in a little over a month, she can truly rest easy.
When night falls, she finds that her exhaustion is finally potent enough to overpower the nightly replays of her traumas.
She finds herself out cold.
Her waking is just as unpleasant as she knew it would be. Her belly burns and her chest flares hotter. She finds her sheets sticky with blood. It takes everything in her not to scream. Her blankets are thoroughly soaked and cling to her skin. When she moves them, chunks of skin peel away with it.
Her head reels with a new found sense of fear.
She wonders how Li is faring.
She sneaks on deck and cleanses her disease riddled body with ocean spray. It stings like hell but she can't let her father see that much blood.
"Oh, you're finally awake." Zirin muses.
"Finally?"
"It's been three days."
Azula bites her lip, her anxiety swelling that much further. "Three days…" she repeats. Zirin nods. She rubs her palms against her eyes, feeling thrice as stressed. "How is Li?"
"Well enough, princess." Li declares.
She wanders to the bow of the ship where she finds her father at the wheel. "Ah, you're awake. Would you like to take the wheel?"
She peers at the maps he has spread out and nods. She could use a distraction. He pulls up a chair for her. She takes her seat and falls silent. Ozai's hand is on her shoulder. She flinches as a stabbing sensation fires off in her belly.
"What's going on with you?" He asks in a manner that suggests more annoyance than it does concern.
She swallows and shakes her head. "My leg is just bothering me. I'll cope." She has no choice but to do so.
Ozai smiles, "I raised you well. Your brother would have fallen as soon as his bone split."
"I see another ship!" Zirin declares from the mast. "Should we check it out? There might be other survivors.
Azula doesn't like it.
Doesn't trust it.
The boat is just floating there, directionless. Bobbing without aim. "It's a dead ship." She calls up. A new feeling of dread rises, knowing that the parasites have already reached the seas. It is an ill omen.
An exchanged look with her father tells her that her father shares her thoughts.
Not that it matters, her body is already decaying.
She is already dead.
Whatever control she may have had over the hosts and parasites, the possible answers and cure will die with her.
She takes her father's hand and squeezes.
.oOo.
It has been nearly a week since they drifted away from the dead ship. Li has taken to ranting about how this must be the Spirit World's way of punishing for the war and the disharmony it has created. "Sozin used that comet to disrupt the balance of the world and the spirits used it to take vengeance." She declares again.
Azula's heart sinks; the old woman must be slipping. Or maybe it is simply natural for her mind to turn towards more divine explanations. Azula doesn't particularly believe that the spirits have the power to embed disease into a comet. Especially not with an Avatar to act as a buffer.
She doesn't bother debating spiritual matters with Li. She hasn't the energy for it and she would like to keep Li as a companion, especially now that her father has taken to avoiding her. It stings worse than the raw patches that have finally reached her neck and face.
She thinks that she has grown used to the searing feeling that they bring. Perhaps the rot has eaten away the nerves in her cheek.
Her leg is nearly healed, but the ship doesn't provide her with many places to walk to. But she is restless so she takes to pacing from one end of the deck to the next. She holds her crutches just in case her leg decides to lock. She wanders below deck to wash her face. The action is rather pointless, serving only to make her feel like she has some semblance of hygiene.
The face reflected back at her is red, flushed by the warmth of infection. She is beginning to think that the parasites like the heat and that, that is why they have imbedded themselves within her. She can burn them away, but perhaps freezing them out would be better. She had been a fool to delay getting to the tribes for so long. And for what? A man who can't even look at her anymore. Azula fumbles through medical supplies until she comes to gauze and bandages.
She delicately covers up the oozing patch before returning to the deck. The exposed parts of her face are met with significantly nippier air that tosses her tangled locks all about. "Good morning, father."
The man doesn't turn around.
"We are nearing the tribes…"
"Do you think I am a fool?" He asks.
"No, father."
"You hide an infection from me and then you imply that I can't tell when we are close to our destination." He would strike her if he weren't so disgusted by the notion of making contact with her.
"I only meant to start a conversation." She mumbles.
He waves her off.
"I'm dying, father. I want…" what does she want. "I want you to care about me before I do. I want somebody too…"
He holds up a silencing hand.
A friendlier hand falls upon her shoulder. "Come on, princess, it's chilly up here, lets get you inside."
"Before what!?" Azula snaps. "Before I catch a cold."
Li doesn't even flinch. "Before that man takes the fight out of you."
"That man is my father."
"No father would treat his girl like that." Li grumbles.
Zirin climbs down the mast, "I can see the main land." She declares. "But with all of these glaciers to navigate it can take another week or so to reach it."
Azula is in no rush anymore. "Thank you, Zirin. I'm sure that my father would be interested."
"It's almost over, princess. The journey is almost through." Li reassures softly as Zirin saunters off. Azula isn't sure if she is referring to their days of sailing or their days of living.
"Yes." Azula acknowledges. She stares off at the very distant landmass. She isn't entirely sure that Zirin hasn't mistaken a particularly large glacier for the tribes.
.oOo.
The auroras, she has always heard, are stunning.
Mystifying.
But Azula finds them eerie and unsettling.
They blaze across the sky with spectral fingers that reminder her all too much of the ones weaving in and out of her festering skin. They lick and lash at the cosmos, reaching out to touch each and every star as the parasites had made contact with people.
It is more than that though. Azula can't place it, but she thinks that there is something in there, hiding between the teal and green curtains.
Something sinister.
Something that has touched the Northern Water Tribe in the same way that Sozin's Comet had breached the Fire Nation.
She swears that, when Li and Zirin stop exchanging conspiracy theories, she can hear whispers in the lights.
Swears that the parasites flick and flit in time with the cosmic display.
Azula shudders.
She hopes that her mind is simply clinging onto residual paranoia. Not that paranoia isn't due. She retreats to the semi-safety of below deck.
She doesn't return to the deck until the auroras are gone.
They are a day away from the Northern Water Tribe and Azula can't rid herself of unpleasant tingles of fear. Sunlight glints off of the snowy landscape before them.
"Are you going to slow us down?" Ozai asks.
Azula bends and unbends her leg. "I don't think so." She thanks Agni that she can walk again. She had anticipated her father having to carry her through the snow. In current she knows that he will sooner leave her behind than come close to her.
His question was a fool's question; she doesn't need to slow them down, the sheer amount of snow and lack of equipment does that.
The port is close enough to the city that Azula doesn't fear that they won't make it but comfort is a lost luxury. Azula drifts closer to Li the nearer that they get.
"Shit, I've never seen anything like it." Zirin declares.
Her optimism is somewhat vexing.
Azula scans the faces of the guards atop the icy wall. They are stony and unforgiving as the terrain they overlook. If they are guarding the entrance this readily, it must be a sanctuary. Still, her unease doesn't subside.
"We're survivors seeking sanctuary!" Zirin calls up to them. "And warmth. Warmth would be great too."
Azula shivers to herself.
Warmth.
Safety.
That would be heavenly.
The men exchange glances. And Azula shares a look with Li, her look of weary resignation is mirrored by Azula. She knows exactly how this is going to end. "Search them for infection!" One of the men declares.
Li squeezes Azula's hand.
Already, they have noticed the distance between the two of them and Zirin and Ozai. "Which of you are the healthy ones?"
Ozai hesitates none before gesturing to himself and Zirin.
"Inspect them." Says the head guard.
"Strip." Commands his partner. Zirin wastes no time. Ozai on the other hand scowls. "A Fire Lord doesn't strip before peasants."
"But a refugee does." The second guard replies. "Strip or get back on your boat."
Azula turns the other way as her father drops his robes. She waits a few minutes after the man calls, "clear" to turn back around. "Put them in the quarantine quarters until we are certain that they won't develop symptoms."
The gates open and Ozai and Zirin are beckoned inside.
"Father…" Azula says.
He has the decency to look back, but no more than that.
A normal person might cry, but Azula finds that she has no more tears left. She has nothing but a solemn acceptance. She still has the dignity to hold her head high. The only warmth in her body and soul radiates from the infection.
She watches her father disappear into the safe-haven. She wonders how long he will last; how long they will tolerate his intolerance and malicious intent.
Flurries throw themselves violently at her as she stares at the wall. At the glorious sanctuary that she can't enter. Even if they let her in, she likes to think that she has too much honor to bring a plague to the last cluster of humanity.
"We're alone…" she trails off.
Li nods. "I told you that I would accompany you until my last breath, princess."
Just before she pulls her eyes away from the wall, she sees him. Her heart falters. He looks at her with pity and...regret? For a moment, she thinks that he going to plead with them to let her in. To give her a chance. But he doesn't know that she isn't contagious-she has a thought; a bitter acknowledgement that the cold might be enough to kill the parasites. That with time, the patches of rot might heal.
She opens her mouth to try to convince him of this.
He is not paying attention to her, other than a nod in her direction.
She holds her breath and waits.
His attention is fully on her again, his face grim.
"I'm sorry that I left you there." Zuko calls down.
Once again she opens her mouth to speak. She doesn't have the chance before one of the guards lifts his arms, dragging with them a large spike of ice. Azula's vision goes hazy, she hears Li's body thud next to her.
She looks up at Zuko in shock more than anything else. He winces and mouths something akin to, "she's not dead yet." And to her directly he says, "I'm sorry."
A red spray soils the otherwise pristine white.
Suddenly it doesn't hurt anymore.
Nothing hurts.
There is nothing.
She has time for a single parting thought. A thought that she is free.
Finally free. Free of torment and fear and paranoia. Free of her own mind and of that which plagues her. Zuko had left her chained up and the parasites had made a prison of her own body. But Zuko has set her free.
Her decayed cheek hits the snow and her body goes still.
With nowhere else to go, a cluster of pulsating silver-blue wisps burrow beneath the snow.
The strong adapt.
I feel like this might be a bit of a controversial ending, but I hope that everyone enjoyed it.