Mediocre chapter alert!
So, this explains what really happened, but I did it in the worst way possible. I am not proud of it, and I'm sorry to make you guys read this.
It features a real life song but with its lyrics changed (the song is Rasputin). Yes, it's that bad. Please don't hate me. Next chapter will be good I promise!
In one part you might have to imagine like the scene in Tangled when the people were singing in that weird restaurant, it's that type of vibe. But with a real life song because I had a cringe episode.
Anyways, if any of you thinks Sokka took advantage of Azula after this chapter, then I have a lot to think about my own life...
Part of the idea for this chapter is remind you all that Azula is also to blame. She is a victim, but she's not innocent. She's Azula after all, so she's not a relatively good person.
Please don't stop reading after this chapter. I'm aware it's disappointing, so again, sorry. I promise to make it up to you guys.
A young woman sat in an almost empty cantina drinking Sorghum liquor. Any other day she would've stuck with plum wine, which was infinitely times classier than the strong liquor she was consuming, but at the moment, the woman just wanted to forget about the fight she had earlier that day.
"Didn't think I'd find you here. And with a disguise no less." A strong voice said at her side.
She slowly turned her head to find a Water Tribesman sitting beside her.
"Could I have sorghum on the rocks?" The man asked the bartender, who silently nodded and began to serve the liquor to the individual.
The woman turned her head back to look in front of her. "What are you doing here peasant?"
"Hey, my dad is Chief of the Tribe, so that makes me like a prince. I'm certainly no peasant."
"What are you going here, oh wonderous prince of the Water Tribe?" the woman asked again
The man scoffed. "I'll ignore your sarcasm for now. I guess I'm here for the same reason you are."
"What, did you get in an argument with your girlfriend, which then escalated into the biggest fight of your life, and now want to drink until Agni himself comes to claim your soul?"
"Not exactly," the man said as he thanked the bartender for his drink and took a sip. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"Since when are we close enough for me to tell you all about my intimate problems?"
The man shrugged his shoulders. "We're not, but it's always good to vent. If you don't want to talk that's fine, we could just enjoy alcohol together."
The woman swirled her drink on the cup with her wrist.
"Very well. Let's enjoy the drinks."
The woman had always prided herself with being self-proclaimed alcohol resistant, but that night was different. Maybe it was because she hadn't eaten much during the day, or maybe it was because of her emotional distress. Whichever the reason, it caused the woman to get lightheaded after her fifth cup of sorghum. When she looked at the Water Tribesman, she noticed that he had drunk twice the quantity she had.
"You should stop drinking." The woman said, glancing at the empty cups in front of him.
The man waved his hand at her. "Nah, I'm fine. Once you've drunken Cactus Juice you're immune to everything else. You're the one who should stop drinking! You've had like-what-five glasses?"
"Six, which can be barely compared to your twelve drinks."
"I'm like double your weight, so I can drink double the amount of alcohol you can."
The woman turned to face the Water Tribesman completely. "You are not twice as big as I am."
"Oh yes I am. Look, stand up." He stood up and waited for her to do so as well. The woman stood up after a few seconds, feeling dizzy soon after. She stumbled a little and was caught by the man by the arms.
"Easy there." He laughed
"I'm fine."
"Sure you are. Anyways, see, you're this short," the man stepped close to the woman and put his hand on his shoulder. "which means that I have a lot of muscle more than you."
The woman smiled. "You said that wrongly."
"No I didn't." the man denied.
"Yes you did. It should've been 'which means that I have more muscles mass than you'."
The Water Tribesman smiled. "So you admit it then."
The Fire Nation woman scowled. "Just because you have bigger muscles does not mean you can withhold more alcohol than I can."
"That's literally what it means! More muscles mean more weight, which correlates to alcohol tolerance."
"No. You're wrong. In fact, let's make a bet. Whoever vomits or passes out last can ask the other one a favor. It has to be a reasonable favor, so no asking for anything sexual. That's what our girlfriends are for." The woman stretched her hand towards the foreigner.
The man took her hand and with a determined face, shook the hand of his adversary. "We have a deal."
"In that case, come with me. There's this place where we can get all the drinks we want for free if we get all the crowd to sing a song." The woman pulled the man outside, leaving some golden coins on the counter of the bar.
The Fire Nation woman stumbled across the streets of the capital, nobody recognizing such a figure of standing. The Water Tribesman simply followed the woman to wherever she was to take him. He couldn't understand where exactly it was or what exactly was the place, he was just weirded out that the princess looked so excited. She held a bright smile as she ran through the streets of Caldera.
Ten minutes later, the pair found themselves at another bar, but this one with people playing instruments. The people looked happy, with the musicians playing happily whichever song came to their mind and the clients enjoying the music.
"Botum's place." The Water Tribe man read.
The princess rolled her eyes. "I'm aware it's a mediocre name. Just come in."
She pulled him until they were in the cantina.
"Rina! I'm so happy you decided to visit." The bartender greeted the woman. He was a middle-aged man with a thin moustache. He had tan skin and brown hair sprinkled with white, evidence of his aging.
"Good evening Botum. How are you?" the woman greeted with a smile
"Even better now that you're here sweetheart. And who's this man? He's not from around here is he?" Botum asked, whipping a glass with a towel and pouring some liquor in.
The woman shook her head. "No, he's from the Water Tribes. That's not important right now."
"Is it not? You always seemed set on always being with someone from the Fire Nation."
"I have a bet going on with this oaf, but we don't want to spend too much money." The woman explained. "Botum, I'm here to take on The Challenge."
The bartender's eyes widened. "The Challenge? Are you sure you are able to do it?"
The woman shrugged her shoulders. "If I don't, then I guess we'll just have to pay the fee. But I'm certain I'll be able to beat it."
"If you say so. Let me announce it first." The man walked from behind and went to stand in front of the musicians who had their own little makeshift wooden stage. Using a big cone, the bartender cleared his throat and spoke to all of his customers.
"We have someone who wished to take on The Challenge." All the conversations stopped at the mention. The Water Tribesman looked uneasy at the severity this challenge seemed to imply. "The point of The Challenge is to make every single person inside of the establishment highly engage in the song sung by the challenger. That is the easy part. What the challenger also needs to do is make at least 50 outside people enter the establishment while the song is going on. If the challenger can do it, he or she will have free drinks for the night, as well as a person of his or her choice. If he is unable, however, the challenger must pay triple for the drinks, as well as pay the band for their performance. It sounds easy, but so far nobody has been able to achieve it. Now let's all give a fiery welcome to Rina!"
"That's the challenge? It sounds…not Fire Nation." The Water Tribesman whispered to the woman.
"Don't criticize. Just be happy I'm willing to go through this just so you don't spend money." She said, placing a hand on his chest before walking towards the stage.
"So, Rina, are you ready for The Challenge?" the bartender asked
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
"Perfect. Well then, good luck. And remember, have fun up there."
The woman turned to the band and whispered something. The band members all smiled as they heard the song the woman proposed.
"This is the story about one of our greatest Fire Lords, and the song explains why. Some people know it back from schools, others remember it because of the Rough Rhinos. Now, everyone summon your inner patriot. And peasant," the woman pointed at the Water Tribesman. "this will help you learn about the history of the greatest Nation."
The person on the drums began to play a rapid rhythm while the woman clapped three times in consecutive intervals. Soon enough, the people inside the bar began to clap along with her. After that, a string instrument began to play a melody, which was then followed by another string instrument playing another melody. The Water Tribesman was confused by this and was also scared at how quickly the people reacted to the princess's claps. It was as if they were brainwashed sheep.
"There lived a certain man in the Nation long ago." The princess sang.
"He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow!" the customers sang/shouted.
The princess' guest was genuinely surprised by the response. His eyes roamed around the room to see everyone's faces, but it seemed to his surprise that everyone was happy with the song. Granted, it gave the vibe of a drunken bar song, but it was still too quick of a reaction.
"Some people looked at him, with terror and with fear." The princess grinned
"But to his people he was such a lovely dear!" The chorus of people chanted.
"He could preach the scrolls like a preacher, full of ecstasy and fire.
But he also was the kind of leader, people would desire." The princess sang.
The music played alone for a few seconds, in which the people stood up and began to chant 'hey's'. From the corner of his eye, the Water Tribesman could already see people entering the bar. They were groups of people, not single individuals, which meant that the princess would soon reach the necessary goal of 50 people.
It was bizarre to see the people of the Fire Nation dancing. As far as he was concerned, the Fire Nation didn't let people dance during the reign of Fire Lord Ozai, which probably meant that the previous Fire Lord also forbid it. However, all of these people seemed so invested in the song that they just danced. Some new instruments were added, and soon enough it sounded like a whole orchestra in the bar.
The princess began to sing her verses again, and the people chanted back as they did before. Everyone seemed so genuinely happy, and it gave him a smile. When he saw the princess like that, it made him truly happy to see her enjoying herself without the fear of people discovering who she was. Back in the palace, the princess acted extremely poised, and even when she looked content, there was an underlying constraint of emotion present in her body language.
"Fa-Fa-Fire Lord, Ruler of our Great Nation,
Who gave us all of us great honor!
Fa-Fa-Fire Lord, everybody loved Sozin,
There was no shame how he carried on!" The princess sang together with the Fire Nation people of the bar.
The man's smile vanished when he realized what the song was about. All of these people were happy because of a song about how great Sozin was. The same guy that committed the genocide against Aang's people. The same guy who waged a war against the entire world, which cause the death of his mother.
"He ruled the Fire lands, don't mind the Avatar,
But the traitor then, he attacked the great Sozin.
In all affairs of state he was the man to please,
But he was real great, he did all of it with ease.
For the Lady he was no wheeler dealer,
Though she heard the things he's done.
She believed he was the holy leader,
Who would give her son."
It got worse. It was clearly all propaganda. And everyone ate it up. They all began to sing the chorus with fervor, and the Water Tribesman wondered if he was truly the only one perturbed by the song. He wanted to go up to the princess and tell her to stop with the madness, but then he saw her face. Her radiant smile stopped him from whatever he was going to say. It was clear that the princess was more than a little drunk, but it made her look good. Not that she didn't before, the Water Tribesman had always noticed how beautiful the princess was, but she had a different glow at the moment.
He seemed to have zoned out for a moment because next thing he knew, the princess was in front of him. She pulled him to the stage and began to dance with him as the people cheered. She grabbed his elbow with her elbow and began to skip around him, making him move as well. He concluded that it must've been the alcohol the one responsible for the princess to act in such a way.
The foreigner soon loosened up and began to dance along with the people. Sure, the song was propaganda, but it was still catchy. And on the bright side, if he enjoyed it, he might have free drinks for the night and beat the princess at their bet.
"This man's just got to go", declared his enemies
But the people begged, "Don't you try to do it, please"
There's no doubt this Sozin had lots of hidden charms
Though he was head-strong, nobody really got harmed
Then one night some men of noble standing
Set a trap, they are to blame
"Come to visit us", they kept demanding
And he really came" Azula sang along with the rest of the people, but her eyes were looking directly at him. They had a glow that could've come from the alcohol, but at the moment, the man felt something else. Their hands were together as they danced, and their eyes never left each-other's.
"Fa-Fa Fire Lord, Ruler of our Great Nation
They put some poison into his wine
Fa-Fa Fire Lord, everybody loved Sozin
He drank it all and said, "I feel fine"
"Fa-Fa- Fire Lord, Ruler of our Great Nation
They didn't quit, they wanted his head
Fa-Fa- Fire Lord, everybody feared Sozin
And so he burned them 'til they were dead"
He didn't know how it had happened, but as soon as the song seemed to have ended, he was leaning closely to the princess. Too closely. Their breaths were so close that he could barely tell them apart. He could feel her eyes linger around his mouth, and he felt himself doing the same. They started to lean towards each other. They were mere centimeters away, almost touching each other's lips, before they were interrupted.
"Leave that for later!" the bartender patted the Water Tribesman shoulder, making him turn back to reality. "Rina, I can't believe you did it, but you did! As promised, free drinks for you and your partner."
The princess straightened her composure and smiled at Botum. "That song always works. It was how many of my classmates remembered the failed assassination attempt against Fire Lord Sozin."
The princess pulled the man by his forearm towards the cantina.
"Now we can drink however much we can. You're welcome by the way."
The man bowed down to the princess. "Thank you oh great ladyness."
"Shut up and drink. We have to do it at the same time. Then we'll see who has the better alcohol tolerance."
The pair drank nine shots in a row, which of course left them without much sense of direction or knowledge about where they were.
"So-so why did you and Ty Lee fight? I thought you two never fought." The man asked
The princess smiled and chuckled. "Well, you're not wrong. We don't fight much, but that doesn't mean we don't have any problems."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything was splendid when we got together. I love Ty Lee ever since I can remember, but I had a lot of demons to deal with before I could even admit my feelings toward her. I'm a different person now than I was back then, and on the surface level everyone knows it, but deep down everyone thinks I'm still the same person." The princess confessed
"I'm not going to say that I get exactly what you mean, but I have an idea. Ty Lee loves you a lot, you do know that, right?"
"Of course I do, which is what makes everything harder. Our fights just escalate from simple disagreements. Like today, I told her that I didn't think getting a pet would be a good idea because of the responsibility it takes, and because I really don't enjoy their presence, and that escalated into me having used her back in the war. It's like, everything I do leads me back to my past. I thought I could leave it all behind, but no matter how much I grow, I still get pulled back to the things I did even by the people I love the most."
The Water Tribesman looked at the princess with pity in his eyes. "Have you talked to them about it?"
"There's no point in doing it anymore." Azula shook her head. "I tried to do it once, but Mai said I was emotionally manipulating and abusing Ty Lee and tried to break us up. Then soon after that, I asked Zuko to see father, which made him not trust me any longer. I just-I feel trapped. I'm back home after the asylum, a completely different person who is taking her medication and who takes care of her girlfriend, yet to my family I'm still a monster."
"Hey, you're not a monster. Monsters are ugly." The foreigner tried to console the princess.
She laughed before taking another shot. "Your flattery will get you nowhere peasant."
"Ok ok, sorry." The man said as he took his shot. "I thought you would be a crazy drunk. Instead, you're just like an honest version of yourself."
"Just because I'm drunk doesn't mean I will forget about etiquette. It's a part of me. Lying, contrary to popular belief, is not hardwired to my mind, so I tend to be honest when I'm drunk."
"So if I ask you anything, will you answer with the truth?"
"Certainly."
The man smirked. "Well this is going to be fun. First question, how do you really feel about Zuko?"
"Zuzu's an idiot, but he's my idiot. We always fought when we were little, but deep down I really cared for him, obviously more than he cared about me." The woman sighed
"Ey none of that! We're not here to be depressed. Not after that groovy propaganda song, which I certainly have to talk to Zuko about."
The woman hit him playfully on his shoulder. "You will do no such thing. That song is part of our culture, and you will have no say in my culture. We don't go to your snowy filthy hut and ban you from telling stories."
"My hut is not filthy!" the Water Tribesman yelled in outrage
"Liar! I bet it smells like you." The princess laughed
The man smirked and got closer to the Fire Nation woman, putting an arm around her. "Aw come on, you know you love this smell."
"If I wanted to smell sweat, I would go and visit my father in prison."
"I doubt your father would smell like this. This is the smell of handsome warrior."
The princess turned to face him and pointed her index finger at his chest. "While I admit you are handsome, this is the smell of someone who really needs to stop drinking and take a bath."
He took her hand away from his chest but got closer to the princess. His eyes glammed with a hot spark, despite him not being a firebender. "No way hotwoman. I am not losing our bet. Not even to someone as beautiful as you."
As if he had just jinxed himself, the Water Tribesman soon felt a weird feeling in his stomach. He felt how the liquids he had ingested were on route to shoot themselves out via his frontal opening. His eyes widened and he put his hands in front of his mouth.
"Oh no, you're not doing that here." The woman took his hand and quickly led him away from the bar and into a nearby alley. As soon as they got to the alley, the man bent his back forward and spilled his insides on the street. Against her better judgement, she approached the puking man and rubbed his back.
"Get it all out. You'll feel better afterwards." She said.
The woman noticed a bucket of water standing in a corner of the alley, and so without thinking it twice over, she walked over and stole it. The peasant had already finished throwing up and had his back leaning against a building.
"Gargle this and then drink some." She handed him the bucket. "It'll help with the taste and with the headache."
The man took the bucket and did as the princess instructed. "So I guess this means I've lost."
"So much for having muscles." The princess taunted as the man frowned.
"What do you want your favor to be?"
The princess smiled. "I have to think about it. Something fitting for someone from the Water Tribes."
"I don't know how to drown someone if that's what you were thinking." She laughed at his joke and he smiled at her reaction. "Come on, let's go to the palace."
The black-haired woman shook her head. "I'm not going there with you. They'll assume I got you drunk to use you for some evil plot."
"Well, I'm not leaving you alone. You're drunk."
"I can still defend myself." The princess scoffed.
"I don't doubt that for a second, but I'm still not leaving you alone. Call me a gentleman or old-fashioned, but I believe a lady should not wander the streets alone in the middle of the night while under the influence and surrounded by drunk men."
"You're a drunk man."
The Water Tribesman rolled his eyes and put his arm around her shoulders. "But you know me; I won't take advantage of you."
Sensing that the man would never stop his begging, the princess agreed. "Very well, but you must carry me. I am not walking. And this does not count as the favor."
"Fine by me." He crouched and showed his back to the princess. "Hop on."
The woman stepped forward and put her arms around his neck. He grabbed her legs as he stood up, stumbling a little. The firebender's breath was very close to his face, and the Water Tribesman had a hard time not focusing on it.
"Where to m'lady?" the man asked, walking out of the alley. The streets were empty, and the fire illuminating the way was low. The only people around them were few drunken men in their own respective bars, and women going home with their nightly selection of men.
"Turn right on the next street and then quickly turn left. There's a quality inn there." The princess told him. He nodded and turned at the street she told him of. "You know peasant, I never understood why you are with that Kyoshi girl. The way she looks at Zuzu when she thinks nobody is watching, it's disgusting. You deserve better than her."
"Suki would never cheat on me. She loves me too much." The Water Tribe man said.
The princess chuckled. "Think what you want, but I'm a people's person. I know what a person truly wants before they do. In my humble opinion, I think you shouldn't be with that Kyoshi Warrior. Even if she's physically loyal, her heart jumps around."
"You shouldn't be talking about my relationship when you had a huge fight with your girlfriend today. What if I said that Ty Lee doesn't deserve you?" The man counterargued
"Then you would be an idiot. Ty Lee loves me, and I love her. It's not her fault that I was manipulative before, and that she will never be able to trust me. If anyone doesn't deserve anyone it's me. Ty Lee is too good for me. She has always been loyal to me even when I hurt her."
"From the looks of today, it was she who hurt you." The man said slowly.
The princess sighed. "I love her. She's the love of my life. But I guess sometimes I feel as if our time together is better off as a memory. The idea of her makes me happy, and the idea of spending the rest of my life with her is incredible, but sometimes I get hurt because of us being together, and I don't know what to do. I was planning on proposing to her this week, but she has been really cranky lately. As if everything Mai has been saying is reaching her ears."
The pair arrived at the inn, where an old woman stood at the front desk. The Water Tribesman approached the woman and put the princess down.
"Hi, can we have two rooms?" he asked the innkeeper.
"I'm sorry, but we only have one room available."
"How cliché." The princess sighed. "We'll take it."
The innkeeper smiled and bowed down. "I'll bring you your key now."
As the innkeeper turned around to find the key, the Water Tribesman turned towards the princess.
"Cliché?"
The princess nodded. "Yes. There are many stories where two enemies have to stay in a room together because there's no other option. They are mainly targeted to teenage girls, so I didn't want to read them when I was younger, but Ty Lee always rabbled on and on about how romantic they were."
Before the man could reply, the innkeeper returned with the key. "Your room will be number 8. Just go upstairs and it will be down the corridor to your right."
"Thank you." They replied in unison with a bow.
The pair made their way to the room, where they found that there was only one small bed. The room itself was very small, but it had a nice smell of roses.
"Oh perfect." The princess said as she noticed the bottles of liquor on a stand. She opened a bottle and quickly poured some of the liquor on a glass. "Do you want some?"
"You shouldn't be drinking more princess. At least I threw up everything I drank, but you're still digesting the liquor from earlier."
"I'll take that as a no." The princess said, drinking the glass she had on her hand. She quickly went to pour herself another glass, but the Water Tribesman took her wrist. "Release me and let me enjoy the beverages."
"I'm not letting you drink anymore." The Water Tribesman said with finality, not letting go of the wrist. The princess felt her back touch the wall.
She glared at the foreigner in front of her with anger. "Try to stop me." She brought the bottle of liquor to her lips, but before she could take a drink, the bottle was slapped away by the strong man in front of her. Her wrist was then also grabbed by his strong hands, as he held them both above her head.
"Now this feels familiar." The princess said. She could feel his body close against hers, his eyes looking down at her. His breath which still smelled like alcohol engulfing her, as she was sure her breath was doing the same. His head, beginning to bend towards hers, and her head unconsciously doing the same until their lips met.
It was a hungry kiss. Their lips met harshly, passion and need lasing their every movements. The princess raised her legs to straddle the Water Tribesman, as he released her wrist and grabbed her thighs. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer.
His legs took a mind of their own as he walked towards the small bed and laid the princess down, him getting above her just as quickly. They broke their kiss to catch their breath, and the foreigner took this opportunity to try to make sense of the situation. What was he doing? Was he really kissing the princess? Was he really cheating on Suki? He had never been that type of guy, but yet here he was, in an inn with the most powerful woman in the Fire Nation, hungrily locking his lips with hers.
"We shouldn't do this." He spoke.
"You're right, we shouldn't." The princess said before smirking. "But we want, and we will."
"It's wrong. And you're drunk."
"That just means that I'm being honest with my desires." She pulled him to a hungry kiss.
Before they knew it, their clothes had been discarded and the pair was still exchanging in heated kisses. All logic bypassed them both, only lust was on their mind. Lust for each other, to spend the night together no matter the circumstances. One night, only one night.
"I'm going to cash in my favor." The princess said, breaking up the kiss.
The Water Tribesman nodded, wanting to get the conversation over and start the act. "What do you want your favor to be?"
"Forget about this night. Forget about meeting me at the bar, about me singing in Botum's place, everything. This is wrong, we both love other people, so let's make it as devoid of emotions as it can be. Purely lust."
"We don't have to do this princess. If you feel really guilty, we can just forget anything happened and rest." The man reasoned
The woman shook her head. "No, I don't care if this is morally wrong. I need you peasant. I need you now. Now promise that you'll forget about it."
"Only lust. No emotions." The Water Tribesman nodded before locking lips with the princess once again.
Princess Azula woke up with a start. It had been the fifth night in a row that she dreamt about the same thing. She knew what it was. It was the night when Lee Ten was conceived.
She guessed this was the way for the spirits to help her relate the tale to everyone once the time came. The tale about how she succumbed under alcohol and made one of the greatest mistakes of her life. Except that it wasn't one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
It ruined her life in a sense, but all of those happy moments that night led to her son being born, led to her finally achieving complete sanity.
There was a knock on her door which brought her back to the day.
"Who is it?" she asked
"It's me mom!" Lee Ten opened the door and entered the room. "Uncle Zuko was asking where you were because breakfast is about to start. Also, the Avatar's wife and the other people are arriving today!"
For the past few weeks, her son had been getting familiar with his family. He began to address the Fire Lord as Uncle Zuko and Kiyi as Aunt Kiyi. He called General Iroh simply Iroh, without any sort of familial prefix. The teenager was still apprehensive about Ursa, as he avoided the instances when his grandmother tried to speak to him.
Azula stopped the urge to groan. "Tell Zuzu I'll be there soon."
"Are you feeling alright mom? You never used to sleep in." her son asked, walking towards her and putting a hand on her forehead.
"Yes, I'm fine Lee Ten. Just let me get ready for the day." The princess replied.
The teenager nodded his head and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Today was the day when she finally saw the Avatar and the Water peasant again; the day when she would have to tell everyone who Lee Ten's father was. She wished nobody would over-react at the news, but of course she knew better. In a group of people known for their theatrics, the news that the brother-in-law of the Avatar and the evil Princess of the Fire Nation had a child together was bound to cause a reaction.