It was a sunny afternoon. The Gaang were at their usual hangout, the upstairs lounge of the Jasmine Dragon, each member engaged in his or her own choice of leisure activity. Aang was testing his Pai Sho skills against Zuko, Sokka was cleaning his new sword (he made himself another one after the war, to compensate for the loss of his beloved Boomerang), Toph was picking her toes, and Katara was snuggled up on a corner of the couch browsing through the Companion. Suddenly she sat up straight. "Hey, there's a new chapter for The Origins of Pro-Bending!"
"You mean the one where Sokka was in love with Azula?" Toph asked as she finished picking her toes and nonchalantly cleaned her finger on the corner of the tablecloth spread out on the low table that occupied the center of the lounge.
"Oh boy, do we have to read that again?" Sokka groaned. "If I have to hear about how I grin stupidly around Azula again, I'll run myself through with this sword."
"Do it Snoozles, you'll be doing us all a favor."
"Don't do it here though, I just cleaned this place this morning," Zuko said from where he was contemplating his next move. He then raised his hand and moved a Pai Sho tile on the board.
Sokka looked around at everyone unhappily. "Am I really that replaceable?"
"No, I'd prefer it if you were still alive as well," Aang piped up as he moved his own tile. "There, now I've won Zuko."
"Thanks Aang," Sokka started to grin, but then he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Wait a minute, you're just saying that because you like beating me at Pai Sho, aren't you?"
"Sort of," Aang grinned, and Sokka groaned again.
"Anyway Sokka, you did wonder aloud how you fell in love with Azula while we were reading the last chapter. Maybe now you'll be able to find out." And with that, Katara began the story.
Despite having stormed out in that manner, Sokka didn't wander off too far. He walked towards a room he knew very well, since it pretty much was Azula's favorite hideout. She had her personal room, of course, but she enjoyed spending time in this particular chamber, where there were numerous scrolls and maps, which she used at times for the sole purpose of making strategic wars against herself.
"Formerly insane killer princesses certainly do have a lot of leisure time," Toph observed. "I envy her."
Lately, though, Sokka was her opponent at those war simulations, and as much as a good strategist he was, she had bested him in nearly every opportunity; the current score was 17-2, on Azula, of course.
"Of course," Zuko agreed drily.
"Hey, at least I scored two points," Sokka said hopefully.
"I suppose that is worth something, considering this is Azula we're talking about," Katara reasoned.
"Now this is cozy: the two of you holed up together in your very own hideout, planning out strategies against each other," Toph grinned. "Very nice."
"Not really what most lovers would do during their time together, though," Aang remarked.
"But then again, these two aren't like most lovers," Zuko pointed out, and Toph nodded in agreement.
"Hey, it still hasn't explained how Azula and I ended up together in the first place!" Sokka protested.
"Take it easy Sokka, we're only at the first paragraph after all," Katara said, shaking her head at her brother's impatience before returning to the story.
Sokka sat in front of a table while pondering about the test Aang had to pull off. The real reason why he'd made it seem his temper had gotten the best of him was because he had needed to run away from the meeting while his ideas were still fresh in his mind. He didn't know if Azula would get mad to see him sliding into this particular room without even bothering to ask her if it he could use it so lightly, but he wasn't afraid of the girl anymore. The two of them had grown very close right after she'd finished her life-changing trip with her brother; Sokka happened to spend lots of time in the Fire Nation Palace, and she enjoyed annoying him greatly every time she got the chance to do so.
"A life-changing trip, huh?" Toph commented. "Sounds like she already went with you to find your mom, Zuko."
"It didn't say whether it was successful though," Zuko said, looking very thoughtful.
"But that won't matter, because you won't be releasing Azula from the asylum just to go find your mom, right? Right?" Sokka asked anxiously.
"I already told you Sokka: I wouldn't do it unless I had a very good reason. In any case, I'm not about to let any of you get burned to a crisp by her," Zuko reassured him.
"That's good then," Aang said, a relieved expression on his face.
That is until the day Sokka saw her standing in the very place where her Agni Kai against Zuko had taken place: she had shown a very different side of herself right then, and Sokka realized the only thing Azula needed was someone she could trust completely, someone she could see as an equal and someone brave enough to question her without fearing her. It had been a rough ride, including several episodes that Sokka wasn't too proud of, but she'd fallen slowly into him, just as he'd become interested in her.
"Amazing how Snoozles has the weirdest taste in women," Toph remarked. "First his girlfriend turns into the moon, then he starts dating someone who put him in women's clothing before, and now he's hooking up with a bloodthirsty princess."
"Well, it's good to know Azula sees me as an equal and all that," Sokka grinned. "Even if I don't think I'll need that information much."
"That's right, you were the only one she ever called by name," Aang said, remembering suddenly the incident. "Remember during the Day of Black Sun when we were chasing after her?"
"She just learned my name so she could taunt me and distract me, and I'm sorry to say she succeeded," Sokka replied, looking slightly downcast.
"Speaking of Suki, the story still hasn't explained how you two just broke up," Toph pointed out.
"Don't worry guys," Katara said as she scanned the following lines. "I think we're coming to that right now."
As for Suki, she'd seen the way the two of them spent so much time together, and she'd realized that Sokka was drifting away from her. After a very sincere talk, they broke up and both continued on with their lives, and Sokka pursued Azula openly, to his sister's and her brother's dismay. Clearly, neither Katara nor Zuko agreed at all to this relationship, but nor Sokka nor Azula cared about anyone else's opinion at this point.
"Well, it's not like this is the first time my brother has ignored my opinions," Katara smirked. "Although I would think he'd give some consideration to what Zuko thinks, seeing as he's Azula's elder brother and all."
"Not like she ever acknowledged that," Zuko said. "Still though, I probably would be rather dismayed to find my sister dating my friend. Of course, I'll be worrying more about said friend's safety."
"And I would tell you that you've finally lost it, except that I've done so before with no effect," Katara told Sokka, who simply shrugged.
"What can I say? I just like to do things that I wanna do, although I can assure you all that pursuing Azula is not one of those things."
"Then all's well then," Toph concluded.
And so, without further ado, they'd gotten together around four months ago. They had several fights very often, and most of them ended up with Sokka apologizing afterwards, but the bond between them was very deep, it wasn't only about love, but about trust and understanding as well….
"I think I'm going to gag," Sokka said weakly. "Don't hold up the story for me, I'll just nip into the bathroom for a short while." With that, he got up and headed towards the restroom, leaving his friends in the lounge.
Sokka shook his head. This wasn't the time to reminisce about his happy relationship with his girlfriend; he had very important things to work on! But at the very moment he stretched out a long blank scroll, someone opened the room's door and strode in.
Sokka didn't even need to have Toph's skills to recognize Azula's footsteps; the way she walked was extremely easy to notice: always striking the floor down with powerful strides, as if showing the floor who was boss.
"Oh yes, I've noticed that before as well," Zuko nodded. "I remember when we were kids and she would love stomping on the floor, often leaving her shoe prints on it. Mother used to tell her off a lot for that."
"Yeah well, we don't need to know what your sister likes to get up to when she was a kid," Sokka said.
"You might need to though; you're going to pursue her after all," Toph smirked.
Sokka huffed indignantly. "I'll just pretend I didn't hear that."
"Suit yourself."
"I figured I'd find you here" muttered Azula "What are those great ideas of yours, if I may ask?"
"Uh… it's not very easy to explain" replied Sokka "It's a little… HEY! Wait a minute! Won't I get an apology for you?"
"Why exactly would I apologize to you?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow
"Y-you pretty much embarrassed me out there! What's with that nonsense of brainwashing me?" Sokka exclaimed, while staring at her with resentment
"Oh, please. Even you would have believed I would have had to brainwash someone for them to be with me a couple years back, wouldn't you?"
"I would have," Aang piped up, and everyone else in the room nodded in agreement.
"Would have what?" Sokka asked as he returned from the bathroom.
"Would have believed that Azula would have had to brainwash someone for them to fall in love with her," Zuko explained.
"Oh. Then I would have too."
"Then I have to say; she did an excellent job on you," Toph smirked, causing Sokka to glare at her as he sat down again.
"W-well, maybe… But I know you now, and you should start letting others know you as well. You're not nearly half as bad as you act like when you're around them"
"That's a really fascinating piece of news," Katara said sarcastically. "Good for you Sokka, you just discovered a good side in the infamous Princess Azula."
"Still not listening," Sokka answered briskly, looking straight ahead and pointedly ignoring his sister.
"Whatever" grunted Azula, but then she sighed and looked away, nervously "You're not really mad about that, are you?"
Sokka sighed and shrugged dramatically
"Maybe not… but if you give me a little flaming love I might forget about it quickly"
"Please don't make me gag again, I just got back from the bathroom," Sokka pleaded with the book.
"Oh, don't worry, I'll make sure to strike your head with enough force to have you forgetting about everything that's happened during these four months if you keep up with that attitude" she muttered, staring at him with evident irritation.
"Now that sounds more like Azula," Zuko said, sighing in relief. "Good to know she's till kept some parts of her character."
"I dunno, Zuko; personally I'm glad the let's-kill-everyone-and-laugh-while-doing-it part of her is gone," Katara spoke up. "Even though she's now in love with my brother."
Sokka laughed slightly and pointed at the seat next to his
"Come on, let's get this crazy test thing going" he said, while taking a brush and dipping it in ink.
Azula found herself obeying him without a second thought, and right when she was about to snap at him and inform him that she wasn't to be told what to do, she'd already sat right beside him.
"Now I'm wondering who's brainwashing who," Toph said.
"Nice job, Sokka," Aang grinned at the Water Tribe teen, who simply groaned.
"Great, now I've lost my last supporter. Thanks for betraying me, Aang."
"Don't mind him, he's just rambling," Katara told the slightly downcast Avatar.
"Okay, first off I think we should have a field of some sort" said Sokka, while drawing a strange oval shaped figure on the scroll "And it should be split in two, I guess. The left one can be Aang's side, and the right one is where the other three will fight from"
"So it'll deal with range, won't it?" asked Azula "It doesn't seem like a small stage to me"
"No, I don't want it to be too small, actually" replied Sokka "The thing is, we need to have water and rocks in the stage somehow… but not mixed up, of course. Mud, steam and whatever other mix of elements there is should be banned"
"You're setting up some rules, aren't you? I'm surprised" admitted Azula "I thought this would be a wild fight, but that is a very good way to make sure they only use elements in their most pure form"
"That's the way it should be" said Sokka, smiling slightly "Aang's not going to get a degree of steambending now, is he?"
"No, I don't think I'll get it at all," Aang admitted while grinning sheepishly. "I'm not really good in those types of bending."
"Looks like Twinkletoes won't be using sandbending to build sandcastles at the beach any sooner," Toph sighed. "Too bad."
"He might be able to learn those lesser forms of bending though, if he puts his mind to it," Katara said, smiling encouragingly at her boyfriend.
"Well, as long as he doesn't plan to take up lightningbending, I'm fine with it," Sokka said.
Azula couldn't suppress a small giggle. Back when they'd been at Ember Island she'd learnt from Ty Lee she should laugh at everything boys said to catch their attention, even if it wasn't funny. But with Sokka, nearly everything was funny. As a matter of fact, whenever she was mad at him she had to stop herself from laughing somehow, and most of the time she wouldn't be able to hold back a hysterical fit of laughter due to his silly jokes.
Aang widened his eyes. "Azula laughs?"
"Sometimes," Zuko explained. "But her laughter sounds a bit like a wolf-hyena's howl," he added while grinning slightly.
"Wow, I must be pretty funny if I can make even Azula laugh," Sokka remarked. "But then again, I always knew I was witty."
"In the story only. In real life, not so much," Toph stated.
"That's because you wouldn't know hilarity even if it came up to you and punched you in the stomach."
"I think I know hilarity well enough,t hank you very much. Katara, just continue the story."
"Anyway, I guess those are the rules we should establish…"said Sokka "But the problem I've got is with water and earth. I don't want to make the stage with usable earth, Toph would crush it and beat everyone up immediately…"
"Absolutely," Toph grinned.
"You need to set the parameters of the stage, in that case. And rocks must be available somewhere else" she suggested
"What about… having rocks at the sides of the stage, like this?" said Sokka, drawing huge pillars of rocks at each side of the stage.
Azula frowned, not entirely convinced.
"I don't like it. The idea of having a stage is to keep everything within it, rocks shouldn't be accessed from the outside, and neither should water, for that matter. Fire doesn't pose as a problem, since the fire's source is the bender himself; but the other two elements need to be available, and also out of the way"
"Oh, now that's tough," Katara nodded. "You have to provide the elements, but also make sure that they won't give an unfair advantage to the bender."
"Meh, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually," Sokka said confidently. "Should be a piece of cake for a genius like me."
"Well, do tell us when you do come up with a solution then."
"With pleasure, Miss Beifong."
Sokka frowned and forced his head with all his might. A solution had to be out there somewhere, somehow…
"Within it, you said… We should keep everything within the stage, right?" repeated Sokka, grinning
"Yes, that is what I said" muttered Azula "Wasn't I clear enough, or are you growing deaf all of sudden?"
"Don't be silly, I asked again because I think I've got the answer!" he exclaimed, jumping up "But first…"
"Yes?" said Azula, staring at him directly.
Sokka flashed her a guilty smile and bent his body in an odd way, flexing his legs slightly
"C-can I have a potty break?"
Katara burst out laughing. "Now you sound like one of the little boys you used to train back home, Sokka!"
"Well, they're from the same tribe after all," Toph smirked.
Sokka glared daggers at the book. "I don't like this story," he said flatly.
"It's okay Snoozles, we know that even great geniuses like you need potty breaks once in a while."
"Shut up, Toph."
Azula couldn't help but roll her eyes, though she ought to be used already to Sokka's sudden urges to use the bathroom in the most unexpected of times. She waved her hand in the door's direction, impatiently
"Go quickly before I decide to burn your pants off. Why do you always do that?"
"It's not really intentional, I swear…" he whined, while skipping in a very ridiculous way towards the door.
"Don't take too long!" she yelled right after he'd gone right by the door.
"Yup, definitely like the little boys back home," Katara grinned. "In fact, you used to need the toilet at the weirdest occasions back when you were little yourself, Sokka."
"Hey, I grew out of it already, okay?" Sokka protested. "Geez, it was just a childhood thing. It doesn't happen anymore!"
"Then how about just now when you had to use the bathroom in the middle of the story?" Toph smirked.
"That was because of nausea, okay? I'll feel lots better when this whole thing's over," Sokka grumbled.
Azula sighed and shook her head, baffled at Sokka's terrible timing. She stared for a while at the drawing in front of her while thinking deeply of the rules they should set out. Of course it wasn't entirely adequate to set down too many limitations… but then again, why not? A sly smirk showed up in her face while she started to ponder the real meaning of being a Master Bender…
"Whenever Azula has a sly smirk on her face, it usually means danger," Zuko spoke up.
"No need to tell us Zuko, we already know," Sokka replied. "In fact, I'm not even sure why I'm still working with her."
"Because you're in love, remember?" Toph grinned.
"Well, at least I guess she won't be planning to murder me just yet," Aang said hopefully.
"I suppose so. Still, we'll have to finish the rest of the chapter to find out," Katara pointed out.
Sokka groaned. "There's more? How much longer?"
"Actually Sokka, we've only finished half of the chapter," Katara explained. "The last chapter was also rather long, remember?"
"Can we just read something else first before continuing this one?" Sokka asked. "I think I need a short break from being in love with Azula."
"I agree with Snoozles," Toph said. "I want to hear a story that actually has me in it."
"Even though you might end up falling for one of us again?" Zuko asked.
"Yup. Think you can handle that, Sugar Queen?"
"I think I can manage," Katara answered as she browsed through the pages.
Once again, thanks to the lovely Seyary-Minamoto for her permission to use her story. Due to the length of the original text, the second chapter has been split in two, and the Gaang will continue with the chapter after having read another story, so you'll be able to finish this in a couple of chapters' time. Meanwhile, any opinions are warmly welcomed, and see you all next chapter!