So I have a little question...In the actual series on the Day of the Black Sun, where are Mai and Ty Lee? I mean Azula is on her own with two Dai Lee agents, but Mai and Ty Lee would have made great bodyguards as well...
Chapter 9:
Ozai pointed both of his fists at her. Twin jets of fire simultaneously erupted from his hands and slammed into both of Azula's sides. She tried with no avail to hold back a scream of anguish and horror. The fire scorched her skin, melted into her flesh, and licked its way across her torso. Azula tumbled into an abyss of sheer agony.
She didn't even realize when her father stopped burning her. Azula lay on her back, moaning and swallowing back sobs. She could vaguely hear the crowd exclaiming at the top of its lungs. Two shadows appeared next to her, and one of them draped a red robe over her body. Azula comprehended that her shirt had been reduced to ashes long ago.
"What are you two doing here?" she heard her father snarl. "Get out!"
"Please, Lord Ozai!" a familiar voice begged. "Don't hurt her anymore!"
"Out of my way, girl!" the Fire Lord hissed. Azula gazed up blearily and saw Ozai looking down at her fiercely. "I hope you have learned a lesson about failure, and disobeying me," he growled. "Due to your defiance, I will not allow you to come back home until you have properly gotten rid of the avatar as well as your brother!"
Azula felt herself choke at the words. Could it possibly be?
Before she could respond, she felt her arms being grabbed from both sides. She was being hoisted up by two people. Azula was hastily dragged through the crowds that parted straight down the middle in order to let her out. She struggled not to look into the eyes of the people who had witnessed her humiliating and brutal punishment. Just yesterday they had feared her. And now, they were merely shocked to the core.
The two individuals holding Azula began to quicken their pace. Azula felt her head loll as blackness threatened to overtake her. Before she knew it, the doors to her room were shoved open, and she was gently laid on top of her soft bed.
"Azula!" A high-pitched voice gasped. "Oh, Azula!"
Azula opened her eyes and saw Mai and Ty Lee staring at her. Ty Lee was reduced to tears, while Mai's usual bored expression had turned into one of dismay. Azula felt a terrible emotion begin to build up in her throat. Ty Lee reached down and dabbed her eyes with a towel. That was when Azula realized streaks of tears were streaming down her face. She struggled to get back in control.
"Mai...Ty Lee..." Azula weakly croaked.
"Mai, send for a nurse immediately!"
"...No," Azula's voice shook. "Ty Lee, I just want to be alone."
Ty Lee shook her head vigorously. "No, Azula! You must be taken care of immediately!"
When Azula's nurses came a few minutes later, they expelled all visitors from her room. When Mai and Ty Lee reluctantly left, Azula turned to the servants and nurses.
"Get out! All of you!"
They looked back at her, stunned. "But princess, I insist..."
"If you wish to keep your lives, GET OUT!" Azula mustered all of her strength into generating blue flames that dashed around the room.
The terrified servants scrambled out, but Azula did not take pleasure in seeing their fear. It no longer seemed to matter. All that mattered was that she had been banished.
Banished!
The word repeated itself over and over in her head. No, Azula snapped to herself. This is not a banishment. It's simply a mission that my father sent me on. I cannot return home until I have rid the world of Zuko and the avatar. She clenched her teeth.
Without wasting another minute, Azula bolted up from her bed and opened her window. Using a steady jet of fire, Azula propelled herself into the air, speeding toward the area where the airships lay. She flew impulsively, half delirious and crazed from pain. She must find the avatar and her brother.
She must regain her honor.
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Azula awoke with a gasp. Sunlight shone in her face, which was pressed against something very furry. The pain she felt in the dream corresponded with the pain that she began to feel creeping into her body. She lay there for a few seconds, shuddering at the recent memories.
A breeze traveled through the air, making her cheeks feel unnaturally cold. Wet tears left tracks on her face. Azula immediately tried to wipe them away, forgetting that her hands were bound behind her back. She resorted to awkwardly wiping her face on the mat of fur that she was lying in.
Humph, Azula inwardly sneered. I could easily burn through this rope and make an escape. But common sense got the better of her. In her current condition, there was no way she could even make it a couple steps. Pressing her lips together grimly, Azula found herself speculating about how in the world she managed to pilot that air balloon by herself.
Azula closed her eyes, sucking in deep breaths and trying to keep the pain from consuming her. An eternity passed, and yet Azula's headache did not seem to want to go away, and neither did the raw throbbing of her skin. She sighed and shifted uncomfortably. As she moved, the ground beneath her seemed to shake and rumble.
She hadn't noticed it before, but the ground she was lying on was very, very warm. Azula had blamed it on her fever, but now she realized that the heat was not coming from inside of her, but from the outside.
It couldn't be.
The avatar's bison yawned, letting out a deep, throaty noise. A small yelp escaped Azula's lips.
"Oh come on now. Don't tell me you're afraid of a big fuzzy ball like Appa," a haughty voice came.
Azula felt a scowl making its way onto her face. She couldn't see who the speaker was, but she could hazard a guess. The water tribe boy sauntered over to her, looking dominant and cocky. It made her want to burn his face off. Sokka saw the look on her face and became slightly annoyed.
"Hey, I'm not exactly happy to be here either. Aang is training with Toph and Zuko, Katara's making sure they don't get into trouble, and I get to be stuck with babysitting you."
"Well then we'd both be happy if you'd just leave," Azula hissed.
"I have no other choice, so why don't you just sit there and shut up," Sokka said, with a superior tone in his voice.
Azula felt her anger spike. "I do not take orders from a peasant!" She tried to sit up, and was delivered an agonizing amount of searing pain. The throbbing ache shot from her head, ribs, and stomach. The world began to spin, and Azula promptly collapsed back onto Appa's back.
Sokka stared for a couple of moments. He wasn't sure what he should do. Seeing Azula try to sit up and then pass out was pretty funny, just as much as it wasn't. Sokka hopped onto the saddle and gingerly approached the princess. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes squeezed shut tightly.
Pushing back all his other thoughts, Sokka carefully reached a hand forward and brushed it against Azula's forehead, checking her temperature. Her skin was hot and clammy. Just then, the princess began to stir again, and Sokka quickly retrieved his hand and sat back.
Azula's slowly blinked herself awake. She noted that Sokka, one of her enemies, was sitting right in front of her, but was too dizzy to care.
"I'm going to ask you some questions, and you better answer," Sokka crossed his arms.
"Don't order me around, peasant," Azula snarled softly.
"So tell me," Sokka frowned. "Why did you come here all by yourself? Where's the weird acrobat girl or knife-throwing one?"
"I don't think I care to tell you," Azula whispered harshly.
"Look, you were the one who came crashing into our group. I'd say you owe us an explanation."
"If you think I'm going to tell you anything, then you're out of luck, peasant."
"Well the fact that you're in our midst can't be good news..."
Azula smirked at this.
"...Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slit your throat as we speak," Sokka pushed as much threat into his voice as possible.
"I don't have a reason," Azula shrugged. "Go ahead and do it. Kill me now."
Sokka was taken aback. He should have known that Azula would not be fazed by such empty threats. But he wanted to make sure she knew he wasn't joking around. In one fluid movement, the edge of his boomerang was pressing against her throat. "I meant what I said about killing you."
"Do it." Azula's voice was low, chilling, almost. Sokka stared into her deep golden orbs, expecting to see deception and trickery. Instead, he saw a storm of emotions; confusion, defiance, and...fear?
Sokka lowered the weapon. Azula did not avert her eyes.
"I knew you didn't have the guts to end it," she declared.
In less than a second, Sokka sprung up and grabbed her by the shoulders. Azula winced horribly as his rough hands pressed against the burns that had traveled up there.
"Listen up!" Sokka snapped. "I simply spared your life because I couldn't stand killing a weak, wounded, and defenseless girl!" He ignored Azula's murderous glare. "But if you so much as take a step toward endangering any of my friends, your head will be rolling on the ground before you know it!"
"You wouldn't be able to kill me even if you wanted to," Azula retorted.
Sokka squeezed her harder, causing the princess to gasp. "We'll see about that."
He released her, and Azula tried not to show too much relief. The water tribe boy stalked away, sulking, and Azula wearily lay her head down.
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Nothing much to say, except review, review, review! ...Pretty please?