Your Breeze, the Fuel to my Fire
Chapter 1: The Sinking of a Ship
Everything in Azula's life had fallen apart from one second to the next. She was fast enough that in one second she was in the stance to shoot lightning, but she was right where her enemy wanted her, and the next second she was frozen in ice. And that was it, she got immobilized by the waterbender.
After more waterbending, her brother got better enough to order around, Azula got taken away. Her mother was following her through every corridor, the guards were confused and called some doctors, Lo and Li came with them. "Azula, this is for your wellbeing," the twins set said as she was being put in a straitjacket.
Azula found herself in an infirmary rather than a prison cell. The doctor, after explaining that based on her symptoms, he believed she suffered a psychotic episode probably as the onset of a mental disorder, he was going to inject her with an anti-psychotic. When she looked up her mother was gone, again, and reality set in.
X-O-X
"Zuko, stop moving, I'm trying to capture the moment!"
"Of course sweetie, I guess this tea is going to serve itself"
"I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together."
"That's very thoughtful of you Sokka—wait! Why did you give me Momo's ears?" criticized Katara looking over Sokka's shoulder.
"Those are your hair loopies," Sokka defended his artwork.
"At least you don't look like a porcupine, my hair is not that spiky!" complained Zuko.
"I look like an alpha male," said Mai showing a hint of emotion as she is a beta female.
"And why did you paint me firebending?" asked his ex-fling, Suki.
"I thought it looked more exciting that way," Sokka explained as if it's obvious. Momo landed on the table seemingly expressing his grievances as well. "Oh you think you can do a better job, Momo?"
Aang looked at the scene unfold cherishingly and headed outside, patting Appa on his way.
"Hey, my belly is not that big anymore! I really trimmed down," Aang could hear Uncle Iroh now from outside.
"Well, I think you all look perfect!" noted Toph as a joke still in the room as everyone else.
Katara followed Aang outside. Finally, a moment alone between them ever since the war is over; it's been just a few days only though. They shared a look knowingly, this is their moment, the right time, no more confusion as she had expressed before during the Ember Island's play. They kissed. This is when they're supposed to live happily ever after...
After a whole year ever since Sokka and her found the Avatar in the iceberg, Katara, now 15, is in the ripe age for the secondary sex to present. When they break out the kiss, Katara can really smell the tea from outside and it made her wrinkle her nose. Not like tea is her favorite drink, but its smell has never been unpleasant either.
"Did-did I kissed you wrong? You made a face," asked Aang.
"Ah no, it was the tea smell, my nose might to be a little too sensitive today—plus the wind might be helping by blowing the scent outside," she tried to rationalize her odd reaction to sweet smelling jasmine tea.
X-O-X-O-X
The group brushed off many symptoms like this from Katara for months. The hightened sense of smell eventually turned into an angry-alphas radar, which turned out to, not only detect possible enemies, but to help out her omega brother anticipate when something was up with his lover. Toph would make fun of her while training about how easy it was to make her break a sweat. Being in a relationship must have turned her weaker, or so Toph would boast about. Even Suki, now 16 and safe to assume she was going to stay a beta, had to recommend Katara to bathe more often as her body odor was too strong. And Aang had to stop her a few times for being overly aggressive with some alpha opponents.
The group still had other problems to really connect any of the dots about Katara, and now it was time for their focus to shift to Azula since it was finally her trial day. Zuko was glad to see Azula coming into the courtroom without a straitjacket, only accompanied by a nurse. Such a contrast from when he'd been visiting her in the infirmary; the treatment seems promising. As bleak as the methods might have been, the Fire Nation's medical and psychological sciences advanced plenty during the hundred years of war. From what Zuko's been hearing, they're far beyond from those methods, but it should be acknowledged how it all got to the place it is right now.
Azula's eyes first meet her brother's which have been observing her with support, then to Katara's and the scent comes after. Involuntarily, Azula scrunched up her nose, "of course I lost to two alphas vs one beta."
"You must still be hearing visions, where did you got I'm an alpha?" Katara retorted with the intention to hurt.
"Your attitude just now."
"MY attitude?! By attitudes alone YOU'RE the mindless primitive al—"
"Katara, please, let's just get this going." Sokka had to intervene before his alpha partner did in a not so good way. He knew that this day had been a sensitive topic to Zuko. Not to mention that, as an alpha, Zuko has been seeing the signs and has been telling Katara the very same thing that Azula just concluded with just one beta whiff, but the waterbender does not want to listen.
"I also only lost because I had a breakdown, otherwise you would been fried by my lightn—"
"Azula, you too, please." Zuko intervened for his sister as well. I guess some things never change, like Azula's flippant ways.
After many hours of deliberations Azula was sentenced to 3 years in prison, with the possibility of serving a portion as house arrest for good behavior, mandated psychotherapy sessions, and once deemed stable enough, reparations to be determined by the current world affairs at the time of her release. She didn't get more because the judge took into consideration that Azula was just a child, a child that haven't even presented yet, under the influence of a perpetuator of a senseless war.
Once back at the palace, Aang and Katara were hosted in the same room, much to Sokka and Zuko's disapproval. But the former couple argued about the latter not being officially mated and yet share a room or tent wherever they go. Aang was ready to call it a night after such an emotionally heavy day, but Katara had other ideas in mind. In the few months since they first kissed, Aang and Katara have explored sexually here and there, after all, even if one stays a beta there are still changes in the body that get pubescents curious. They had agreed beforehand that it was too early for the both of them to do the deed, but Katara seemed determined to trample over their previous agreement.
"Katara, this isn't like you," Aang said with apprehension.
"Come on, it's just a matter of time before we finally—" Katara finished her sentence with half-lidded eyes.
"Is not just now or what you want us to do now! has been a while since you've been switching from irritable to lovey dovey and-and— what is that?" Aang couldn't help fixating his eyes between Katara's legs.
"W-what—?" Katara looked down, shock settling in her face as she noticed the bulge protruding through her pants and tunic.
She bolted to the en-suite bathroom, pants already coming down on her way there. She got her tunic out of the way from one of the double side slits and saw it, her clitoris was now enlarged and erect; a penis.
Aang had followed her behind, "you're an alpha now, Katara."
X-O-X-O-X-O-X
Still, Aang and Katara decided to keep dating despite the lower odds of conceiving children, despite Katara's interest in using her new appendage for sex instead of the other way around. At least Avatars are mostly betas, or so they told themselves to justify trying to still build a romantic relationship. Truth is that isn't a solid fact of life, like in the case of Kyoshi, an alpha female. Presentation ages vary from 14-16 years of age with some rare poor ones presenting as early as 13 or as late as 17. Any presentation outside of that range can still occur but it is an indicator of a major hormonal anomaly that warrants a visit to the doctor. Bottomline is that Aang could also present at any moment now.
After two years of being in a relationship with Katara, Aang, now 15, started showing the same symptoms as his girlfriend when she presented. It was harder to tell because there was no extra organ to grow in him. By now they were sexually active both Katara and Aang doing the penetration. Only when Aang popped a knot in her was when they couldn't deny it anymore. Aang was also an alpha now.
That pushed Katara to her limit, sometimes nature is stronger than one's will. Aang and Katara were no longer sexually compatible. No matter how much one can love someone, there are some things in which a relationship won't survive with or without. A gratifying sexual life is one of those, the prospect of children another example; everyone has their own priorities, wants or needs that they expect from a relationship. For them it just became too much of an abyss to be able to meet the other in between.
It was over between the two alphas.
While the gaang experiences tension and bad blood between its main members, the glue of the group; someone in a Fire Nation prison finally understands the value of therapy and eagerly attends each session. While the gaang navigates a post war world and its nuances to heal it and dealing at the same time with new awkwardness in their group dynamics; Azula is glad to regain control of her own mind, glad to be done with the torture of her brain's imagined pity from her mother.
While Aang and Zuko try to figure out how to best decolonize the Earth Kingdom, Katara wants to hurry up and work on re-establishing the Southern Water Tribe as it once was before the war, stubborn to cooperate with the rest of the group's current task. Meanwhile Azula is slowly unlearning her father's upbringing and is slowly opening up to the idea to live outside of his shadow; better yet, to start building her own legacy as one that is the exact opposite of what he once represented out of spite, to rebel against him.
As time passes, Aang and Katara recognize that they cannot keep going on like this, yet it is so difficult to go back to being the friends they once were. The process to build something anew that was once broken is slow but steady. As the time of her release from prison approaches, Azula is curious to experience Zuko's new Fire Nation, and to see how she'll do working to help keep the newfound peace in the world. Once out of prison and in house arrest at the palace is pretty much the same as before, a golden cage not enough to really grasp how everything really works from outside those walls.
And with all that, another year had passed in the blink of an eye, 3 full years since the end of the war. Azula has been in remission for a long while now from her mental condition thanks also to a regular dose of anti-psychotics. At 18 years of age now, she completed the first 2 parts of her sentence. The therapy part, she opts to continue on her own since it has helped her so much; also because, in the back of her head, she's scared of going through an episode again.
But things are looking up, onto the reparations part of her sentence she goes. Her first reparations mission: she must work with the gaang to bring down a new group of terrorists that's been slowly forming over time. They oppose Zuko's new era of peace, making schemes to incite a violent reaction from the new Fire Lord. They're planning a coup and must be stopped before that.
Now well past the presentation ages, Azula is a beta; who would have thought? A mediator? Peace keeper? Level headed? Definitely not phrases she would've used to describe herself, but if personality traits alone determined one's presentation, she'd been an Alpha for sure. But alas! Stereotypes are harmful, otherwise society still wouldn't let omegas do physical jobs or hold important positions, and the like. As much as society has progressed in some areas, there are still other struggles that omegas face, but Azula is glad those aren't something she has to deal with at least...
A/N: Hope you like it!
Azula majority of the time is portrayed as the "dominant" type in fanfics, I like to switch expectations whenever I can.