Another short one!
Next chapter we'll be back to the average 12,000 to 14,000 words!
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Ghosts of the Past – Chapter Forty
"So, I am. Elle…would you be a dear and get me a sheet of paper, brush and ink from your little bag?" Azula queried in a sanguine voice while she peered down at her still swooning handmaid in her muscular arms.
As soon as Mai and Ty Lee heard those words, they couldn't help but turn to Azula with suspicion in their eyes.
While it may sound like a harmless request, this was Azula they were talking about!
Things were never simple with Azula!
"R-right away! I-if my princess asks for paper, brush and ink I get her paper, brush and ink!" Elle cheered before springing forward out of Azula's arms upon command much to the princess's smug amusement.
The young handmaid bent over to rifle through her back while Azula surveyed her with a pleased palm beneath her chin.
"What…are you planning Azula?" Mai asked in a wary voice while she eyed her sadistic friend with narrowed tawny eyes.
"Oh, nothing Mai. I am just going to…draft a few…new laws." Azula answered in a devilish voice while she turned to peer down at Elle's back while her childhood friends shuddered in uncertainty.
"Laws…Azula?" Ty Lee inquired in a nervous voice only for her leader to ignore her question.
While Elle was fumbling through her ridiculously oversized bag the princess sat behind her watching her every move with a possessive stare.
The girl was digging through her bag in such a comical rush that she didn't seem to be paying much mind when several items fell free from a random pouch.
It was in that moment that Azula's amber golden eyes caught sight of a particularly small item dropping free from the pouch.
Another pill bottle…
That was all it took for the amused look in her eyes to give way to a dangerously narrowed glare.
She watched like a predatory eagle hawk when her handmaid seemed to move to put the item away before she could notice.
How foolish of her.
She would have thought that the girl would have learned by now that nothing escaped her!
Like living lightning Azula took the other two women by surprise when she grasped ahold of Elle's hand before it put the pill bottle away.
"What…is that?" Azula demanded in a much stricter voice than before while the younger girl's blonde hair hung in her eyes once more.
"Azula! You can't hold her wrist like that!" Ty Lee shouted in a furious voice while Mai narrowed her eyes in agreement.
"Be silent Ty Lee! I am not bruising her! Now I will not ask again. What. Is. That?" Azula hissed with a puff of fire escaping her nostrils while Elle shrunk under her imposing glare.
"P-pills." Elle answered weakly while her big sisters stared on in confusion only for her caretaker to purse her lips into a cold scowl.
"I can clearly see that! What are they for!" Azula snapped in a controlling voice that her subordinates did not like while the much smaller girl gazed away.
"Anti-depressants!" Elle cried out with her eyes gazing away from Azula's angered yet grudgingly concerned face.
"Anti-depressants Elle?" Mai repeated with her tawny eyes displaying returning worry for the girl's well being.
"You…take these pills because you are unhappy?" Azula pondered with something akin to a shred of hurt in her voice while Elle's shoulders slumped.
The mere prospect of her handmaid not truly being as overjoyed to be in her service as she had thought was a surprisingly hurtful one.
Afterall that was what she has come to adore most about this one.
Her never wavering smile and the way she serves her with such enthusiasm. Like no servant she's ever had before.
"I-I'm happy with you Azula-sama…I really am. This is my home now. I…love it here. But…some things…will never go away. Even when they are an entire world away. I…. took them to cope when I was with…Felix. And I take them now to cope…when the memory creeps up on me." Elle mumbled in a sullen voice while the princess stared down at her back with her amber golden eyes flashing in murderous hatred for her brother.
Once more the entirety of Team Azula was just floored by how prominent this man was.
Even when he wasn't here.
"So…it's not…me?" Azula requested in a momentary break from her stern voice while she gazed down at her fragile girlfriend with her stern amber golden eyes softening ever so slightly.
"No! What sort of question is that! I love you!" Elle exclaimed with heavy emotion in her innocent eyes after turning around to smile sadly up at Azula's strangely relieved face.
Neither Mai nor Ty Lee so much as even breathed a word after witnessing Azula display a truly uncharacteristic hint of self doubt.
This was the first time in all of their time knowing Azula that they had ever seen their friend express doubt in herself!
It was a brief but meaningful glimpse beneath the princess's flawless exterior.
Ty Lee stared at Azula with sisterly concern in her eyes while she silently urged the unusually uncertain Azula to make a move.
The powerful princess caught the acrobat's imploring gaze before scooting forward until she sat down beside the smaller girl.
She reached out to place a surprisingly comforting arm over the younger girl's shoulder before greedily pulling the saddened girl in.
And once more the two found themselves staring on in amazement to see their friend being gentle once more.
"You are happy…serving me under me…is that right?" Azula questioned with a frown still on her regal lips while she held Elle's small body against her chest once more.
"I…am. I am so very happy whenever I am with you Azula-sama. B-because I know that you will…protect me." Elle admitted with her face underneath her girlfriend's toned arm while she was held against the princess's plated bosom.
For reasons Azula couldn't explain. She found those words pleasing to her ears.
Her handmaid was giving no indication that she was lying.
She couldn't help but feel at ease knowing that this was what Elle wanted.
Yet even still she found herself unable to suppress that sense of murderous rage that boiled in her veins every time she heard about her girlfriend's brother.
"Then…why? Why….do you need them? Is there…something that I am not doing enough for you?" Azula asked with her brows furrowing in frustration while she stared down at the smaller girl clutching at her bicep in the manner that she has come to adore.
"No. It's just that…you've always been strong. I…am not. No matter how strong you are…even if you are the strongest person on the entire planet. Even though you can bend blue fire and generate lightning to your will. You…will never be able to take away my fear of Felix. It's…. just how it is." Elle muttered with her downcast eyes peering at her feet while Azula digested the words her lips curling into a furious glower.
The statement hit all of Team Azula in the chest.
All three of them were wondering what all that the girl's brother did to her.
Thus far Elle has always been vague when she spoke about her brother.
Only giving small glimpses and hints of the torture that she endured at his hands.
"Do…you want me to kill him for you?" Azula announced in a guarded voice with her eyes peering down at Elle leaning into her breasts.
The noblewomen could only marvel once more over just how close the two had become.
It just goes to show just how deeply Elle wormed her way into Azula's cold heart.
It was also rather frightening that at this point the girl could ask Azula to kill anyone she wanted and the princess would almost certainly oblige.
There were many people that would gladly take advantage of having the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation as such a close love interest.
Yet Elle…did not.
That right there showed the difference between Elle and most people.
"If…you wish. But…but I will still fear him even if you kill him. Unless…you can wipe him from my mind. I…will always fear the memory." Elle confessed with a bitter smile while the princess gazed down at her with uncomfortably taken aback amber golden eyes.
The poignant words caused all three of the older girls to stare on in unnerved silence.
"Why? The Crown Princess of the Fire Nation stands beside you! Mai and Ty Lee stand beside you! All of my legions and Zoi stand beside you! So why!" Azula hissed with her teeth ground together while the smaller girl averted her eyes once more.
"Because only a fool would not be afraid of Felix. I-if you ever meet him then you'll understand…that if you so much as take your eyes off him for a moment…he is d-deranged. His behavior is…highly unpredictable. He's…insane. Even government officials won't be caught dead around him without a host of guards to protect them." Elle explained in a quiet voice while Azula listened with an increasingly displeased scowl on her red lips.
"When I set his entire body on fire then we'll see just how terrifying he really is." Azula insisted with her lips curling into a wrathful thin line.
Suffice to say that Ty Lee and Mai couldn't help but shudder at the unsettling description of their young friend's brother.
"W-what makes him so frightening is…that he doesn't have a reason for what he does. He…hurt me for so many years…for no reason. I…asked him why so many times. And he…would just say that he…didn't have a reason. H-he…did it because he enjoyed it." Elle lamented with her face retreating into her knees once more while her three friends listened in growing rage.
'I realize that I am not one to judge…I know well enough that I am no beacon of kindness. But…there is something about this one. I am going to kill him! Slowly!" Azula thought with her fists balling up in her fury while she leaned over her saddened handmaid.
"H-he's a debauched creature. I…may know nothing of sexual pastimes but I know that his tastes are depraved. He doesn't hurt people because he seeks financial gain…or a position of power. It's…because it gives him a twisted sense of pleasure. The more suffering, he causes…the happier he is. He…used to invite girls over…girls his age. And they would run down the stairs in terror…w-with knife wounds." Elle spoke in a near silent voice while even Azula sat in surprise over the shear depravity in her words.
"Isn't…there some sort of city guard…or other law enforcement that can take him into custody so he doesn't keep hurting people?" Mai queried in an unusually enraged voice while she clenched her fist in disgust.
It was no small wonder why Elle clung to Azula like a frightened mouse!
"No. Because he became involved in criminal underworld activity a few years back. They cover up his crimes. In exchange…for favors. He…he uses the organized criminals as an outlet to cause more suffering. And they don't care. Because all they care about…is money." Elle replied just when the princess slid an arm over her shoulder.
And then the younger girl's cheeks turned a shake of pink despite her fear when she was pulled back into the princess's battle worn chest plate.
Even though her princess was covered in sweat from her prolonged battle.
She savored her embrace all the same.
But even her girlfriend couldn't wipe away her fears with her strength alone.
"Then I will just have to kill them…as well. Now calm yourself…my little lady." Azula declared in a beyond powerful voice with her breathing brushing against Elle's shivering neck.
The two noblewomen stared on with anger in their eyes while the princess demonstrated a stunningly affectionate side by holding the girl's head into her bosom.
"B-but the worst thing…is that the criminals have a hired killer at their disposal. A professional...a f-former soldier. They…just call him Strados. I-I met him a long-time a-ago." Elle revealed in a voice of rapidly rising emotion while Azula stared down at her with her amber golden eyes shimmering in her wrath.
All the while she memorized every detail that her young admirer told her while she began to stroke her fingers against her love interest's trembling cheek.
"You…don't have to say anymore. Not if you don't want to." Azula assured in a cold voice while she breathed against her cowering pet's ear.
Only to find herself gazing down in surprise when the young girl began to shake in sorrow like she has only seen from her before on that night she came to her chamber on the warship.
"H-he killed my mother!" Elle announced without warning while her three friends stared at her in shock like never before.
They couldn't believe that for even as sick as Elle's brother was.
That he was associating with a group of people that worked with his own mother's killer!
"E-Elle." Ty Lee stammered with tears in her eyes while she balled up her fists in her anger.
It made her furious that such a sweet girl has been tortured so cruelly!
So horribly that even Azula felt pity for her!
"H-he was there on that day. H-he and his men were with the soldiers that attacked the town. T-they… even almost killed Felix! I-I'll never forget his face or what he said to me! T-the way his hair blew in his emotionless blue eyes!" Elle cried with tears in her eyes while Azula's strong arms crushed her into her armored breasts with the scent of heat and sweat upon her battle armor.
But she didn't care.
Because Azula-sama was her savior.
An intense heat began to emanate from the princess's body while she glared down with her amber golden eyes agape in unadulterated rage.
All the while her bending began to hear up while beads of sweat dripped down her enraged face while she smashed the tiny girl's crying face into her chest.
Mai and Ty Lee sat in a helpless silence while they watched the poor girl bawl her eyes out for the second time in under an hour.
Only now were they all able to see the extent of the gentle hearted girl's torture!
"There…. there my peasant. Don't cry. I once told you that if there was anything wrong…anything at all. That I would mend it…and so I will." Azula hissed with her chin pressing into the top of her traumatized admirer's head while Elle continued to cry her heart out.
The two noblewomen were just as stunned by their leader's growing compassion for Elle as they were in the girl's hidden torments.
And even though they knew the princess would never say it aloud.
They could tell that Azula regretted ever asking Elle about her pills.
"H-he said is t-this your mother. A-and then he shot my mother. I-I tried so hard to help her walk b-but I was too weak to carry an adult. And then he…tried to attack me but she protected me. And then…and then she pushed me away. S-she told me to go get to safety and then I ran for some time…for how long I am not sure. A-all I remember is that I heard the sound of gun shots firing off all throughout the city and then I heard one final gun shot. I-I will never forget the sound of that for as long as I live!" Elle blurted out in a broken voice while she shook like a leak against her girlfriend's armored bosom.
The three listened in a horrified silence.
Azula had already known. Not every detail but she had known.
But it was still jarring even to a woman as cold as her that her girlfriend watched her own mother die in such a gruesome manner.
Mai stared on with her tawny eyes as wide as can be while her bruised face contorted into a furious glower.
What a monster!
Ty Lee still sat with tears streaming down her cheeks while her entire body trembled in her rage.
"I will kill him for you." Azula assured in a protectively dominant voice with her fingers sweeping across her little girlfriend's crying cheeks.
"A-and soon after that…t-they killed my father too." Elle murmured in a forlorn voice while Azula peered over her shoulder with wrathful amber golden eyes.
'Who would have ever thought that I would one day feel this way about a commoner?' Azula thought with her lips pursing into a glacial scowl while Elle's head sunk into her chest.
Team Azula sat in a muted quiet while they processed their innocent young friend's heartbreaking confession.
It was truly, truly horrifying.
Judging by Elle's persistent smile they would have never thought that she endured such a brutal trauma at only five years old.
"And t-then they caught up to me a-and I was knocked out cold." Elle admitted while the princess gazing down with alarm in her amber golden eyes while her mouth hung open ajar in a newfound sense of dread.
The three highborn women sat there in a grim silence with their eyes as wide as can be all the while wondering if the man had…
Touched her.
"Did…he…touch you?" Azula pondered with fire already spewing from her lips while she continued holding her saddened pet in a peculiar compulsion to comfort her admirer.
"No…t-they took me and two other girls'…Naoki and Katsu to the river. And then…and then they…" Elle revealed in a shaken voice while Azula listened with unusual shock in her enraged eyes while the smaller girl continued to shake in fear.
Those names…the girl mentioned those names before as the two that approached her before she came from…wherever it was that she came from.
The two noblewomen stared at the crying girl in an apprehensive silence while the princess still sat with Elle's face in her arms.
"Enough. Shush now. You have said all that I need to hear." Azula ordered with her arms holding Elle's sobbing face into her breasts.
"A-Azula-sama." Elle stammered in a sorrowful voice while the powerful woman growled against her wet cheek.
"Must I punish you?" Azula questioned in a terribly intimidating voice while her fingers caressed her sensitive pet's damp cheek.
"A-and that's why Felix is so dangerous. He…he doesn't even care that he killed our parents. He…says that he won't let the past…hinder his…b-business." Elle sniffled with her face burrowing into Azula while domineering amber golden eyes narrowed down at the back of her head.
If you asked Azula it didn't make any sense for the girl to fear her sexual sadist of a brother more than the hired killer.
And it was obvious to her that the assassin was the more dangerous of the two.
But either way…she didn't approve of the girl fearing either one.
Mai and Ty Lee sat with shock in their eyes while they digested their young friend's confession.
It was truly jarring.
Not only did this 'Strados' sound like a psychopath that enjoyed killing parents and tormenting the children afterward.
They had a newfound understanding in regards to just how cruel her brother was to not even care about killing the man that murdered his parents.
The fact that he would rather torture his own sister said all that they needed to know about this Felix!
"Hm. Punishment it is then." Azula drawled in a captivating voice with her chin pressing down on the back of Elle's head while she frowned down at her handmaid's pain-stricken face.
"Y-yes Azula-sama. As…you say." Elle mumbled in a weak voice with her eyes closing against older woman's body while the princess brushed her finger against her cheek.
"What am I ever going to do with you peasant? I told you no more tears and not even an hour later…and you are crying again." Azula sighed with a shake of her head while she continued to pet the smaller girl's tear-stained cheek.
With her every breath her chest rose and fell while the dainty girl hid in her breasts while her friends sat in silence while she tenderly stroked her fingers against her little admirer's cheek.
Only to gaze down at her handmaid with her brows furrowing in a questioning manner when she heard a muffled snore from her breast.
"Are you…sleeping? What do I look like? Your bed?" Azula snorted with her cold eyes peering down at Elle's now dozing face while the girl curled up against her chest.
"J-just let her sleep for a few minutes Azula. She's…been through a lot." Ty Lee spoke in a saddened voice with her fingers wiping at her eyes.
"I…didn't know that she went through all of that." Mai commented in a saddened voice at long last while Azula leaned back on her bottom with Elle in her arms.
"I swear this peasant is lucky that I like her this much…" Azula trailed off with another sigh while she massaged the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"Yeah…Azula she is." Ty Lee agreed with a sad smile while she gazed at her adopted sister adorably snoring against her leader's chest.
"Listen here peasant. If you are going to use me as a pillow then I will just have to relocate you to a location of my choosing." Azula remarked with a haughty roll of her eyes before she gently grasped ahold of her sleeping handmaid's shoulder.
And then the other two women watched in an astonished silence when she tenderly lowered Elle's head onto her right thigh.
The exhausted blonde never so much as even moved a muscle while she continued sleeping with tears staining her fair cheeks.
Azula lowered a hand into the snoring handmaid's hair once more just as she began to pet the drowsing girl once more.
Indeed, what was she going to do with this one?
Such a troublesome girl…
But still perfect all the same.
AN:
Alright, so when Elle was little a hired killer lead armed forces against Elle's town. He went on a hunt, and he murdered her parents. He emotionally tormented Elle, her brother and some other kids. But he ultimately let them go. Why? We'll find that out later.
The important take away from this is that Elle fears this man. But she fears her brother more.
It's because her brother lost his mind in the wake of the trauma that they went through. And he started taking his frustrations for their low status in the world out on her. It's because she sought comfort from him after they watched their family die and he only offered more terror.
Basically, her brother believes that only the cruelest and most ruthless people will survive in the world that they live in. And Elle believes in showing kindness to others because that's what her mother taught her.
Strados will come into play in book two. And whether or not Azula will be able to avenge Elle's parents will be revealed when we get there.
That memory back then was also when she met those two girls that she keeps talking about, Naoki and Haley. Before he let them go he humiliated the three of them.
I want to state clearly that he did not molest them. They were left near deaths door and they only survived by a stroke of luck.
They will also come into play in book two. For now, we're just getting to know about Elle's past and setting the scene for the story beyond the One Hundred Year War.
We also learned more about Elle's brother and why she is so scared of him.
This also goes to show that there is at least some level of chaos in Elle's world. And that it isn't a perfect place despite her cheerful disposition.
And above all we saw how Azula was frustrated that she can't remove Elle's fear of these two people from her mind.
And it was touching to see Azula express aggravation over why Elle had to take her antidepressants.
Since the world of Avatar is large modeled after Asian culture I decided to make it so that it was considered out of the ordinary for Elle to pop pills. Kind of like the difference between Western medicine and Eastern medicine.
And we learned that despite Azula's inherent ruthlessness, that she just cannot handle watching Elle cry her eyes out.
It is important to keep in mind that Elle is still very young. And that this is the first time that she has had a chance to talk about her pain with someone.
Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are very much the supportive family that she has longed for ever since her parents were killed. She never had a chance to get over the loss of her parents because she was always depressed and unhappy.
Now that she has a support system she will be able to finally work towards overcoming her past. And becoming a stronger person with Azula's assistance.
Anyhow!
Sorry for the depressing chapter.
But next chapter Azula will make an attempt to cheer Elle up and we'll get to see more ElZula fluff!