Exoduss I tweaked the events that happened a little. Zhao and Jet weren't dead to begin with in my story they were just extremely wounded and hiding so the Fire Nation wouldn't find them. Clearly...that didn't last very long XD
Thanks for the reviews here's a new chapter.
This story is unbeta-ed and it's a femslash. ;3
The feeling one gets when they've been sleeping a long time-the barely conscious stirring that rouses them to wakefulness enveloped Azula. Her hands callous from years of bending fire, scraped against the cool stone floor as she began to wake from her slumber. As she became more lucid, her eyes fluttered open and shut adjusting to the dim light that protruded through the bars of her cage. As she was burdened with awareness she began to notice things-the former Fire princess was keenly aware of her parched throat. Her lips were dry and cracked. Her limbs, heavy with exhaustion and felt alien to her. Every little movement, caused sharp needle like pain to prick at her muscles. She couldn't summon the energy to sit up.
The list of dysfunctional body parts went on.
Azula grunted softly wincing at the sound. The voice that echoed in the condensed space was foreign to her. Dry and raspy she hardly recognized it as her own.
When her eyes finally peeled open, and managed to pierce through the darkness surrounding her cage, the former princess was in the same room she fell asleep in months ago? Had it been months? Time was a matter of opinion. Before she fell into her depressed stupor days blended seamlessly together, one becoming indistinguishable from the next. How long had she been rotting in this little hell hole?
She moved to comb a hand through her hair, an action she never would have considered when she was a princess and found she couldn't lift her arm above her midsection. Heavy steele manacles encircled her wrists and ankles, restricting her movement even more than the little six by six cage she was dying in did.
"This is bloody wonderful." She groused, shifting her arms so they were carefully folded under her ample chest. She was still reclining against the floor, lying in a position that wouldn't agitate her abused body. Moving her arms sent an unpleasant burning sensation through her limbs. The manacles had left angry red marks on her arms and legs. The skin had been rubbed raw. Very little skin had been left unmarred.
"Oh my god…you're awake."
The stunned exclamation made her tense.
Growing rigid at the words-Azula's cold amber gaze flitted about the room, pausing to linger on a shadowed figure she had neglected to see upon awakening. She tilted her head to the side studying the conspicuous soldier. He was a young man, not old enough to be considered an experienced fighter, but not young enough to be labeled a novice. He guarded the entrance of the room with unusual attentiveness.
It wasn't surprising when he noticed her awake. While Azula's expression was one of carefully practiced neutrality, his was an expression of unbridled shock. His chiseled features were an open book that it took her only seconds to read.
"T-They said y-you'd never wake up. They said you'd be in a coma for the rest of your life." The soldier stuttered, showing an uncharacteristic amount of surprise. Most Fire Nation soldiers stifled their feelings. It was commonly believed that such emotions conveyed weakness.
Despite wearing the standard Fire Nation armor, and despite being charged with guarding her room-This soldier was nothing more than a boy.
Biting back a sigh, Azula fixed the shell shocked child with an annoyed look. She despised kids. They were irksome useless creatures.
"Clearly that isn't the case." She replied snidely, leaning back to rest her head against the cool stone. Her voice lacked it's usual severity otherwise she imagined the soldier would have scrambled back to escape her wrath. Even though there was very little she could do in her condition.
"I have to r-report t-this."
The hesitant way he spoke and the way he fiddled with his fingers suggested he wasn't looking forward to reporting to the Firelord. Shocking. Little Zuzu still didn't inspire confidence in his people. Apparently her brother was still an idiot even after all this time. Azula turned her face away from the anxious guard, focusing on the wall opposite of the door.
"Do what you have to." She intoned, waving him off lazily.
The sound of his metal boots clanking against the stone floor as he shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot in front of her cell only served to grate on her nerves further. "Look Princess-"
"Azula." She corrected him forcefully without turning around. "Just Azula." She murmured shaking her head. Her hair fell disparagingly across her face hiding her expression.
"Azula." He repeated her name quietly. "Look, you've been asleep along time. A lot has changed. Firelord Zuko has given strict orders pertaining to you…He's changed ever since the Purging…"
Azula said nothing, letting the silence edge between them. Although she kept her council, a plethora of questions raced across her mind. What was the purging? How did her brother change? How was he ruling the Fire Nation? What orders did he have in relation to her? She wanted to satisfy her curiosity, but didn't want to engage in conversation with the stripling soldier. So she let the quiet envelop them.
Eventually the boy couldn't handle the silence and began rifling through keys so he could open the door. "I'll be back after I go report this." He said grimly, testing each key until he found the right one. He cracked open the door and Azula watched him slip into the Palace leaving her alone with her thoughts. She closed her eyes.
What a terrible place to be…
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Fire Lord Zuko steepled his fingers underneath his chin fixing his council with a calculating expression. The crown rested heavily on his head, taunting him, reminding him of his obligation to his kingdom-to his people. In the large circular war room, seven pairs of eyes bore into his face, silently regarding him. They wanted an answer. An old peculiar gentlemen separated himself from the sea of red, his layers of cloth billowing impressively behind him as he approached Zuko. His name was Fei Juon. He was one of those elders with a long flowing beard, streaming from his wrinkled face. Laugh lines engraved beneath his cheeks suggested he was easily amused, but from the stern expression on his face you couldn't tell.
"Firelord, we're just asking you to consider what we have suggested."
He had been listening to long expressive monologues with a listless expression for the past hour or so. What they were suggesting was inconceivable. "I've listened, and what you're suggesting is asinine. I won't have my people unprotected. I'm not cutting military funding and investing in the market so the rich can get richer."
A long aggrieved sigh escaped Fei Juon's lips. "We're not asking you to fatten the purses of the upperclass. We're asking you stimulate the economy or we're going to fall into a depression. Our currency is losing its value." The advisor groused, his voice becoming short and clipped as his frustration grew.
Zuko stood up abruptly, his chair sliding back with a loud screech. He leveled the old advisor with a chilly look. "I'm well aware of where we stand economically, but I won't sacrifice my nation's security just to make money. We have worked too hard for peace." He said, his tone frosty and his hand's balling into clenched fists at his sides.
"Firelor-"
"We're done here." Zuko all but growled. He turned away, coldly dismissing his advisors who had no qualms about scurrying away. He heard the door close a few times in quick succession and sighed in exasperation, rubbing his throbbing temple. No one wanted to endure his scathing remarks, and murderous glares. No one believed he would publically denounce them, or punish them, but no one wanted to risk his wrath. The extreme option of being purged still terrified them.
"Firelor-"
"I thought I told you to leave." He snapped, fire dancing to the tips of his fingers in response to his anger. When he realized that it wasn't an advisor or even a noble, his glacier like expression softened imperceptibly. "Ah…Maron…What brings you here? You have something to report?"
Maron paled, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. Zuko blinked at his guard's visceral reaction. Maron was generally reserved, and prone to anxiety attacks. As far as soldier's go Maron was untested. The boy was charged with watching Azula during the day until he was relieved of his shift. Zuko rarely ever saw him, but was familiar with his face because he hand picked him. It was important to have people he could trust guarding his sister and his father, and despite any of Maron's other flaws he was loyal to a fault, and he was an exemplary fighter.
"W-w-well S-sir," The boy paused, taking a moment to compose himself. "Firelord, it s-seems your sister is awake..." He trailed off with a wince, staring at Zuko with wide eyes.
He said nothing, the boy's words falling on deaf ears.
After a prolonged moment of silence he opened his mouth to speak and closed it again, his brows furrowing as he tried to process the boy's words. Azula was awake? His heartless, unfeeling sister from hell was awake? She had been in a coma for years. No food or water willingly passed her lips. No blue flames trailed from her inert body. She was dead to the world.
He preferred her that way to be honest.
There was no love lost between him and his younger sister. She was a thorn in his side with no regard for him, or her people. She didn't care about anything that didn't benefit her in someway. She cared about herself and her lust for power. Azula didn't care who she destroyed in order to obtain that power. It was gratifying to her, breaking people and robbing them of pride, and livelihood.
Zuko was intimately familiar with his sister's callous habits.
He scowled, his scarred face creasing in anger.
Maron blanched, turning white as a sheet at the Firelord's severe expression.
"Come with me Maron I want you to wait outside the door while I speak with my sis...with Azula." He swept past the terrified looking guard, striding past him huge purposeful steps. He couldn't bring himself to claim Azula as his sister. He had not considered her as family in years. She was a traitorous wench with ice in her veins, and a black hole where her heart was supposed to be. He adjusted his many layers of crimson as he barged through the palace, stalking to the dungeons.
Maron struggled to follow him, his heavy metal boots clanking against the alabaster floor. As Zuko brushed past the attendees and guards lingering in the hallway they all rushed to bow to him, and acknowledge his title. He ignored the lot of them. Finally he arrived at the outer ring of the palace in a crimson flourish of rage and slammed the heavy doors open that led to the palace dungeon.
Immediately an acrid odor assaulted his senses. Blood and sweat permeated in the air and made it difficult to stew in his fury. Taking much slower steps he carefully picked his way past the row of empty cages. He rarely ever kept prisoners at the palace. Most people who were locked away were imprisoned in the centre of the Fire Nation Capital. The Palace dungeon was reserved for criminals of a certain caliber. Azula occupied a whole floor level on her own, even though the cage she was kept in was smaller than a one person carriage. In the lower levels of the dungeon Ozai took up residence. The former Firelord suffered from an aneurism and deep mental distress. He didn't take losing well, and being chi crippled only magnified his despair.
He hadn't spoken since the day the Avatar took his bending away.
The rank odor intensified, and Zuko's nose wrinkled in disgust as he came to stop at the cage holding his sister. Familiar amber eyes peered out from the darknesss, studying him. Even with her features hidden by her hair and the dim torchlight, he could still see every knob, and jagged bone jutting out from under her skin. Her ribs were visible. Her face was hallowed out from grief, and anger. A latticework of scars littered her frame-some more recent than others.
Oh how the mighty had fallen.
Azula had once been the picture of frugality. Every hair was in place. Every piece of clothing bereft of creases. She was meticulous in her appearance. Now she looked like something out of a horror story. Her clothes were tattered, and hung limply off her frame. Her hair was disheveled, and a thick layer of blood and grime only cemented her vile appearance.
She was a pathetic shell of a human being, lying in her own waste.
She licked her cracked lips, cool amber eyes glued to him.
He tried not to shift uncomfortably under the weight of her stare.
"Well well if it isn't dear little Zuzu come to visit the untouchables." Azula's voice dripped with acid, and Zuko worked to maintain a neutral expression.
He had been in her presence for thirty seconds and her attitude was already grating on him. "Azula." He said evenly.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, my dear Lord brother?" She rasped, her an octave lower, and teeming with exhaustion.
He folded his arms across his chest, wondering how much he should reveal to her. Now that she was awake he had to figure out what to do with her. What would be an acceptable course of action?
"I heard you were awake, and had to come see it for myself. It's not every day a former princess wakes up from a ten year coma."
He watched her carefully, searching for a reaction. If she was surprised at this new information she didn't show it. Another difference between Azula and the majority of the population, most would show some emotion when learning they'd been unconscious for several years. They'd be surprised, angry, terrifed- but not Azula-no she just stared at him with the same bored expression.
"Well you've seen me. Now could you do me a tremendous favor and leave. Seeing your face is the most unpleasant thing I have done all day."
Indignation welled up in his chest, but he did the best he could to ignore her. His eyes narrowed at Azula and took a threatening step towards the bars. She didn't even have the courtesy to flinch. "I would just like to inform you that now that you're awake I will be informing the council and the Four Nations. We will start deliberations and decide your fate."
"Joy." She cheered flatly, not bothering to meet his gaze anymore.
"I would be more concerned about your future if I were you. The odds are not in your favor. You're a threat to the peace, and most will vote to have you eradicated." He said, his voice losing all warmth and inflection.
He couldn't say he was terribly bothered by the idea.
Azula didn't react-didn't even twitch.
Fire Lord Zuko ambled closer, reaching out to grasp the bars of her cage. "I can't protect you."
Unexpected laughter bubbled forth from her lips and he watched thunderstruck as she swayed back and forth at the motion, unable to do much else because of the chains restricting her movements. "Did I ask for your protection? I don't want anything from you and if you're just here to gloat over your victory-then do us both a favor and get the hell out."
"You will watch how you address the Fire Lord." Zuko said icily adopting a superior tone.
"Or what?" Azula sneered, finally looking up at him. "Are you going to punish me? Torture me? Beat me? What could you possibly do that hasn't been done already big brother? I have nothing left for you to take." She said defiantly, meeting his gaze and staring him down.
Zuko's stone like expression darkened considerably at her words. "You are a cancer in this house…The Four Nations will vote, and we will put your head on a noose Azula. I hope you felt your actions during the war were worth it. I won't risk my country by keeping you alive."
Azula laughed hollowly, genuine amusement coloring her tone as well as a tinge of hysteria. "Sugarcoat it however you please Zuzu. Justify yourself. Lie to yourself. Hide behind pretty words like righteousness, and safety. I don't care. The end result is the same. You're murdering your sister to make yourself feel better and using the Fire Nation as a crutch. Grow up." She said tiredly, closing her eyes.
Zuko's jaw clenched and without another word he turned around to stride out of the door.
Little did he know amused amber eyes were fixed on his retreating back.
"Storm's out like a little boy too." Azula mused quietly to herself.
What do you think? XD Next chapter's coming soon.
Oh and on a side note the chapters will most likely get longer as the story progesses but for right now they're on the short side .