Return of the Blue Spirit Chapter Six
"Take them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again, and let them rot!"
The platform at the Boiling Rock shook with the fury of Azula's voice. Their faces… something in their faces took the cold princess by surprise. Was it defiance? Sadness? Regret? The armored clad prodigy could not think of the faces of traitors while her brother was surely stealing her war zeppelin at this very moment! She ordered a messenger hawk be sent to the nearest Fire Navy ship while she slowly regained control of her limbs. There seemed to be a burning sensation in her chest, she excused her self and found the nearest changing chamber.
She took off her sleek breast plate with a little difficulty because her arms were not fully functional still. She let the armor drop to the metal floor with a loud clank as she tried to identify the pain. 'It is most likely just a side effect of Ty Lee's attack.' At that thought the pain grew stronger forcing her to clutch the skin and fabric that covered her heart. The princess stretched the collar of her shirt down until the painful section was visible. She looked down and saw no abnormalities so she went to the mirror on the wall to get a better angle. She was surprised by what she saw, not by anything on her chest but by the look on her face. Her eyes were narrowed forcing her brows to almost meet; her nostrils were flared as her lips were pressed into a frown. 'I'm angry!' She thought as she had seen these expressions on others (usually caused by her) but she had never seen it on her face. She knew that sometimes in battle or when a plan falls through by the fault of another that her face could turn to this, but why was is like this now?
After a moment she composed her face to be that of sly confidence then she fastened her armor to her torso finding that she had "complete control" of her body once again.
The Fire Navy ship had arrived, it was old and in desperate need of cleaning but luckily the princess would not have to suffer it long. She boarded the cargo ship and ordered the captain to head straight for the capital, what ever errand he was on could wait. She had gotten so used to the air ships that she had forgotten how slow traveling by sea was.
It took less than a full day to reach the capital city. As the princess was walking toward the dock she caught a glimpse of two girls chained back to back on the deck. (Azula stayed in the captains quarters the entire trip). The pain in her chest started again as she realized who the prisoners were. Grabbing the first mate by his collar she disappeared from their line of sight, though she was certain they did not see
her. The prodigy's blood felt as if it were boiling while she hissed to her captive, "What are those two doing here!?" She could not understand why she kept her teeth clenched together as she spoke, but that was not important now. "We were told to transfer them to the prison on the other side of the island Milady," squeaked the first mate. 'The prison is not too far from the Palace, what did they think I meant by saying never seeing their faces again?' The pain pulsed greater while she said, "Instead of delivering them today, go out to sea and deliver them tomorrow so they do not have any bearings." She meant to say this in her usual voice, but a tone of death came from her lips. The first mate fearfully nodded as she released him.
'I must be tired from the trip, that is why I snapped at him,' she assured herself. But she knew, as well as any who have heard her stories about her pursuit of the Avatar, that she could stay collected even after four days with no sleep. 'Mai on the other hand would bite your head off if you tried to even wake her after midday.' Another throb of discomfort tore through the princess's chest forcing her to grasp the rail. 'This is getting out of control.'
She retired to her chambers without even reporting to her father, 'He has already been sent a hawk.' She did not try and sleep on the ship but now she did, but for some reason she could not stop tossing and turning. After hours of this Azula gave up and got dressed. She passed a servant on the way and asked, "Why was my mattress substituted for another?" Looking at the ground the servant answered, "Princess forgive me, I do not have any knowledge that such an action has occurred. Forgive me princess." Azula pondered this, "You are forgiven." Sometimes the servants asking for forgiveness at the beginning and end of all their sentences would get annoying, only sometimes though.
She reported to her father the dealings at the Boiling Rock. Upon ending her report he rose and asked, "As for Mai and Ty, Lee how are you coping?" 'Coping, what is there to cope with? There are just two more prisoners in the world, what was so shocking?' But as the princess was about to answer her chest started to burn making her wince. "Azula?" Ozai's voice thundered as he made his way down to her level. Azula kept her eyes on the floor as she had done thru the full report, "My apologies Lord, I do not understand what there is to cope with. With some time I will be able to find new weapons to fight at my side, nothing will have changed." Her heart was about to tare in two as she felt her eyes start to sting, 'Now my eyes!? Perhaps I have acquired a new allergie that affects the blood stream.' Ozai stared intently at his greatest tool, "I am proud of you Azula; even in the face of betrayal you still feel nothing. You will be great when your day comes, now leave me. I will summon you when the warships set out."Azula lowered her forehead till it touched the cool wood and swiftly took her leave. 'Yes my daughter, you are the greatest weapon in my arsenal. But all weapons grow dull in time, and soon you will have no use.' Ozai turned and ascended back to the throne, awaiting his next pawn.
Azula went to her washroom and started to splash the water into her eyes. 'What in the world is happening to me!?' After she was sure that what ever foreign intruder was eradicated from her eyes she went for a walk. She was about to pass the gardens when some invisible force pulled her onto the smooth grass. Confused to why she felt that she needed to come here, Azula turned to leave. But before she took a single step she swore she heard a little giggle from the behind the tiger-tulip bush. Azula knew that giggle, it was one of an eight year old Ty Lee. The pain in her chest came stronger than it had ever before. She turned and surveyed the grounds when memories of childhood pass times flooded her mind: Mai silently blushing behind the tree while Zuko walked by, Ty Lee flipping through the air so often that you would have thought that she was burned every time she touched the ground, and finally herself laughing and having (dare she thought) 'fun'. The invisible needles that invaded her heart for the past day felt as if they were lit on fire as the pain caused Azula to fall on her knees clutching her chest.
After she composed herself the princess bolted for the royal library. She knew these symptoms, though could not comprehend why she was plagued by them. In the library she found her target, Emotions and Their Effects. Long ago she took it upon herself to memorize this text to have a better idea of how to defeat her enemy; the idea was to let them destroy themselves through their illogical feelings. The princess found the chapter, 'Guilt: this emotion comes when the affected person believes they have done something wrong causing them to dwell upon the wronged party and/or on the act. Side effects include insomnia, flashbacks, anger (see page 32) and in some rare cases, death. 'Why do they always have death as a side effect?' The feeling of guilt can be lifted by apologizing to the "wronged" party or by righting the supposed wrong (i.e. telling the truth after a lie or replacing a broken item.'
Azula also noticed her own handwriting in the margins: 'Can be used to blackmail, control, or torture.' She placed the memorized text down and thought, 'How could I be feeling guilt? I did not wrong Ty Lee or Mai; they are the ones who betrayed me! I must just be angry at myself because I did not foresee their attack.'
It had been almost a week since her trip to the Boiling Rock and her circumstances had not improved in the slightest: every time she lay on her bed it felt like a cold metal floor (causing several new mattresses to be tested), no matter how elegant her meals were she only tasted rotten slop, and even her finest silks scraped against her skin like sandpaper. The pain throbbing from her chest became constant until one day she had enough.
It was past noon when she rose from another sleepless rest, the burning pain grew so large that even her back suffered. The princess threw open her closet and tore through it until she found the object, leaving countless treasures scattered across the floor. She then took the item in hand and strode to her mirror
that covered an entire wall. She parted her robe enough so that her heart would be covered by nothing but her skin, she then took her item (which was one of Mai's daggers) and sliced her flesh through. Blood trickled down her torso and legs until it puddled on the ground while she continued to run the blade atop her body. Half of her robe was now soaked and clung to her skin like a suckling child to its mother. The prodigy released the dagger finding that she had gone numb from her tormenting pain. All week no one, not even her father, noticed her turmoil. The only difference they had seen was she was a bit more quiet than usual. The Princess placed her fingertips to her wound, 'What have I done? This makes no sense what so ever, that pain is internal so why would this help?' She soon found that it did not serve any more than a few moments of peace until the needles found her heart once again. 'I can't live like this; this is not the way that the future Fire Lord should conduct herself. I must find a permanent solution to this, but what would people think if I apologized to the people who betrayed me? They would think me mad! And what on earth would I say? No, there must be an alternative solution.'
It was then, when she turned to change, that she noticed her scattered belongings. And lying amongst them was a blue mask, very simple in design but Azula knew that it would serve her well. She smirked at the irony, 'To one day rule my country, I must appear to be a traitor. Who would have thought?'
Azula knew that dawn was about to break when they came across a powerful stream, it would be easy enough to cross but now they needed to rest. The group took Azula's hint and they stopped to make camp. The warriors set out to find supplies to make an impromptu stretcher so they would not have to carry Zin one by one anymore. Ty Lee rushed to the water to finally wash her face clean of the ash while Mai went out of sight and took the mud and smeared it on her exposed forearm. Zin had a slight fever but seemed to be doing alright. No infection was showing on her wound thanks to Azula, but no one approached her about it for fear that she would loose control again and burn down half the wood. It was decided that they would rest until dusk, using the darkness to their advantage.
Azula stayed at a distance from the others until Mai came forward, "Don't think that we are going to let you out of our sights for a minute!" Mai attempted to grab the princess's arm but quickly found herself in a struggle of grabs. Both girls had experience skills at holds which made this conflict all the more interesting. The moment one thought they had a hold of the other; they would have to release in order to block an oncoming attempt to hold them still. Finally the masked princess made it behind the blade master and got hold of her forearm, locking her in a hold. With one hand holding Mai's arm so it would cause considerable pain if she tried to move and her other hand pressed against the slender girl's back, Azula forced her to her knees. "I hate you," Mai sneered without attempting to look at her captor. Azula leaned forward till her mask was almost touching her prey's ear, "Do you hate me for what I've done, or because I'm not Zuko?"
With those words the prodigy departed from Mai with a final shove that left the shocked girl in the dirt. The warriors scurried to help he knife thrower up, not noticing where Azula went. Mai seemed to be in a daze when the warriors noticed that Ty Lee was missing.
Ty Lee followed her princess through the trees at a distance trying to be sure she was not detected. A few minutes passed while she tried to be as silent as possible jumping from branch to branch, 'We must be miles from the others by now.' It was then, on a thick limb of a timber oak tree, Azula finally stopped. Ty Lee stayed back in the shadows watching the princess sit cross legged at the base of the branch, 'Is she meditating!?' Ty Lee waited for the moment that Azula would remove her mask, but it never came.
At least a half of an hour went by with the princess never moving a muscle. Ty Lee ran out of patience and decided to take matters into her own hands. With stealth beyond anything she had accomplished before, the acrobat moved to the firebender's tree. She climbed to the branch hovering over Azula's and wrapped her legs around it. She then slid upside down to face the princess. The loudest sound within miles was Ty Lee's heart while she gazed into those hollow eyes, trying to find anything familiar. 'She could be staring right back at me for all I know,' Ty Lee thought as she reached her trembling hands to the blue mask. Her fingers felt like they were on fire when she was just a breath away from revealing the identity of this Spirit when… "Don't." Ty Lee's heart skipped a beat while she lost her grip with her legs and flopped down in front of Azula. Her head was still upside down while the rest of her body fell on top of her, leaving Ty Lee in a very silly and awkward position.
Azula remained unmoved as if nothing had happened at all. Red-faced, Ty Lee quickly tried to compose herself while calming her racing heart. "I...I'm…sorry, I…" Ty Lee rambled. "How did you know it was me?" Azula's tone was as commanding and powerful as before, but there was something that seemed off. Ty Lee grinned shyly with a response, "I keep telling you and Mai that I can read auras but do you believe me? Nooooooooooo…" "I thought auras were used detect the mood of someone." Azula cut her off. "An aura is just another face; each face is unique and can show the emotions of what the person is feeling. And this is a face that you can't hide behind a mask." Ty Lee added with her signature grin. For the first time in almost an hour Azula moved, turning her head to the side, "It seems I have underestimated you again."
Ty Lee could see new turmoil brewing in her princess's soul, she didn't know whether to run away or bring her old friend into her embrace. She had never seen Azula in so much pain, but physically it seemed Azula felt nothing at all, 'How can she keep all that in?'
"Azula, I think I know why you are keeping the mask on. You think that if you don't show your face, or that you only see us through those eyes, that you don't have to confront the fact that you are doing the opposite what your mind is programmed to do. Then maybe, when all this is over you can just tell yourself it was a very vivid dream. But Azula, you can't keep all this inside. It will tare you apart." Ty Lee almost seemed to be pleading with the princess. Azula tensed at her words, "You are wrong, I will never be ruled by weak emotions. This is no different than any other feeling that has dared to cross my path." Ty Lee wondered if she was even talking to her anymore, "But Azula, you can't always keep locking away your emotions; they are your humanity. Eventually the dungeon you keep inside will burst and you will be overwhelmed." Azula shifted at her comments, revealing fear in the young woman's aura. "Oh Azula, I am worried about you!" Ty Lee proclaimed as tears clouded her vision. Azula turned to her old friend and sighed, "Ty Lee, I'm not the one you should be worried about…" Azula shot up quick as lightning as she grabbed the acrobat and pinned her hand over her mouth, preventing hardly any whimpers to escape her iron grasp.
I separated the original chapter six so this chapter could focus mostly on Azula's flashback. I think I failed at providing humor (humor had never been a strong point for me except for dark humor). I am sorry for the lack of action but there is plenty to come. Please review and enjoy.