Here we are with another update.
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And as usual, if you find the story to your liking please continue to do so.
The Brother – Chapter Ninety-Nine
There were no words to describe how Team Azula felt right now.
All of the words that they could think of.
Awkward, furious, and hateful failed to properly convey their feelings on their situation.
And now they all sat in restraints with their backs against the cold steel of the desolate military prison.
They stared with varying ranges of emotion in their seething eyes back at the young man seated across from them.
As poor Elle shook in her seat with her back against the wall while her amber eyes were still as wide as can be.
"Why the long face dear sister? You look like you've seen a ghost." Felix taunted with a small smirk on his lips while he gazed back at his little sister's still pale face.
He regarded the older girl's enraged faces with a devious smile.
"How…how did you get here Felix?" Elle asked in a barely perceivable voice with her amber eyes staring in dread back at her older brother's ever amused face.
As her princess sat imposingly above her with her beautiful regal lips entrenched in a tight glower.
"I have been wondering when I would get a chance to meet you. So, that I could have the pleasure of killing you myself." Azula spoke in a chilling voice while her callous amber golden eyes glared intimidatingly back at the young man's gratingly entertained face.
"I have been dying to meet you too...Firecracker!" Felix exclaimed with a cackle while the highborn women stared back in bewilderment.
The princess's amber golden eyes narrowed into slits as she cast a piercing stare in the boy's direction.
As her mind raced with how the boy even knew who she was.
"You monster! I am going to blacken your aura and your face for all of the cruel abuse that you put Elle through!" Ty Lee exclaimed with sisterly rage in her usually kind voice while glared daggers back at the boy's amused face.
"Why did they put us in here with him?" Mai grumbled in a seething voice with her tawny eyes staring coldly back at the man.
"I wager to make our experience here as unpleasant as possible." Zoi commented flatly as she gazed back at the young man's demented face with stony golden eyes.
"H-how…how did you know about Azula-sama? She just got here. You couldn't possibly know who she was." Elle stated with her paranoid amber eyes staring in great distrust back at her brother's devious countenance.
Her four highborn friends exchanged a quiet look before they turned their cold eyes back to the chained young man seated across from them.
"Azula-sama? You call her Azula-sama?" Felix queried in a taunting voice with his loud laughter echoing in the cell while he gazed back at the princess's seething amber golden gaze.
"S-she's royalty and it is only proper that she be treated with respect." Elle answered in a fretful voice as she chewed on her lip while her big sisters glared back at her older brother's cruel face.
Azula's much taller frame sat above her small servant with her icy amber golden eyes wrathfully burning a hole through the boy's cackling forehead.
"I take it that my sister has told you ladies all about me and all of the horrible things that she claims that I have done to her..." Felix trailed off in a playful voice with his amber eyes gazing delightfully back at the older girl's enraged faces.
Ty Lee nearly snapped out a venomous retort only for the princess's ruthless voice to beat her to it.
"You are a fool if you think that you can deceive me. And twice the fool if you presume yourself worthy of my time." Azula sneered in a sophisticated voice with her full lips smacked together in her fury while she glared back at the man's chuckling visage.
"Stop avoiding the question Felix. How do you know about my friends?" Elle demanded in an increasingly frustrated voice while her sensitive amber eyes glared back at her brother's smirking face.
Mai and Ty Lee couldn't help but find themselves unnerved by the boy's almost Azulalike behavior.
It was eerily similar to the way that Azula took such great joy in taunting and demeaning Zuko!
"I wasn't aware that you were into older girls' dear sister." Felix stated with another jeering chuckle while his little sister just stared back at him with hateful amber eyes.
He gazed back at the princess's indignant direction while the woman's amber golden eyes burned with the fires of war.
The princess and her three noblewomen companions stared back at the boy's humored face with poorly concealed distaste in their eyes.
Yet when they turned to gaze in their young friend's direction.
It was evident by the unnaturally dour look on Elle's face that the girl was not amused by her brother's behavior.
"By all means continue to test my patience. All you're doing is making your inevitable death at my hands all the more brutal." Azula snarled with her terrifying amber golden eyes glaring frigidly in Felix's smiling direction.
"I must admit you've surprised me Elle. I never thought you were capable of making friends. Much less scoring such a fine piece of ass." Felix mocked with his glasses shaking over the bridge of his nose while he leered back at Azula's callously glaring face.
The captain allowed herself a small snort of entertainment only for her mighty princess to turn to cast a foul glare at her through the corner of her eye.
"The majesty of Azula-sama's buttocks is none of your business Felix!" Elle exclaimed in an innocent voice while her big sister's fell into a comical silence beside her.
And for the briefest of moments the princess almost allowed smirked in approval over her young servant's adorable devotion.
Only for her cold eyes to harden once more as she returned her soul piercing gaze back to the young man's aggravating face.
"In any event. Seeing as it will be quite some time before any of us are able to move. We should use this time to get to know each other better." Felix commented with a still present smirk while the highborn women stared back at him in unconcealed loathing.
"Please. We already know all that we need to know about you." Azula snorted with her malicious amber golden eyes still eying the man in a predatory fashion while Ty Lee growled in agreement.
Elle sat with her lips still in a glum frown as she still glared back at her brother's cruel face.
"Oh, I disagree. Firecracker." Felix replied with another cackle while Azula's amber golden eyes burned in great annoyance over the nickname.
"I see that getting stabbed in the neck hasn't impeded your ability to run your mouth." Elle muttered in an unusually grouchy voice.
Only for the girls to glare back at the young man when he let out another raucous laugh.
"It wouldn't Elle. Your stab is about as formidable as a nip from a puppy." Felix scoffed with his head against the wall while his sister turned her sorrowful eyes away once more.
The four Fire Nation women still gazed back at the boy with utterly cold stares that were devoid of warmth.
"You'll find that our aim is much more lethal." Mai commented in a frigid voice with her icy tawny eyes glaring back at the boy.
"Despair not. I'll show her how to stab deeper next time." Azula spoke in a ruthless voice with her callous eyes staring glacially at Felix's smiling face while Elle almost smiled up at her.
Only for Felix to erupt into another wild fit of laughter as he sunk back against the wall while he gazed back in amusement at the bizarre couple.
The princess's tyrannical eyes formed into slits as she still glared back at the laughing man.
As Mai and Ty Lee gazed on with a look of unsettlement in their eyes over the man's blatantly psychotic behavior.
"Your brother certainly seems insane." Zoi stated in a stony voice while her golden eyes calmly observed the violently laughing man.
"He's not. Not in the sense that he doesn't know what he is doing. He just doesn't care about anyone but himself." Elle explained in a troubled voice while her friends listened attentively as they glared back at her amused older brother.
"I have to say sister. You and this firecracker make for a wonderful comedy." Felix chuckled with a smirk on his lips while Azula's amber golden eyes boiled over in murderous anger.
Only for the unusually despondent teenager to cut the princess off before she could snap at her brother once more.
"Where are we Felix?" Elle questioned in a still distressed voice while her amber eyes stared in discomfort back at her brother's viciously smiling visage.
"Somewhere very cold." Felix answered in a purposefully taunting voice while the princess rolled her eyes in aggravation.
"I know that it is cold here Felix! I want to know where!" Elle exclaimed in a frustrated voice while Felix smiled back at her.
"Greenland." Felix spoke in a bored voice as he gazed back into his little sister's stunned amber eyes while her highborn friends listened in confusion.
"G-Greenland? That far north?" Elle stammered in a disbelieving voice while her princess scowled down at her through the corner of her strict eye.
"Servant! I command you to tell me about this Greenland." Azula ordered in a controlling voice while the three noblewomen listened in fascination.
Before her callous eyes darted back to the young man in renewed anger when he openly laughed at her once more.
"I-it's the world's largest island. And one of the coldest territories on Earth. Not many people live here. But considering the location…those soldiers might be from an American faction…" Elle answered without delay in a devoted voice while her princess rose an elegant brow from where she sat over her.
Only for the girl's eyes to marginally widen in surprise when Felix managed to ever so slightly bend his head forward!
"How is he able to move?" Ty Lee asked in a worried voice while she found herself still unable to move her limbs.
The princess clenched her jaw as she continued to stare imposingly back at Felix's smirking face.
"Y-you can move Felix?" Elle stuttered with a great increase in fear in her panicked voice while her brother laughed loudly once more.
"Only my head dear sister." Felix answered with a chuckle while the girls watched him closely with wary looks in their eyes.
The highborn women exchanged uncertain looks through the corner of their eyes.
Only to turn their collective gazes back to the obviously demented boy.
They now gazed down in bewilderment and disgust when they saw that the man was trying to scoop up an object off the floor with his teeth.
It was a small white stick with a yellowed end.
"Your brother is an annoyance Elle." Azula spoke in a cold voice with her amber golden eyes glaring down at the man as he grasped at the cigarette with his teeth.
"H-he's much more than an annoyance Azula-sama…" Elle trailed off in a sensitive voice as she chewed on her lip.
The noblewomen's eyes flashed with another spark of protective anger over the reminder of their young friend's torments.
"The guards were kind enough to leave me with a cigarette. Likely because they thought I couldn't reach it. Sadly, I don't have any means to light it." Felix sighed in a melodramatic voice as he pulled his head back with his teeth gripping at his unlit cigarette.
"Uncultured peasant." Azula insulted in a pompous voice with hatred in her tyrannical eyes.
Only for her amber golden gaze to narrow venomously when the boy fell forward on his numbed legs with his chains rattling behind him.
Just as Elle let out a startled cry when Felix came to a stop hanging with his face before Azula's lividly murderous face.
The noblewomen were silent as they watched in suspense when the man laughed wildly in the princess's glaring amber golden gaze.
Their young friend shook in fear in her seat over her brother's uncomfortably close proximity.
"Oh, that's right! You spit fire don't you Firecracker! Why don't you give me a light!" Felix exclaimed with glee in his voice while the princess's callous amber golden eyes glowered furiously mere inches from his forehead.
The three noblewomen sat there gazing back at the boy in utterly disbelief over his gall.
"Get out of Azula-sama's face Felix!" Elle cried out in a loyal voice with her amber eyes wide in concern while Azula coldly glared back into her older brother's looming face.
Ty Lee watched the scene with her brown-gray eyes agape in astonishment over the boy's audacity.
Never has she ever seen anyone so openly taunt Azula directly to her face!
And for once, she was finding herself silently hoping that the princess would teach the horrible boy a lesson that he would never forget.
"If it's a light that you want fool. Then it is a light that you'll get." Azula hissed with her fearsome teeth ground together while she let out a wrathful snort in Felix's cackling face.
"Then hurry up Firecracker. I haven't had a smoke in over a week! Unless of course…you can't." Felix taunted in a devilish voice with his lips pulling into a devious smirk while Azula's seething nostrils exhaled dangerously over his cigarette.
And then the princess's warm breath swept over the end of the cigarette while her murderous eyes stared back into the young man's amused face.
Just before a tiny ember was blown into the air over the cigarette.
Azula's brilliant amber golden eyes now glanced down with a sudden flash of calculation in her gaze to see that the cigarette had just barely caught flame.
The other girls gazed on with surprise in their eyes to see that princess had managed to produce a teeny flame.
Before the princess and the captain quickly shared an astute look through the corners of their eyes.
And then the princess returned her frozen stare back to the now burning cigarette while she regarded the boy's delighted face with a cruel stare.
'That is a pitiful flame. But perhaps in a few hours…my bending will return to me?' Azula thought with her harsh eyes taking on a methodical glare while the man took a joyful drag of his cigarette.
Just as a puff of foul-smelling smoke was blown in her face while she shook in fury in her seat with her crimson lips still smashing into a seething glower.
The three noblewomen scrunched up their nose in distaste over the burning cigarette as they all still glared back at the chained man's entertained face.
As Elle coughed as she inhaled the smoke when it blew in her face.
"I have a feeling that you and I are going to have a lot of fun together…sister." Felix remarked with a dark smile on his lips while Azula's amber golden eyes now flickered with a look of unmistakable rage.
As the rest of the team now stared on with an expression of disbelief in their eyes to find out that the boy knew more about them than they knew.
The girls were silent while the princess stared even more coldly back into the man's amused amber eyes.
"What...did you just call me?" Azula questioned with her teeth bared like a violent dragon while Felix's grin grew even larger.
"It seems only fitting that I call you that…seeing that you are my future sister in law." Felix spoke as he erupted into another fit of taunting laughter while Azula's amber golden eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise.
Before the princess narrowed her piercing eyes once more.
She gritted her teeth with undeniable confusion flashing before her eyes.
As her companions gazed on with stunned looks in their widened eyes.
'How does this worm know so much about me?' Azula thought with a look of ever-growing rage in her eyes while the boy let out an arrogant laugh as he exhaled smoke before her face.
"How do you know about that Felix! What aren't you telling me!" Elle blurted out with her amber eyes wide in worry while her brother smiled coyly back at her.
"How do I know? The same way that you and your friends know about how I killed Gregory and Tomas." Felix admitted in a provocating voice while the five girls stared back with speechless looks in their eyes.
And just like that an unnerved silence once again consumed the air of the frigid cell.
"Y-you know that we saw that?" Elle asked in an anxious voice while her brother laughed once more.
"Did you really think that you could see into my mind without me getting a glimpse into yours?" Felix replied in a vicious voice while the team listened in astonishment.
And that was all it took for an unnerving realization to sweep over all of them.
"W-what? You saw…into my mind?" Elle gulped with a familiar fear building up in her widened eyes while her brother smiled as he tilted his head to gaze back at her.
"I saw into all of your minds." Felix declared while the princess's amber golden eyes now widened in comprehension.
The highborn women exchanged a shocked look with one another.
"I don't believe it. When the old sage gave us a glimpse into his mind. He saw into ours." Zoi stated in a taken aback voice with her golden eyes now wide in understanding.
"How charming." Mai snorted in a disgusted voice with her tawny eyes still expressing her hate for the boy.
Ty Lee shuddered with her brown-gray eyes still glaring back at the young man.
As the princess's amber golden gaze now burned with an infuriated frustration over knowing that her inner secrets had been compromised.
"What did you see?" Azula demanded in a glacial voice with her teeth bared in her predatory anger while Felix smiled as he chewed on his cigarette.
"Some minds were more interesting than others. But it was your mind, that fascinated me the most." Felix purred with his amber eyes gazing back into Azula's imperious amber golden eyes while she strictly met his gaze.
The other girls sat in an unnerved quiet beside their leader.
They weren't at all surprised to hear that another sadist found the princess's mind to be the most delightful of all.
"The mind of a great conqueror is always more complex than those of lesser people." Azula spoke in a haughty voice with her head held as high as possible.
Her childhood friends rolled their eyes outside of her line of vision.
'Leave it to Azula to be as arrogant as ever even when she is bound in chains.' Mai thought with her tawny eyes taking on a deadpan stare.
"You see the difference between me and you, are that you are a schemer. Whereas I am a doer." Felix stated as he tipped his head back while the princess's amber golden eyes observed him in a bored manner.
Elle chewed on her lower lip as she shivered in her seat gazing back at her depraved brother in ever present distrust.
"A doer?" Azula asked in a disinterested voice while her sophisticated eyes stared back into the man's joyful amber gaze.
"You can't bring yourself to act without premeditation. But me…I don't plan. I don't need a reason to act. I just do." Felix stated in a low voice with his glasses over the rim of his nose while Azula let out a derisive scoff.
"In other words, you're an imbecile." Azula snorted with a conceited roll of her eyes while her subordinates still directed hateful stares at the boy.
Only for her icy eyes to narrow in renewed fury when the man released another obnoxious cackle.
"Actually, it's the opposite. You are the fool." Felix taunted with his laughter echoing throughout the cell while the princess's amber golden eyes began to simmer in anger.
"The very moment that I regain my bending we'll find out who is the fool!" Azula snarled with her tyrannical eyes never leaving the man's entertained face.
Her nose twitched in revulsion when the repulsive cloud was blown in the air once more.
She found herself strangely becoming increasingly more aggravated when the sound of her young girlfriend coughing once again flowed into her ears.
"How long are we going to have to listen to this guy talk?" Mai complained with a disgusted expression gracing her face while she scowled back at Felix.
Felix continued to lean in tauntingly before Azula's seething face with his cigarette between his lips.
The noblewomen soon found themselves flinching over how utterly ruthless the princess's gaze was becoming.
There was no doubt in their minds that the boy would be screaming in agony if the restraints weren't there to protect him.
"I thrive outside the bounds of control. While you grasp at your hair trying so hard to control even the closest people around you. I am that which you cannot control. I am chaos." Felix announced with his lips curving into a proud smirk while Azula's eyes boiled over in even greater fury.
"There is nothing that I cannot control. Least of all not some sex crazed boy." Azula scoffed in a voice of absolute dominance while her eyes narrowed back into the man's loudly laughing face.
Only for the young man to erupt into unabashed laughter once more while the noblewomen stared on in a mix of perplexity and disgust.
The young girl still gazed back at her brother with unusually glum amber eyes.
"Chaos by its nature cannot be controlled. Every tyrant throughout history has tried and failed. And so, will you. And so, will Reiko." Felix retorted with manic laughter overflowing into the air while the princess observed him with cold amber golden eyes.
As the noblewomen shared another quiet look before they turned their eyes back to glaring at the seemingly insane boy.
Only for Ty Lee's voice to cut into the air before the princess could even get out a response.
"Like you tried to control every aspect of Elle's life! You're a piece of shit! That's what you are!" Ty Lee shouted with righteous anger in her voice while Mai glowered in agreement.
"O-oneesan…" Elle mumbled in a moved voice with a sliver more cheer in her amber eyes while Ty Lee offered her a reassuring stare.
Ty Lee let out a protective growl that almost had her smiling shyly.
In fact, all four Fire Nation women were staring menacingly back at the man's unbothered face.
"Do you seriously have any idea what we are going to do to you for what you did to her?" Mai spoke in a completely merciless voice while Elle trembled in appreciation beside her.
"I have to concur with Saolin. We are going to fuck you up." Zoi stated in a stony voice with her golden eyes momentarily taking on her signature focused death stare.
"M-minasan." Elle stuttered in a timid voice only to find herself shivering pleasantly when her mistress released a dominant growl above her.
"Indeed. The pain that we are going to inflict upon you will be unimaginable." Azula growled in a malicious voice with her terrifying amber golden eyes having narrowed into dragon like slits.
She let out a wrathful snort with her warm breath brushing ominously against Felix's amused cheek.
"Azula-sama." Elle murmured with her amber eyes gazing up at Azula in admiration while the woman stared commandingly back into her brother's sadistic amber eyes.
"You ladies are welcome to try! If you ever get out of here alive that is!" Felix exclaimed with a smile on his lips while the four women still glared into his skull.
"Oh, we'll do much more than try." Azula spoke in an eerily dangerous voice with her icy eyes meeting the man's grating gaze.
Only for her amber golden eyes to boil over yet again when the man broke out into obnoxious laughter once more.
"Go back to your home where you belong little Princess. You wouldn't last one week here. The people here would gobble you up and spit you out." Felix commented in a goading voice while Azula's monstrous amber golden eyes grew wide in outrage.
But before the princess could even get a chance to snap out another retort.
She found herself turning her head in surprise to hear her captain speak up in her defense.
"I believe you'll find that our Crown Princess is not like all of the other delicate princesses. She is a pillar of strength, and her power is unfathomable. You'll come to understand that soon enough." Zoi announced in a passionate voice with her loyal golden eyes staring back at Azula's gratified face.
Her two fellow noblewomen and their young friend listened in fascination in their chains beside her.
As the mighty princess held her head higher with her amber golden eyes staring back at her devoted warrior in recognition.
"Perhaps she is strong physically. But is she strong mentally?" Felix responded in a sadistic voice with his amber eyes staring back into the princess's bloodthirsty amber golden gaze.
"Azula-sama's mind is plenty strong Felix." Elle stated in a faithful voice with her amber eyes glaring back at her brother's humored face.
Her princess peered back at her through the corner of her eye with a momentary look of approval in her cold stare.
"When I was in your mind, I was able to see just what my sister is to you and the extent that you have latched onto her." Felix mocked with his face leaning in even closer while Azula's enraged amber golden eyes stared right back at him.
'Just how much did this fool see of my mind?' Azula thought with her ruthless eyes glaring forward while a seething scowl adorned her beautiful lips.
And as much as it angered her to admit it the boy was proving to be more perceptive than she first took him to be.
"You truly are a fool if you think that I have latched onto the girl. She is my servant and nothing more." Azula insisted in a prideful voice with her teeth ground together while the man let out another amused laugh.
Each of and every member of the team knew that their leader was lying through her teeth.
Even the young servant girl herself.
But none of them were suicidal enough to call Azula's bluff out loud.
"That's a lie and you know it Firecracker. All of your desire to control, your insecurities, and even your sanity, it all revolves around Elle. It's sad really." Felix spoke with his smiling lips just inches away from the princess's snarling face.
The three noblewomen sat in silence with their young companion staring back at the princess with a moved look in her eyes.
"I'll show you sad when I crush you like a bug." Azula snapped in a vengeful voice with her piercing eyes staring harshly back into Felix's equally cruel amber gaze.
"And if you were to ever lose her your mind would shatter! Isn't that right!" Felix exclaimed in a gleeful voice while Azula now looked as if she wanted to tear his head off.
'Azula-sama…you don't have to worry. I won't leave you.' Elle thought with her gentle eyes staring back at her mistress's livid countenance while Azula's eyes now bubbled over in her rage.
"That's enough Felix! You shut your mouth! Don't you dare talk about Azula-sama like that!" Elle yelled out in a defensive voice while her princess's ruthless eyes still glared back at her brother's taunting face.
"And what about you dear sister? How well do you truly know your new friends?" Felix pondered in a toying voice while the princess's amber golden gaze suddenly grew even colder.
The three noblewomen stared at the boy in distrust with shared looks of hatred in their eyes.
"I-I know them very well. They care about me. They're…they're my family. And they treat me well. U-unlike you." Elle declared in an emotional voice while the older girls listened in a moved silence.
"Is that right? Did they tell you about what I saw in their minds?" Felix continued in a cruel voice with his amber eyes taking great delight in the flash of emotion that came over Azula's amber golden eyes.
"I…I don't care what you saw Felix. Nothing…that you saw would change how I feel about them. And I wouldn't believe you anyway. You're as horrible as a person can get. Why would I ever listen to you." Elle stated in in an insistent voice with her amber eyes still glaring back into her brother's cruel eyes.
Before Felix smiled even wider as he turned his gazes back to the three Fire Nation nobles abruptly concerned eyes.
Just as he turned to gaze back into Azula's enraged eyes that were now staring so coldly back at him as if the woman was trying to make his head explode.
"I don't deny that I am a terrible person. I was always 'rough' on the children that came to the family estate, and I have a tendency to take advantage of the innocent." Felix confessed with a sigh while the noblewomen glared back at him in disgust.
The princess's amber golden eyes still stared back at the boy with a murderous gleam.
It wasn't that she cared what the man did to children that she has never met.
No.
It was solely because he had the nerve to try to touch what belongs to her.
Elle's amber eyes stared on with a distressingly despondent gleam.
However, oddly enough. It was Zoi's stare that was the coldest of all.
"You are so fortunate that I cannot move. I don't tolerate people that hurt children." Zoi spoke with a violent edge to her voice while her fellow nobles stared back at her in surprise.
Her princess glanced back at her with a momentarily bewildered look in her eyes.
"Where are you going with this Felix?" Elle asked in an emotionally exhausted voice while her brother still smiled back into her princess's glaring face.
"I admit that I am a man of depravity. But at least I am not an elitist snob." Felix chuckled in a demented voice with his eyes gazing back into Azula's scowling face.
The three noblewomen now fell silent as they exchanged nervous looks with one another.
As Ty Lee stared down at the ground with a look of concern in her gaze.
There was something unsettling about the way that the people from this land spoke of nobles as if they were the lowest of the low.
"So, what if my friends are aristocrats. J-just because they're at war doesn't mean that they're bad people. And they are certainly better than you!" Elle retorted in a faithful voice while her companions gazed back at her in gratitude.
Only for her demented brother to laugh once more while she tried her hardest to quell the familiar sensation of fear that his laughter brought forth in her.
"The amount of people that I have hurt can't even begin to compare to the number of lives that your precious 'girlfriend' has destroyed." Felix remarked in a manipulative voice with his uncaring eyes staring right back into his sister's widening amber gaze.
Azula's amber golden eyes now flashed with increasing fury as she quickly came to understand what the bastard was trying to do.
As the three noblewomen sat in a once more uncomfortable quiet with varying ranges of emotion in their eyes.
It was plainly evident that Felix was attempting to make it so that the girl was just as repulsed by them as she was of him!
"T-that's…not true. Azula-sama is rough around the edges. But she isn't evil. She has good in her. I know so." Elle stammered in a sensitive voice as she tried her best to shake her head while the princess swallowed in silence.
Ty Lee and Mai stared on with fond expressions in their eyes over the girl's innocent faith in the princess.
"The woman of your dreams is nothing but a twisted tyrant. When I was in her mind, I saw many people in chains, hunger, despair, and poverty. Her Fire Nation is nothing but a corrupt dictatorship." Felix remarked in a knowing voice with a smirk on his lips while he gazed right back into Azula's now boiling amber golden gaze.
The highborn women remained silent as they sunk back with their eyes gazing back at their young friend's distraught face.
"Y-you're wrong Felix. Azula-sama is not a tyrant. The Fire Nation has its problems but what country doesn't. She cares about her people, and when she takes the throne, she is going to make life better for both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom." Elle spoke in a sweet voice as she chewed on her lower lip while Azula listened intently from where she sat above her.
The princess stared on with her cold amber golden eyes trying to squash the slightest signs of emotion.
As she still stared savagely back into the older brother's still laughing face.
While her subordinates still sat in relative quiet.
'Elle…you are such a sweetheart. I can only hope that Azula will listen to you.' Ty Lee thought with her brown-gray eyes expressing a look of sisterly tenderness while she gazed back at the younger girl's gentle face.
"Really Elle? Because from what I saw she intends to use the power of a red comet to burn the people of the Earth Kingdom's precious hope away. Along with all of their lives." Felix announced in a delightful voice with his words instantly changing the atmosphere in the cold cell.
And that was all it took for the four highborn women to stare on with differing levels of emotion in their eyes.
For Mai and Ty Lee, it was a look of genuine shock.
And even Zoi was staring back at the now infuriated face of her leader with a questioning expression in her golden eyes.
Azula for her part was glaring on with an indescribably bloodthirsty look in her tyrannical eyes.
As she now found herself staring in aggravation back into her captain's angered gaze.
And it was evident by the look in the woman's eyes that she would want an explanation as soon they had a moment alone.
And that was when the older girls turned their eyes back to their young friend's now widened distressed amber eyes.
As Elle sat with her mouth ajar as if she looked as if she was struggling to process how to respond.
And for the most fleeting of moments the powerful princess found herself gazing on with a tiny sliver of something akin to an unseen emotion.
"I…I don't believe you. You're lying. She wouldn't do that." Elle muttered in a naïvely quiet voice with her amber eyes staring down at the floor.
Her friends listened in a still silence beside her with looks of amazement in their eyes.
As the princess could only gaze on with a mixed look of both relief and bewilderment in her marginally widened eyes.
And if one looked closely enough, perhaps even a teeny shred of guilt for deceiving her young love interest.
'The girl heard the truth…and she…still doesn't believe him. My Elle is that loyal.' Azula thought with her elegant brows furrowing as she smashed her lips together in a regal scowl.
"Am I really lying sister? Or is that just what you are trying to tell yourself?" Felix questioned in a goading voice with his amused amber eyes staring back at his sister's emotional face.
As the Fire Nation women watched the two in quiet.
Only to find themselves gazing on in shock when an uncharacteristic look of fury overtook Elle's always gentle face.
"Shut up! You're just trying to do what you always do! You're trying to ruin my life! I don't trust a word that comes out of your mouth! And I won't fall for it!" Elle shouted in a voice of intense emotion while the older girls still stared hatefully back at her brother's sighing face.
"You tell that bastard Elle!" Ty Lee encouraged in a supportive voice as she tried her hardest to nod her head while Mai glowered in agreement.
She tried to suppress the hint of guilt that she felt from knowing that Felix may well be telling the truth in regards to Azula's war plans.
That didn't change the fact that she didn't want the demented man anywhere near her adopted sister!
"You are such a naïve child. You ran all the way from home to escape me just to end up in the same place as before." Felix sighed in a feigned voice of disappointment while his little sister's amber eyes grew wet as she glared back at him.
"I-I have finally found where I belonged! I have found my home!" Elle yelled out as she panted with a tear in her eye.
Her highborn friends listened with touched expressions in their eyes.
Azula sat with her crimson lips pursed into a cold glower as she glared glacially back into the man's seemingly unfazed amber eyes.
"A-and you don't belong in it. Just go away. All you want to do is hurt me." Elle concluded as she emotionally swallowed the knot that was in her throat.
Her companion's eyes grew even colder after they heard those words as they all stared frigidly back at Felix's completely emotionless face.
"Well said Elle." Mai stated with her teeth bared in her rage while she glared daggers at the boy.
"I was trying to get you to understand that morality and the laws of society have no meaning. That order is an illusion, and that there are no rules in this life. Anything goes. There is no morality." Felix explained in a twisted voice with his amber eyes gazing back at his sister's greatly upset face.
The others listened with a sense of astonishment in their eyes over how openly depraved the man was.
Only to find themselves gazing back at their young friend when the girl began to breath heavily with her amber eyes agape in intense emotion.
"Everything is going to be okay Elle. We'll get out of this and we'll get you back home soon enough." Ty Lee assured in a tender voice with her brown-gray eyes gazing back at Elle's distressed face.
"I-I don't matter to him. My own brother doesn't even care about me. He doesn't even care if I can breathe." Elle spoke in a frantic voice as let out another cough while averted her eyes in sadness to the floor.
Her highborn friends found their blood began to boil even further after hearing the girl say those words.
They now stared furiously back at the young man's uncaring face as he continued to hold his cigarette between his lips.
His cruel eyes still gazed goadingly right back into the princess's monstrously widened amber golden eyes.
It was then that they realized that it almost seemed like Felix had lit up the cigarette almost as if he was purposefully trying to cause his sister to have a breathing fit.
And that was when the flames of war began to burn in Azula's callous eyes while her lips started to shake in a seething scowl.
Felix still leaned in not even an inch away from the woman's enraged face.
And then the powerful princess bared her teeth like a raging dragon.
And not a moment later a cry of pain rang out throughout the cell and the hallway beyond.
The three noblewomen watched with pleased looks in their eyes to see that the princess had chomped down hard on the man's nose when he got too close.
And the cigarette now lay smoldering out on the floor at the princess's boots.
Elle gazed on with a moved expression in her amber eyes.
As she felt a pleasurable sensation travel down her spine.
'Azula-sama truly cares about me!' Elle thought with her heart pleasantly skipping a beat in her chest.
She watched in awe as her mistress furiously clamped her teeth down on her now squirming brother's bleeding nose.
'I have never seen Azula try to bite someone's nose off before. Not that I blame her. I would do the same to that beast.' Mai thought with her tawny eyes glaring on coldly while she tried her best to clench her limp fist in her sisterly fury.
"As you can see. Even Her Highness's teeth are a force to behold." Zoi remarked with a sense of satisfaction in her voice.
She smirked as she watched her princess viciously tear at the crying boy's nose with her clenched teeth.
"I hope she bites it off. He deserves it." Ty Lee growled out in a wrathful voice with her eyes glaring ahead while the man tried to pull back away from the snarling princess.
Only for all of them to gaze on in disbelief not even seconds after that when Felix broke out into another fit of demented laughter.
As he stared joyfully back into the princess's malicious amber golden eyes.
"I like you! You're a fun one! I can tell that you and I are going to have a blast playing with each other!" Felix called out in an ecstatic voice as he finally pulled his bloodied nose free from the princess's chomped teeth.
Before he sunk back in his bonds with his increasing laughter ringing out throughout the cell while the highborn women stared back at him in loathing.
Elle shivered in renewed fear in her seat with her amber eyes staring back at her brother in disgust.
Just as Azula hissed as she glared back at the man with an utterly unforgiving intimidating stare that had her subordinates shivering in respect for her might.
"That is just the beginning. I am going to make you bleed." Azula announced in a frighteningly cold voice while her amber golden eyes gazed back at the man's cackling face with a piercing death stare.
But as much as she loathed her servant's brother.
She knew that it would have to wait.
First, she will deal with that wretched colonel.
And then they will all see just how dangerous she truly was.
Elsewhere in the control room.
The colonel stared down at the monitor with harsh blue eyes while he closely observed the two siblings.
He gazed from Elle to Felix just as the boy recoiled laughing away from the princess's seething face.
"Sir. The boy and the girl's energy reading…it's the same." An officer informed in a helpful voice from where he worked beside his fellows.
"I can see that. Why is that boy able to move?" Reynolds questioned in an expressionless voice with his hands folded behind his back.
"I presume that the dosage is wearing off. It has been quite some time since we brought him in." Another staff member replied in an emotionally disconnected voice while his commander stared hard at the video feed.
"Then re-up it. And I recall stating that I wanted that woman's energy shut down." Reynolds spoke in a steely voice while his subordinates grew fearful under his gaze.
"We did sir. We already gave her the strongest dose." A woman's voice answered in a fearful voice while where she worked at her desk.
"Then give her more. And place her in facial restraints. I don't want her producing a single ember." Reynolds ordered in an authoritative voice while his eyes glared at the sight of the discarded cigarette on the floor of the cell.
"Yes, Colonel Reynolds." An officer agreed in a detached voice while the imposing man stood over them.
"Separate them and bring them to the observation chamber. The senator will want to have a look at them." Reynolds stated in a rigid voice as his hands fell to his hips while his subordinates swiftly nodded their heads.
"It will be done sir." The same officer responded with a nod while Felix's laughter resonated from the speakers.
Azula still stared venomously back at the man's sadistic face.
"Make sure that she doesn't kill him. I want that boy alive." Reynolds concluded in an emotionless voice while the staffers hurriedly nodded once more.
And then he turned to gaze back at the video with a confident smirk forming onto his lips.
Everything was going just as he planned.
If not better.
And soon, he would hold all of the cards in his hands.
Team Azula gazed up with surprise in their eyes when the cell doors were opened not even a minute after the princess had bitten into the man's nose.
And then several soldiers wordlessly pulled the cheerful Felix to his feet.
As Elle gazed up at him with still traumatized amber eyes.
"I know all about that power of yours Elle. And soon…very soon you will see that you need me." Felix declared in an unsettlingly cryptic voice while his sister stared back at him with her amber eyes widening in alarm.
The highborn women gazed on with shared looks of distrust in their concerned eyes.
"W-what does that mean? He knows? How does he know?" Elle asked in a fretful voice with great anxiety building up in her amber eyes while her friends glared at her departing brother.
"I'll see you later little sister." Felix stated in a goading voice with a smirk on his lips as he was pulled out of the cell.
And then not even seconds after that before Team Azula could even so much as speak another word of protest.
They too were being hauled forward by a platoon of armed soldiers once more.
Before the princess soon found herself glaring murderously right back into David's hardened eyes.
"Where are you taking us now?" Ty Lee inquired in a firm voice with her brown-gray eyes staring in worry back at the soldiers.
Yet at least a small part of her was relieved to be separated from her young friend's monster of a brother.
"That's none of your concern. Just do as you are told." David stated in a cold voice while the older girls glared back at him.
And then Ty Lee scowled as she was painfully pulled out by her arms while Elle stared on with distraught amber eyes.
"P-please isn't there some way that we can work this out?" Elle questioned in a naïve voice while her princess tried not to roll her eyes.
Only to find herself whimpering in pain not an instant later when she was cruelly dragged forward by a fistful of her golden hair.
And then her face nearly hit the wall as she was carried out.
The four Fire Nation women now gazed on with their eyes wide in rage over the way the soldiers were treating their sensitive friend.
"Shut the fuck up kid." Robert commanded in a dehumanizing voice as he heartlessly pulled Elle forward while she whimpered under his fist.
'They're treating her like a slave! We can't let these people take Elle away! We…we have to do something!' Mai thought with her tawny eyes agape in unusual protective instinct as she too was escorted out.
Azula was hoisted out with her tyrannical amber golden eyes once more churning with the infernos of war.
She clenched her teeth together in a humiliated thin line with her possessive eyes keeping a close watch on her terrified girlfriend.
Just before the five girls came to a stop in the hall once more while David now smirked back at Azula's stony face.
"Oh, by the way. I almost forgot…" David trailed off as he waved a soldier forward while the princess stared a hole through his skull.
And then not a second later a steel face cage was lowered over the princess's utterly enraged face.
Before it closed shut with a mechanical snap!
"The commander wanted to take this extra measure to make sure that you don't spit fire on us." David spoke in a smug voice while Azula's humiliated eyes stared furiously out from underneath the facial restraint.
The noblewomen balked with increasingly worried looks in their eyes.
"A-Azula-sama!" Elle cried out in a distressed voice as she was pulled forward by her hair yet again.
And then Zoi found herself gazing on with cold golden eyes as a cage was lowered over her face as well.
Before she was carried forward alongside her seething princess.
And with that the two firebenders were escorted at the forefront while they gazed throughout the corner of their limited vision in degradation.
"Azula…" Ty Lee whispered in a fraught voice while she was pulled along behind her outraged leader.
'I am going to make each and every person in this fortress suffer for this!' Azula thought with her nostrils flaring in her anger while she hissed at the guards that laughed mockingly over her shoulder.
And then the five girls found themselves being wordlessly escorted through the depths of the base once more.
Meanwhile on the outside.
A jet had just recently landed on the cold runway.
And in the distance the wind was howling thunderously.
And several people were now entering the sheltered hanger of the fortress.
At the front of them was a middle-aged man in a suit wearing a long heavy red coat and a hat over his mildly greying light brown hair.
His eyes were a paranoid brown and his face was covered in stubble from a recent shave.
And following behind him was his aide, a blonde-haired woman in her late twenties who was heavily bundled up in her winter gear.
"That Reynolds better have this under control." Greely remarked as he held onto his hat as he walked along with Cynthia wordlessly following after him.
The aide strode with her uncertain blue eyes gazing around at the desolate Greenland landscape.
As she covered her face with her gloved fist as she took in the large fence that surrounded the complex.
Before they soon made their way through a set of thick armored doors.
And back inside in the control room.
"Sir! I have a report. We got her…we got Number Three." An officer informed in a breathless voice as he gazed down at the video feed while a pleased smile now adorned his commander's lips.
'I finally have you Number Three!' Reynolds thought as his lips pulled into a victorious smile while he clenched his gloved fists in anticipation.
The team gazed down the halls of the fortress in both dread and intrigue as they took in their mechanical surroundings in awe.
Only to find themselves coming to a stop once more while the five girls gazed on in unconcealed curiosity to see a group of soldiers hauling someone else in.
Before all of their eyes grew wide in unison when they saw the face of the unconscious prisoner.
It was…Naoki!
"N-Naoki!" Elle blurted out in a shocked voice with her amber eye gazing back at Naoki's sleeping face.
The highborn women stared back at the girl's knocked out face in disbelief.
"At last…we got her." David commented as he whistled in an impressed voice.
'How…did they manage to bring that girl in?' Azula thought as she stared at the unconscious young warrior with a searching look in her amber golden eyes.
"I guess all of the horror stories about her weren't true after all." Robert scoffed in a mocking voice from where he stood behind Elle.
Elle stared back at her defeated friend in still present disbelief.
As the Fire Nation women still gazed back at the girl in astonishment that she was actually defeated.
However, before the team could ponder the matter any further.
The supersoldier was carried off down the halls without another word.
And then they too found themselves being led into the inner corridors of the fortress once more.
Naoki's head hung low with her crimson red hair sweeping before her closed eyes.
And then while her captor's backs were turned.
She opened her eyes.
Only for the sound of the heavy fortress doors closing shut to resound into the air soon afterward.
Until the soldier's footsteps were but a distant echo down the long metal halls of the military fortress.
AN:
Agent Banana, thank you for your kind words and Merry Christmas to you as well!
As for Nako. She was spooked by near death experience at Silah's hands. So, Azula allowed Nako to remain behind at Mava's hut with Saro and Jiao to continue her research while the rest of Team Azula are away exploring the portal.
Anyhow, so Team Azula finally met Felix.
And when Team Azula caught a glimpse into his mind, he caught a glimpse into theirs as well. The reason for this will be revealed later in the arc.
And interestingly enough, Felix was actually telling Elle the truth regarding certain details about the Fire Nation and in particular Ozai/Azula's plans for Sozin's Comet.
However, much like how Zuko thinks that Azula always lies, Elle feels much the same about Felix. Elle simply doesn't believe Felix, because of all that he has done to hurt her.
It is going to take a much more trustworthy source to get Elle to consider what Felix told her.
Also, keep in mind, that it isn't so much that Elle doesn't believe that Azula would never hurt anyone. She just doesn't want to believe that Azula would order the genocide of an entire nation.
Because the events of Sozin's Comet are not the primary focus right now, this should give Azula ample time to ponder if her/her father's actions are truly the right one's to take.
From what we could gather from Zoe's reaction, it is likely that war meeting was held before she returned to the Fire Nation.
Although, Felix is a monster in his own right and that he was trying to sow division among the group. When it comes to Azula, he has her feelings about Elle pegged.
Felix was correct when he stated that Azula puts all of her desire for control onto Elle, and essentially that means that Azula's entire world rides on Elle. And if anyone tries to interfere with that balance, Azula will not take it well.
Another thing to keep in mind is about what Felix wanted to achieve by subjecting Elle to his cruel way of living. Felix wanted to make Elle more like him, and less like their mother. Felix would love nothing more than for Elle to join forces with him like Zuko did with Azula in Crossroads of Destiny.
Felix gains joy from living in a system of chaos, and his ultimate goal was for Elle to join him in a life of chaos alongside him. He would love for him and Elle to become siblings of chaos who terrorize the land.
However, Elle is too stubborn and passionate in her beliefs to ever allow herself to become like him.
As for Felix's mysterious link to Elle, and what Reynolds wanted to verify by having the two siblings in the same room will be touched on later.
Also, the reason why Azula and Felix were both able to manage to move a little is because I wanted to demonstrate that the chi blocking drug is not absolute.
And finally, it would seem that Reynolds has managed to bring Naoki in.
We also learned in this chapter that the team is in Greenland, which would explain the frigid arctic climate.
Things are not currently looking good for Team Azula or Naoki, but we'll see next chapter what they do to handle their capture.
On another note, I have an official word count for the series for this year. In 2020, I wrote chapters 70-118, which totals out to 436,133 words in the main Princess and the Peasant story line. On top of that, I managed to write 44,974 words in oneshots, which combined together is 481,000 words!
I will be uploading one of those oneshots as a bonus chapter before the year ends.
That will be all for now though.
Stay tuned for next time.
For chapter one-hundred! Supersoldier!