A/N: I'm going on a trip and won't have internet access (or any technology access, really), so this will be the last update for a couple weeks. I figured it'd be an okay place to leave you all hanging :P Anyways as always, thanks for the reviews and comments! Take care, everyone!
Chapter 27
Azula waited for a fifteen minute eternity to pass. She stood, channeling the composure she'd had when she disguised herself as a Kyoshi Warrior. She conquered a city because of that scheme, but now, for whatever reason, the stakes seemed so much higher.
Her heart was thudding quickly, echoing its bloody pattern in her ears. Just a few more minutes. Focus.
She felt the familiar flush of heat in her veins that accompanied the sunrise. Soon enough, the door to the room swung open and one of two guards filed in quietly.
All of a sudden, Azula felt nothing. No exhilaration, no dread, no doubt or panic. She had entered the state of mind that usually came with generating lightning. Precision. Clarity. Tranquility.
She nodded to the two newcomers, as she so often saw the night guard do, and walked out the open door into the hallway. It shut behind her and she continued towards the staircase by the storage closet, not looking back at the guard in the hallway. Her feet shifted around inside the large boots and she scrunched her toes up to try and keep her footsteps at less of a stomp.
Azula began the ascent up the stairs, breezing by the storage closet with the unconscious guard. Just like on the couple occasions she had traversed them with Kai and Ty Lee, there were no people in the stairwell. She took the opportunity to light a flame in her hand. With each floor she climbed, it grew larger and brighter. Orange to whitish-yellow, then to white, and finally to a perfectly scorching blue.
The sight of the flame calmed her even further and she licked her lips beneath the helmet, extinguishing the fire before she pushed through the door to the ground floor.
The front desk was occupied by the earthbender. She must start at sunrise as well. Azula sneered at her, passing by to approach the front door. A voice suddenly shouted out and she turned to find the bender looking expectantly at her.
"Hey, come on, Iz, you have to check out with Dr. Liu," she stuck her thumb down the hall behind her. "Tch, how can you forget every day?"
Azula shrugged and turned to walk down the hallway. She swallowed at the sudden wrench in her plan. Shit. He'll recognize my eyes.
The frosted glass door loomed in front of her. She entertained the idea of dawdling around the patient care room and trying the front entrance again after a few minutes, but that green eyed idiot was watching her. So Azula bit her cheek and knocked gently on the door to her doctor's office.
A faint "come in," floated through the glass and she entered.
Immediately she bowed her head in what she hoped was seen as a sign of respect and not suspicion. Kai didn't look up from his papers.
"All went well I presume?"
He isn't looking, I can't just nod. Azula tried to remember the tone of voice this guard had when he shouted at her before she struck him down. She couldn't quite place it and had to settle for a rumbling grunt of assent.
Kai raised his head. He looked quite tired and Azula hoped this would help her chances of leaving the room undiscovered. She maintained her bow.
He yawned and leaned back in his chair, "Very well, I'll be down to see her this afternoon. Get some rest." With a wave of his hand, he dismissed her and returned to scanning the papers on his desk.
She blinked in absolute disbelief and quickly left the room before the man came to his senses. You've got to be kidding me.
Azula hurried down the hall towards the entrance, passing the annoying desk woman and a few bustling staff members dressed in red, and then she pulled open a heavy door to reveal a place she hadn't set foot in for nearly five years.
She kept her elation in check, for now ignoring the sweet smell of fresh air and the breeze that whistled across her helmet. Azula did not dare look at the sky, fearing she might freeze in place upon seeing the sun's touch stretching across it. She strode forward, tripping slightly over the boots. One of the guards on patrol laughed at her, but she traipsed on, not wanting to initiate a conversation with any of the people roaming the grounds.
The solid metal wall of the inner gate towered in front of her. She had passed by the guards patrolling the perimeter of the building and the two at either side of the front entrance with no problem. There were two more stationed at this wall's gateway. Ty Lee's throwaway comments were legitimate. They watched her approach and she nodded to them, hoping they would let her pass uninterrupted.
The pair resumed their conversation and frankly ignored her as she walked by. Are these people serious? This is too easy. I guess it isn't exactly a prison, so the guards are noticeably more lax, but come on. No identity verifications? No friendly conversa—
"Hey, Izzy boy!"
Spoke too soon.
The pair of guards at the outermost gate waved at her. She returned the gesture and took in her surroundings. The gate ahead wasn't a wall like the one before. It was entirely wrought iron, with a similarly styled entrance. And it was wide open. Two final guards stood between her and freedom.
Azula approached, sizing them up in case things got ugly. The one that had called out to her was jovial and quite chubby beneath his armor. She could beat him easily in hand to hand combat if need be. Using her firebending here was out of the question, she would be recognized instantly.
The other guard was slimmer, built like an average young man. He would be much quicker than his counterpart, but Azula wasn't concerned. None of these guards were anywhere close to being as well-trained as the people she had faced in her past.
She reached them and the fat one spoke again, "Hey buddy, how's Princess Crazy?"
Azula felt her eyebrows twitch. Is that what they call me here? It's almost insulting how simple it is. Everything about this place is so stupid.
She slapped him roughly on the shoulder, feeling confident. She didn't much care for the guard charade anymore, knowing she could beat these simpletons and get away in a flash.
Lowering her voice to a gruff whisper, she spoke, "Great. How's your diet going?"
His shoulders sank a little. Azula grinned and had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. He directed his head at the ground and didn't respond. The other man spoke up, "Lay off, Iz, he's been trying."
She clicked her tongue, "Doesn't look like it."
The chubby man picked his head up and glared at her, "What's wrong with you this morning? Did she say something to piss you off?"
Azula thought of the real Izzy boy, strapped to a chair in the basement of the building. She certainly hadn't said anything to make him mad, but she could guess that her actions would probably make up for that. Once he wakes up, anyways.
The thought shook her out of the bit of fun she was having. There will be time for this sort of thing later. I should get out of here, there's no telling when everyone inside will figure it out and I want to be as far away as I can when they do.
She ignored his question and walked several yards past the two men, thinking of her options. Village or ferry? Part of her desperately wanted to return to the capital. She wanted to see it. Her home. Though it was the riskiest choice, that likely made it the last place people would thoroughly search. No one would think her foolish enough to return there. But the ferry might not be docked right now, and I can't afford to wait. Village it is. She went to continue down the road, but was stopped when a hand grasped her arm.
Azula turned and was eye to eye with Skinny. He was looking at her strangely.
Ah, cover's blown.
"You alright, Iz? You sound a little funny," he was looking at her frayed arm bands and oddly slender frame with suspicion. His eyes found hers and he was momentarily stunned at seeing their golden color, so different from the deep brown of his friend's.
Under her helmet, Azula smirked. She abandoned the poorly imitated voice and spoke sweetly, "What's the matter? Don't you recognize Princess Crazy?"
She smirked as she saw his eyes widen in realization and fear. Azula ripped her arm from his hold and spun to land a kick at the side of his head. He fell to the ground, clutching his helmeted skull. When he tried to stand, he stumbled, dizzy, and she kicked him again square in his chest. His head collided with the ground in a crunch and he collapsed on his back, the wind knocked out of him and head ringing with the sound of armor against armor.
Meanwhile, Chubby had noticed the commotion and was attempting to jog over to investigate. Azula looked over his shoulder at the building, but they seemed to be far enough away that the other guards hadn't detected the squabble through the gates. She stood with her hands on her hips while he ran towards her, panting.
He bent over, clutching his side and looked up at her, "What the hell, Izzy? Why'd ya do that?"
Azula tapped her foot against the grass and shook her head, "Oh honestly, you're all so slow. This was no fun at all."
Chubby tensed at the unfamiliar voice and bent down to his wheezing friend, who was weakly trying to mime something, but Azula elbowed him in the back of the neck, sending him to the ground as well. She gave the overweight guard a kick to the sternum for good measure.
"You make quite a pathetic pair."
Azula turned on her heel and set off without another word. Even that little taste of weak combat had sent chills of delight through her body. I lied. That was fun.
She walked down the paved road for a few minutes until she came to an intersection. Straight ahead would lead her to the sea, the ferry, and the capital, while the right hand road wound towards the village she sought. Glancing behind her, and seeing that she was not being followed yet, she turned down the village road.
Finally, finally, she allowed herself to look up into the early morning sky. The wide expanse of pale blue was partially shrouded by wispy white clouds. But her eyes combed the entire thing regardless and she stared at the still rising fiery orb to the east, triumphantly glinting off the metallic surface of what had been her nightmare.
Her hands trembled with the absolute need to bend under the sun for the first time in years. She couldn't hold back, her lungs filled with the cool morning air, and she set off at a sprint, flipping forwards onto her hands and producing an arc of cerulean flame from her feet. It spread out in a magnificent wave in front of her, rippling just high enough above the road and long grass to not leave scorch marks.
Azula smiled wider than she had in probably her entire life. She tore down the road to the village, quickly tiring from her years of inactivity, but she continued in spite of the stitch in her side and the way her feet slid around in the too big boots.
In that moment, running free under the sun in stolen armor, Azula felt something other than rage, confusion, or despair. Something felt before all the heaviness of life had settled in. Before twisted sibling rivalry. Before an unloving mother. Before a cruel tempered father. Before friendly betrayals. Before whatever it was for Ty Lee. Her mind was clear, her heart light. She had known what it was to be defeated, discarded, and forgotten, yet here she was, running towards a tiny peasant village in the Fire Nation. Bending abilities restored. Happy.
She felt four years old and the oversized boots reinforced it.