The dumbfounded expression on Chan's face was exactly as Azula had expected it to be. Every step of her plan, every decision she had made, had been so that on this moment he would realize that he had anything but the upper hand in this particular fight. But it was too late for him to back down now…
"I'm most pleased to see you seem to recognize me," said Azula, a malicious smirk playing on her lips. "I was certain you would have forgotten about me after all this time..."
"How could I... how would I forget?" he muttered, avoiding looking at her in the eye. "Because of you I was grounded for a year..."
"I am so sorry to hear that," she said, coating her words with irony.
"W-well, it's too late now to apologize about that now..."
"Are you acquainted with the term 'sarcasm', by any chance?" she asked, staring at him with derision. "It's a figure of speech that can be used to play tricks on gullible minds such as yours. You see, I am anything but sorry for the sorrows that befell you. Do you understand the mechanics of sarcasm now or must I spell it out word by word to you so you finally grasp its meaning?"
Chan blushed and glared at Azula, not appreciating her devious statements in the slightest. If anything, she had become even more troublesome and dangerous than she used to be.
"W-w-wha... what are you... why are you here?" he mumbled, trying to keep his cool somehow and failing terribly at it.
"You're more stupid than I remembered. Perhaps the years have killed off your brain cells one by one... not that you had a brilliant mind to begin with," she said, still smirking as she approached the empty seat next to Chan's. "I'll make this a simple game, to test if your brain is as much of a lost case as I think it is. The only thing you need to do in this game is answer a single question: why would I be allowed to enter a room that is reserved for sponsors only?"
"B-because you came here to kill me...?" was Chan's fear-induced guess.
"Dead wrong," said Azula, sighing. "It would seem your mind is as empty as I thought it was... Think, Chan. Only sponsors are allowed to enter this room. I am in this room. So...?"
Chan had to make quite an effort to put his fear aside for a brief moment as he pieced together the puzzle before him. And once he was managed to do that, his eyes opened wide and he stared at Azula, horrified. When she saw he had finally arrived to the right conclusion, she merely smirked and took her seat, making him gasp and shake his head in shock.
"N-no… y-you can't be a sponsor… y-you can't be!" he said, completely lost in denial.
"Why wouldn't I be?" asked Azula, staring into the Arena intently. She gazed down at the furniture displayed and wondered if Sokka would be able to make use of any of the material available: there were three nets at the sides of the pit, four wooden structures that spiraled as if they were the twisted roots of an old tree, and lastly three metallic plates stuck in the ground in random spots.
"B-because you're a girl! Girls don't sponsor gladiators!" yelled Chan, making Azula's eyebrow twitch in disapproval.
"Or so you believed," said Azula. "But there's no rule that establishes a woman can't sponsor a gladiator if she feels like it. Thus, I can be a sponsor, regardless of how uncomfortable that may make you."
"B-but that's plain wrong!" said Chan, shaking his head. "Girls don't like this kind of stuff! And they don't make money on their own, so they can't afford the bets…!"
"Funny you'd mention that," said Azula, tapping her chin with a finger. "Just how do you make the money you use for these fights, Chan?"
Chan grew pale at first and when Azula's gaze shifted towards him, he blushed in shame. She smirked again; she had known the answer to the question, but humiliating him like this was truly priceless.
"Well…?" she asked. "Does your father give it to you, by any chance?"
"Y-you… y-you…" he stuttered.
"I figured as much," said Azula, chuckling lightly. "You are truly more pathetic than I recalled, Chan…"
"I… I'm not pathetic!" he yelled.
"No talents of your own, no source of income but your father's job, you're a sexist moron too… You are pretty much the definition of pathetic in my personal dictionary, if you don't mind me saying it so bluntly."
Chan was irked by her comments, but his fury was easily contained when he recalled the horrible shape of his former house after she had decided to take out her frustrations on it after his rejection. He gulped and took his seat, hoping they could remain quiet for a little longer… but he still couldn't believe his worst nightmare, the woman sitting next to him, was sponsoring a gladiator.
"How… and, why?" he asked, unable to stop himself. "I mean… I don't get it… y-you just sent a challenge so lame, so that I could have an easy win…"
"No, I didn't," said Azula, smirking. "I arranged everything so that you THOUGHT you'd have an easy win, but truth to be told, I was merely hoaxing you. I plan on winning this fight… well; my gladiator will be the one to take care of that anyways."
"W-why…?! Are you that desperate to make my life miserable?! You already wrecked my house! Why do you want to kill my gladiator too?!"
"I never said I wanted to kill your gladiator," said Azula. "I doubt the man I hired would want to kill him, if that's any consolation for you. And believe me, I'm actually fixing your life through what I'm doing right now."
"Huh? Fixing it?!" he yelled, glaring at her. "How the hell are you fixing anything with this?!"
"You see…" Azula began, but she was interrupted by someone's entry into the room.
"Excuse me…" muttered a man, approaching both of them with a sheet of paper in his hand. "I'm here to ask about the fight's time limit. How long do you wish this battle to be?"
"F-five minutes…" grunted Chan under his breath, but Azula ignored him.
"I'm thinking about twenty minutes, and I'm certain my fellow sponsor shall agree with me," said Azula. "It's a reasonable time limit, I believe…"
Chan didn't want anything to do with this matter anymore, so he simply sighed and nodded in agreement. Azula smirked cruelly.
"Of course, it can always end earlier than that…"
Chan twitched in his seat when he heard her words. What was she planning to do, kill his gladiator from up here? It was unlikely she had found some outstanding fighter who could take out the Spawn effectively in under twenty minutes…
"Very well, then," said the man, nodding as he wrote down the assigned time and handed over the paper to Azula. "Please sign in agreement to the conditions…"
They both complied, although Chan's hand shook when it was his turn to write his name next to Azula's. Only once he was done he bothered taking a look at the name next to his and he frowned in confusion as he began deciphering the symbols that comprised it… but the man snatched the paper from him before he could make a connection.
"Good luck to both of you," said the man. "May the best gladiator win. I shall take my leave now, Chan, Princess."
And with those words, he left the room quietly. Azula's gaze was once again upon the arena as she detailed everything about it… there had to be at least four hundred people waiting for the fight to begin; she guessed Chan's gladiator was quite popular among the people of Ember Island. Surely they hadn't come to watch Sokka when he had no fame to boast about just yet. But his name would acquire glory and praise, surely… she was betting her very life on her hopes that it would.
Azula was brought back to reality when the man next to her whimpered. She frowned and looked at him, confused. He was staring at her with such horror she wondered if there was some sort of ghost or monster behind her… though she was the monster, according to what her mother had said about her once, wasn't she? Regardless, she couldn't help but look behind her to make sure there was nothing there and, once she checked they were alone in the room, she turned to him again.
"Is the skin melting off my face or something? What's the matter with you?"
"Y-you… y-y-y-you can't be… oh, for the love of… n-no… y-y-you…" he mumbled, his wide eyes even filling with tears as the realization downed upon him. "Y-you're… you're not really… y-y-you can't be…"
Everything fell into place when he looked at the hairpiece in her head. He had failed to notice it earlier, too shocked to see that face once again to analyze her getup…
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, irritated now. "Answer me!"
"I just…" said Chan, shaking his head as he realized he had been a fool for all these years… not once he had bothered asking her name, nor had he wondered where she had come from. He knew nothing about her, and now he realized how big a blunder it had been not to ask her a single question about herself… "I just need to know one thing. W-what… w-w-what is your name…?"
Azula's annoyance disappeared as she smirked at him. She no longer needed an explanation for what was troubling him.
"So you finally had the guts to ask…" she said, smiling at him with that unique hint of malice that characterized her. "I am Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and heir to the throne of the Fire Nation"
Chan's jaw dropped, just as Azula had hoped it would. The stupid look on his face made her realize she had been just a teenage fool back when she had developed a crush on him: had she gotten to see him show such a stupid expression she would have never gone to such lengths to impress him.
"N-no… n-n-no… y-y-you can't be…" he muttered, growing paler by the minute.
"Do you believe me now when I tell you I'm not attempting to wreck your life, but the very opposite of that?" asked Azula, staring at the sand again. "You don't wish to marry me, do you?"
"Hell, no!" he yelled, his hands going to his hair as he stared at her in horror.
"Then you'll be pleased to know the feeling is mutual," she said, smirking again. "Very well, then… if everything goes as planned, we might just get out of this ridiculous arrangement today."
"Huh? W-what are you trying to…?"
"Ladies and gentlemen of Ember Island!" yelled a man through a bullhorn. Azula looked up and saw another balcony across where she was; she guessed, by the appearance of the people who occupied it, that it was probably the judges' particular terrace; the man speaking through the megaphone was standing amongst them. "The fourth gladiator combat of the day will begin now!"
A cheer shook the crowd, something that surprised Azula slightly. She didn't understand why people hooted in this manner upon a mere announcement. Chan, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less about the cheering. He was too busy trying to register that the horrible girl who had destroyed his life was the one his father had set him up to marry. This definitely wasn't his lucky day…
"On the eastern end of the Arena we have the Ember Crater's most distinguished gladiator, who has been suffering from quite a bad streak lately…" said the man at the bullhorn. "But nonetheless, he's one of Ember Island's favorite fighters! After 312 wins and 113 losses, and standing in the spot 234 of the ranking with a grand total of 2561 points, I give you… the Spawn of the Volcano!"
More cheers greeted the firebender as the metallic gate rolled upwards and he walked out of the stand-by area. Azula winced at the sight: he looked like a humanized Komodo Rhino. Even his skin looked grayish, and his nose was big enough to look like a horn. Clad in a brown armor that hardly seemed to protect his torso, he walked into the sand pit while yelling and prompting the crowd to scream louder. Azula was truly revolted by the gladiator; Chan would have taken this opportunity to brag over the Spawn, but he was still unable to stop thinking about his engagement to the woman sitting next to him.
"And on the western end of the Arena, a new addition to the League's Ranking!"
Azula couldn't hold back a shudder when she realized the fight was finally about to begin. She stared at the gate, anxiety turning her world upside down as she waited for Sokka to walk into the stage that would decide both their lives…
"A non-bender who hasn't seen any gladiator fights in the Superior League so far…" said the man of the bullhorn. "Hopefully he won't chicken out after fighting against our Spawn! Give a cheer for The Blue Wolf!"
Nobody screamed for Sokka, but people did clap politely for him as the gate opened. He took a deep breath before stepping into the sand, the familiar feel of the unstable surface making him cringe. He was surprised by the amount of spectators who had attended the fight; it was likely twice as many people as there were when Hui Yi's seats were sold out. He focused on taking in the sight of his opponent, who was currently huffing at him like a rabid boarcupine. Sokka didn't need to analyze him much to tell the man's head was as good as hollow, which helped him decide on his plan of action. So the Spawn of the Volcano was a firebender, wasn't he? And wrecking furniture wouldn't go unpunished…? Sokka allowed himself a small smirk of arrogance after coming up with his idea and then turned his head towards the balconies. He saw a group of unknown people in the northern wing of the Arena and when he turned southwards, he saw the only familiar face he would spot in the entire building.
Azula was staring directly at him, her golden eyes ablaze with anxiety and despair, and Sokka was surprised that, despite all this distance, he could read her emotions so clearly. Maybe she could read his too… he smiled at her reassuringly, something that took her by surprise: she didn't know that the very second Sokka had laid eyes upon his enemy he had understood he could triumph. Sokka nodded towards her and it was Azula's turn to take a deep breath. She sure hoped that whatever confidence he had suddenly sprouted wouldn't go to waste…
"A… non-bender?" asked Chan, startling her. She had forgotten she wasn't alone in the balcony. "What the hell…? Why a non-bender? There's no way a non-bender can beat my Spawn, really…"
"Oh, so he's your spawn?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow. "That thing down there is your son or something of the sort, then? No wonder he looked so dumb, he takes after you well enough…"
Chan frowned and recalled who he was talking to, which prompted him to decide he would avoid speaking to her again until the match was over.
"Gladiators, the hourglass has been set: you will have twenty minutes to determine the winner of this fight. Good luck! Get ready…" said the man of the bullhorn, and the Spawn struck a firebending stance while Sokka simply folded his arms, his eyes set on the figure of his rival "…START!"
The Spawn yelled and shot an array of fire towards Sokka, who simply dodged by swinging his body to the right. He took a few seemingly careless steps on that direction while the Spawn kept tossing more fire towards him, each move more elaborate than the previous one, but all of them weaker than the fire Sokka had faced at Azula's hand. Sokka avoided each blow with such ease it startled him… had he become this good, or was the Spawn simply that much of a failure in battle?
The same procedure continued for a few minutes until the Spawn was left gasping for breath, his hands on his knees. Chan stared in dismay while Azula could only look at Sokka, wondering what he was trying to pull by merely evading his opponent…
"You done yet?" asked Sokka, and the Spawn growled. "Good! Well, how about we get to know one another while you take a break?"
Azula's facial expression twisted into disbelief as she heard her gladiator utter those words. Honestly, what was he doing?
"My real name is Sokka!" he said, grinning. "What's yours?"
"Urgh…" grunted the Spawn, and Sokka nodded.
"Alright then, Urgh, nice to meet you. Seems like you're a pretty cool firebender… and I mean that, literally. Your fire is too cold. What's with you? Have you gotten out of shape or have you always been this lousy?"
"ARGH!" yelled the Spawn of the Volcano, and he unleashed a new wave of fire, this time one that was far more intense than the previous ones. Sokka jumped back and used one of the metallic plates to shield himself from the fire.
"See? What did I tell you?" he said, smirking. "Your fire isn't that hot! Else you'd be able to melt this in a heartbeat!"
The Spawn yelled and continued throwing fire at Sokka, who only grinned as he sprinted towards another nearby metallic plate, dropping behind it.
"Maybe that metal was too strong, then! How about this one? Can you burn this one?" he teased him, smirking.
His words produced the very effect he had been hoping for. The Spawn went berserk at the provocation and ushered even more flames, making Sokka jump towards the next metal plate, which was melted even before he could continue teasing his enemy. Now Sokka didn't have many places to go. He kept jumping around, avoiding the fire in whichever way possible by having it attach to the nets on the ground, setting them all on fire along with the extravagant wooden structures. Azula was gritting her teeth at the sight, watching with slight despair as Sokka struggled to keep his footing amongst the burning objects. What was he playing at?
She understood what Sokka was attempting to do when she heard Chan whimper next to her. After shifting her focus away from her gladiator for a moment, Azula realized all the furniture had been set on fire… The ten objects on the Arena were scorched or melted, and clearly it was the Spawn's fault. He had just lost 200 points from his score in a single fight thanks to Sokka's hassling. Azula couldn't help but smile with malice now… even if Sokka didn't triumph, the Spawn would have descended at least around ten positions because of this embarrassing outburst of his.
"Well, well, that's pretty neat," said Sokka, panting after finding a safe standing place without scorched up objects. "You're a better firebender than I took you for! But gee, all this smoke is getting annoying…"
Sokka shook around his hand, trying to shun away the gas, but the Spawn laughed at him.
"You don't like smoke, little boy?" he asked, finally uttering something that made sense, and he cracked his knuckles as he walked towards Sokka.
"No, I do like it," said Sokka, shrugging. "I just think that if you're going to have smoke… you should have a proper amount of it, get it?"
"Huh?" said the Spawn.
"Let me show you, since you don't seem to understand," said Sokka, grinning as he unattached the bomb off his belt and rolled it over to his rival's feet.
The Spawn looked at the object with confusion, not understanding what it was. Sokka grinned mischievously as the mechanism was activated and the bomb unleashed a cloud of smoke so thick that the Spawn shrieked in surprise. Sokka was outside the perimeter that had gotten affected by the bomb, thus he relied on his usual strategy of waiting patiently until his enemy showed up.
And soon enough the Spawn made it past the cloud of smoke, coughing and choking as he tried to regain the air he needed to bend, but Sokka wouldn't pass out on the perfect opportunity to reduce his foe to nothingness. He unsheathed his black sword and ran towards the Spawn, baring his teeth. The Spawn jumped at the sight of him and threw a small fireball towards Sokka, who, with a simple wave of his sword, forced the fire to dissipate. The Spawn stared at him in horror as Sokka ran to him, afraid the Blue Wolf would use his sword to slice up his body… but to his surprise, Sokka picked a different method to attack him rather than cutting him.
Sokka might have ravaged the Spawn's body with his sword if he had been supposed to kill his enemy, but he didn't have to resort to such a thing anymore, which filled his heart with a sense of tranquility he couldn't quite explain, a sense that ushered him to fight far more spontaneously than he usually did… a sense that drove him to perform a very high jump towards the Spawn's head.
The Spawn didn't even know what happened at first. It was hard to comprehend what was going on when he felt Sokka's knees pressing his ears tightly. Azula's gladiator used every ounce of momentum and strength within his system to lift the heavy body of the Spawn with his legs as he performed a somersault, bringing the Spawn with him as he twirled in mid-air.
Azula was left gaping at him with awe as she saw Sokka spin once, managing to sweep the Spawn off his feet with apparent ease. Sokka fell on his back, just as he had planned, and the impact was a little harder on him than he had expected… but he had managed to dunk the Spawn's head into the sand, which had been the objective of his outstanding move in the first place.
Sokka stood up and sheathed Space Sword as he looked at the pathetic figure of the Spawn. He stuck his hand into the sand and grasped the man by his hair, pulling him up. As he did, the Spawn spewed sand and moaned, looking like he had been badly stunned by that blow. Sokka stared at him with something similar to compassion for a second, wondering if it was truly necessary for him to knock him out… he was clearly out of it already. He looked towards the judges' balcony, through the already dissipating cloud of smoke, and asked.
"He has to be unconscious for the fight to end, right?"
"Y-yes…" said the man of the megaphone, staring at him in utter disbelief along with the rest of the judges "Unless you want to wait for the remaining ten minutes to pass…"
Sokka shook his head, sighed and struck the Spawn of the Volcano on the bridge of his nose with the side of his stretched-out hand. The man's eyes rolled in its sockets as he collapsed, his body becoming so heavy Sokka almost pulled out his hair before letting go of him.
The limp body of the Spawn lay on the ground now. Azula took a moment to realize what the sight of her gladiator standing triumphantly meant… and she smiled with a wild bout of joy as she did. She was free… she had done it. She had proved Chan to be unworthy of her, she had defeated the destiny that had been imposed upon her!
"T-the winner is… T-the Blue Wolf!" said the man with the bullhorn after the judges told him to give out the obvious announcement already.
Azula beamed at Sokka, having never felt proud towards anyone other than herself before. Sokka turned to see her and he waved in her direction, almost asking her if she was satisfied with the result. She laughed to herself, which Sokka took as a good sign. He headed towards the gate from which he had entered the Arena, and Azula took a deep breath, completely relieved.
The crowd was frozen; hardly anyone could understand how their hero had been defeated with such ease, and so quickly, too. Azula was even more elated when she noticed the reaction of the spectators… surely Sokka's prowess would be spoken of throughout the entire Fire Nation: not every day did a newcomer gladiator defeat a man from the upper half of the ranking on his very first fight. Her ultimate goal was shining ahead of her and she would come closer to it slowly, but certainly…
"Very well, then…" she said, turning to Chan.
She couldn't help but smile even more when she saw him. His jaw had dropped and he was still gaping, aghast, at his fallen firebender…
"Uh… Chan? It's time to get down to business…" she said, and he blinked a few times before turning to her.
"H-how did you…? How could a non-bender…?"
"Oh, I find no purpose in telling you or else you'll try to find yourself a tough non-bender of your own to replace that useless gladiator of yours," said Azula, chuckling. "He truly is something, isn't he? You're better off not underestimating non-benders… just as I've already proved you shouldn't underestimate me."
Chan's face fell with Azula's last statement, knowing she was completely right about it. He stared at his gladiator's flaccid figure and shook his head in disbelief.
"You really found the perfect fighter to suit you… it's like you're two sides of the same coin."
Azula jumped at that statement. Two sides of the same coin?
"As much as I am somewhat pleased to hear you can make strange, poetic metaphors, I believe there's a subject we have yet to address," she said, putting aside her thoughts about what Chan had just said. "The due payment was of fifty thousand yuans, if my memory doesn't fail me…"
Chan grew paler when she reminded him of this, almost as if the blood had frozen within his veins. He looked at her, horrified, and she raised her eyebrows.
"Well…?" Azula inquired.
"N-no… n-no… I… I can't… Y-you…"
"Are you going to tell me you didn't bring the money?" she asked, indignant. "How truly irresponsible of you…"
"N-no, I do have it, but…"
"You never thought you'd lose," said Azula, folding her arms. "And you don't want to part with it. Is that it?"
"M-my father… he'll kill me if he knows I spent so much money in a gladiator fight…" he said, clenching his teeth together.
"You could have asked for a smaller bid when I sent you the challenge," said Azula, shrugging. "So it's all on you in the end. Face reality, will you?"
Chan's fist curled up and Azula rolled her eyes, knowing he was still unwilling to depart with his cash.
"Fine, while you come to terms to what you're obligated to do, you could at least tell me what I should do after I've won… I'm new at this, after all," she said, looking at her fingernails.
"N-nothing, really…" he said, his eyes focusing on the floor now. "You can go to the front counter and see what your gladiator's new position is… b-but there's not much more you need to do…"
"Huh," said Azula, surprised to discover there were no further complications to the matter. She stood up and looked at the man, who seemed to be about to burst into tears. "It makes me slightly uncomfortable that every time we meet you end up crying. I guess I have a knack for ruining your life in the span of a few hours… Oh, well. Hand over the money already, will you? I'm not leaving without it, and I'm pretty sure you want me to get away from you as fast as possible, so the sooner you give it to me, the better it'll be for the both of us."
Chan pouted in quite a ridiculous manner as tears began streaming down his cheeks, and he finally handed Azula a bag of gold. As soon as it was out of his hand he began crying fully, to Azula's disgust.
"Dad's going to kill me! You… you'll be the death of me… if not today, t-then someday…" he said, hiccupping.
"I believe you'll be pleased, then, to hear that I don't plan on meeting you ever again," said Azula, opening the bag and smiling at the sight of the golden coins. "This, if fortune favors us, will be the last time we'll see each other. I have to say that you have given me a few laughs and I have enjoyed making your life miserable… but you annoy me far too much to continue seeking opportunities to ruin you. So this is goodbye, Chan."
Chan was too busy crying his eyes out to realize the meaning behind Azula's words. Indeed, they would never have to meet again, if she was lucky enough to get her way as she would once she spoke with her father…
She exited the room quickly and sped up her pace as she headed down to the stand-by room Sokka was in. She almost broke into a sprint, desperate to see him and congratulate him for his victory…
Sokka was wiping the ashes and sand off his helmet when he heard someone walking into the room. He lifted his gaze and greeted Azula with a hand.
"How did you like my performance, Princess?" he asked, smirking slightly.
"It was… amazing, unbelievable!" she said, unable to control the joy that was taking over her senses as she walked to him, beaming.
"Uh… are you going to kiss me or something?" said Sokka, eyeing her with confusion. The doting way she was looking at him was somewhat terrifying.
Azula stopped on her tracks and stared at him in annoyance.
"Can't you ever think of anything else? Am I that appealing to you?"
"Hey! T-that's not… T-take that back!" he said, blushing slightly as he glared at her. Azula ignored his reaction, though, and tossed the bag of coins in his direction.
"There you have it… as I promised: your winnings" she said, still smiling despite his previous comment.
Sokka took the heavy bag in his hands and whistled in approval.
"I'm glad you're keeping to your word," he said. "This is really heavy, though… this is the 75% you promised me, right? It's a lot more than I expected… well, seeing how much money you had on that bid I'm not surprised, really…"
"Actually… that's the 100%" said Azula, startling Sokka.
"Huh? What?! W-why?!"
"You don't understand," said Azula, pacing around the room while laughing weakly. "What you pulled off out there, against the Spawn, it was beyond any of my expectations. You didn't even get hurt! Or… did you?"
"Nah, I'm fine" said Sokka, smirking proudly.
"And well… you already know why this fight meant so much for me," said Azula, smiling at him now. "That you triumphed in it with such ease… it baffled me. I never thought you would win without any difficulties. I hoped you would win, but this was far beyond anything I had envisioned! So… I'm grateful, truly grateful, so much I don't know how to pay you back for what you did for me today. Even giving you all the money doesn't seem to be enough of a reward…"
"Well, this is just an idea…" said Sokka, clearing his throat. "But since you seem to be feeling so generous and grateful, how about paying me the rest of your debt by taking me back to my tribe…?"
Azula's face turned into a frown and she glared at him.
"Oh, no. I'm not grateful enough to do that yet."
Sokka pouted in disapproval but sighed, knowing he hadn't been likely to get away with such proposal. Yet Azula still seemed very pleased, which didn't stop being a truly frightening sight.
"You could stop smiling so much, girl…" he said, putting the bag of money inside his helmet and carrying both things under his arm. "It's freaking me out."
"I… I really can't," said Azula, giggling. "You… you did it, Sokka. You gave me my life back."
"And now I have to go work my ass off in a hundred more fights to see if I can get mine back too," said Sokka, sighing. "Oh, well. At least you won't be tossing me back into the Amateur League."
"I most certainly won't. You proved yourself, Sokka," she said. "You are a good enough fighter to face professional gladiators with ease… you belong in the upper ring of this discipline, nobody should doubt that anymore."
Her recurrent use of his name sent a shiver down his spine. It gave him an oddly pleasing feeling to hear her say the two syllables that identified him…
"I'd rather not belong in any gladiator fights, to be honest," he growled. "But whatever. I'll get back to where I truly belong if I see this to the end. How many fights do you think it'll take me to get to the top of the ranking?"
"I'm not sure," said Azula. "What matters is the points you earn, not the fights themselves… but it might take you over a thousand fights, I think."
"Over a thousand?!" he yelled, dismayed.
"Don't worry, we have enough time to pull it off," said Azula, shrugging. "It's not as if you had to fight a thousand times in one year or so…"
"B-but… wait," said Sokka, lifting a hand in her direction. "How about if I beat the top guy in the ranking? Wouldn't that make me superior to him and automatically turn me into the top fighter?"
"Uh… no," said Azula. "You're supposed to get there through points only. Although, if you were #2 and you killed the top fighter in a fight, you would become the first one automatically."
Sokka winced and rolled his eyes.
"No way," he grunted. "I'm not killing anyone else. Well, maybe I'll try to kill you if you keep giving me suggestions like those…"
"Oh, but I doubt you'll ever succeed at that," she said, smirking as she walked outside the room, and Sokka followed.
"Well, you did tell me how to beat you when we first met…" said Sokka, smiling. "You mentioned something about a bomb that would get your firebending out of control…"
"Oh, of course. But something like that would kill you before it gets me, believe me," said Azula, smirking. Sokka glared at her as they walked down the hallway, side by side.
"You're the worst, Azula."
A/N:
It was a lot shorter than my usual updates, but I think it works anyway ^^U Sorry for my absence, I'm guessing you were waiting for this fight… so I hope it was good enough for you all! I'll try to update sooner next time… no guarantees, though, sorry about that TTwTT next week might be as bad as this one… but I'll do my best to get back to writing at full-power again when this mess is done with, promised thing! Thanks for sticking with me and thanks for bringing this story to 50 favorites with only 10 chapters in ^^ you guys are awesome! Thank you so much!