This chapter honestly shouldn't have taken me as long as it did with how this chapter is only 5k words long so I sincerely apologize for how long this chapter took to get out with only a few things of actual note happening in it. I can't guarantee that the next chapter is going to come any faster, but I will try at the very least.
Anyway getting into the chapter, we get to see the aftermath of Azula's reaction to killing her first person and one other scene of note that I have been wanting to get to for a long while.
With that said, let's get this chapter started!
Azula sat outside the house on the porch, hugging her knees as she watched the sunrise in the distance. She hadn't spoken much since they had gotten back or on the way back for that matter. They had arrived back at the house at around early morning when it was still dark and Azula couldn't come up with the will to go back inside just yet, she wanted to be alone right now.
Even now, she still thinks back to that cultist boy she killed three days ago, he was around her age, maybe a few years older but she can still remember every detail of his expression when he died. When she killed him. It was one of horror, agony, fear, dread and sadness all mixed together. At the realization that he was going to die and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. What were his last memories and thoughts before everything went black, she wondered? Did he spent his last few seconds before death thinking about what he could have done differently in life, his hopes or dreams of a brighter future? Or did he spend them cursing her for taking his life?
Azula will never know because she took it from him. Taking the most sacred thing a person has alongside their bending. Their life.
Monster.
Her mother's voice echoes in her head, and she can't muster up the will to shove it away like she always did.
She was right.
Azula's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind her and the sound of the front door being opened, she didn't even need to turn her head to know who it was. Though as the footsteps got closer to her, she did catch the smell of tea in the air, indicating that Kazumi did come with refreshments.
The footsteps stopped right next to her and she looked up to her side to see Kazumi holding two cups of tea.
" I thought you would like some tea after all that happened a few days ago..." Kazumi as she quietly handed Azula the warm cup, who accepted it happily.
" Thank you..." Azula said in gratitude as she took a sip of the tea. The sweet taste of the soothing mixture helped calm her nerves, if ever so slightly.
Kazumi nodded as she sat down next to Azula with her own cup in hand. " You feeling any better now?"
Azula let out a sigh as she gently placed the cup to her side and hugged her knees " Not really, no..."
" Do you want to talk about it?" Kazumi asked gently and Azula knew that there was the offer not to talk about it.
But she can't afford to dance around the issue any longer than she already has. She needed to talk about it, if only to prevent her from going crazy from all the thoughts she was having.
" He was only a boy Kazumi, a boy not much older than I was and I just...killed him. Took the rest of his life away " Azula said with shock in her tone." I watched him die Kazumi, watched the life fade from his eyes. The shock, the horror, the sadness and fear as I stabbed him right through the heart Kazumi...I felt him die... I killed him with my own two hands "
Kazumi looked at Azula with sympathy as she put a gentle hand on her in comfort." Azula, you were only doing what you had to do to protect yourself and the hostage. If you hadn't stopped him than he would have sacrificed the hostage and then try to kill you in turn. You did what you had to do, there was nothing else that could have been done "
" I could used Thorns to hit him in the shoulder, I could used tethering to pull him towards me and knock him off balance, I could have even used transversal to tackle him to the ground. I could have done any number of things beside take away the one thing I had no right to take " Azula responded almost aggressively, as she looked at Kazumi. " Do you still think I couldn't have done anything else?"
" Yes, because you were acting in the moment Azula and should not be expected to come up with perfect alternatives at a seconds notice." Kazumi pointed out which Azula had to admit she could not deny. " You cannot blame yourself for what happened, you were just doing what you had to do to save the hostage. Nobody could blame you for not being able to instantly think of other non-lethal alternatives at the moment "
Azula appreciated Kazumi's words...but she's not saying anything Azula hasn't already considered herself.
She knows that Kazumi is right. That she was defending herself and the hostage to prevent her from being sacrificed. That she didn't have the time to think of any other alternatives at the moment. She knows that the boy likely would have turned his blade on her right after he was finished with the hostage if he hadn't been stopped. By any moral standard, most people would say that she was justified in killing him to save another person's life, that even if she did subdue to him non-lethally, he still likely would have ended up in prison for his crime in aiding the cultists and wouldn't have had much of a 'life' ahead of him anyway.
Yet even armed with all that knowledge, it does nothing to make her feel better. Because she still killed someone. A boy not much older than herself. She had taken away the rest of his life...in the same way her pathetic brother locked her away in an asylum that made her lose a year of her life. What does that say about her?
" You're not telling me anything I haven't already realized for myself Kazumi, I know that I didn't have time to think of some non-lethal alternative, that I was just...doing what I had to do, but that doesn't make it any better." Azula says with tiredness in her tone." My birth mother...thought I was a monster. Guess she was right after al-"
" No." Kazumi calmly refuted her words, making Azula turn to her in surprise to see conviction in her mentor's eyes. " You are not a monster Azula, you can't believe that. Just because you killed somebody doesn't prove whatever foolish and misguided thoughts your birth mother had of you were correct in the slightest. The fact that you show remorse and actually think about it, demonstrates that well "
Azula didn't say anything in for a moment as she hugged her knees closer. " Its not just that its...I've hurt people before Kazumi, manipulated them, left them scars in more ways than one...but I've never killed, that was my first time actually killing someone and I...Agni, I don't know how to feel about it. But my mother's words resonate throughout my damn mind that I am a monster."
" Then clearly that foolish woman knew nothing about what real monsters look like." Kazumi said spitefully." Do you want to know what makes a monster...a monster?"
Azula didn't say anything, but simply paid close attention to what Kazumi said next.
" They don't care." Kazumi's voice was dispassionate but firm. " I mean, they truly do not care in the slightest bit unless it inconveniences them personally. They do not care about the people they have hurt nor do they feel any remorse for what they have done. Not even because they are physically unable to feel it, but because they truly have stopped caring at this point. You are nothing like that Azula."
Azula could feel the power in Kazumi's words as she said that, touching Azula's own heart at that affirmation that she wasn't a monster.
" You may have done terrible things in your past...but that does not mean that your future must be as bleak. The fact that you acknowledge and think about your past actions shows that you are greater than true monsters who roam this world." Kazumi's hands gently touched her face as she looked into her eyes." I've said it once, and I will say it a thousand more times if I must: You are not a monster Azula..."
The princess was taken aback by the sheer conviction and firmness in her words. Even if Azula herself didn't quite believe it yet, Kazumi's belief in her did make her believe in turn.
" Kazumi..." Azula muttered as she felt a few tears leave her eyes, as she was pulled into a hug by the older woman.
" Its okay Azula, you're okay..." Kazumi muttered as they remained like that for a few minutes.
Eventually they pulled away but Azula leaned her head on Kazumi's shoulder as the two watched the sun rise in the distance.
" It gets easier, doesn't it?" Azula quietly asked her teacher. She had heard from plenty of soldiers that killing truly did get easier the more you did it, to the point that it became muscle memory for them and the only they could feel was the swing of their blades.
"...Yes" Kazumi spoke honestly. It shocked her much too when she first killed, but as she did it again and again, it became much easier than before.
" I don't want it to be easy" Azula muttered.
" Then you're already better than most people in this world " Kazumi said with a bit of humor in her tone.
They stayed like that for quite awhile, just watching the sunrise on a new day.
His eyes snapped open as he heard what sounded like a pot being smashed. The first thing he sees being the dark ceiling of his bedroom, as he blinks a few more times before rising from his bed, his honed instincts from decades of training quickly forced away any lingering fatigue he might have felt from suddenly being woken up and within mere moments he felt as prepared as if he had been waiting for combat the whole night.
He rose from his bed and assessed where the source of the sound had come from and the source of it. Could it be that his assistant had accidentally knocked something over in the middle of the night while getting something from the kitchen? Possible, even though such an event had never happened before...but he could swear that the sound came from the south end of his residence and that was nowhere near where the kitchen should be. His well trained instincts being able to detect the direction the sound came from served him well.
His sense for danger was acting up and some part of him could tell that there was something very, very wrong going on. He had to investigate and find out what that noise was. He quickly armed himself and exited his bedroom into the hallway, where he carefully scanned both ends of it before leaving.
The hallways were dark and hard to see without the candlelight's that were usually lit at night, but had long since gone out. While he had memorized the paths of his own home long ago and could likely walk through it blindfolded if he must, he could not deny a feeling of slight uneasiness wash over him as he moved through his own move with carefulness to figure out where the source of the noise came from. His honed senses paying close attention to pick up the slightest sound around him and in his home. As his eyes darted around as he moved through the house, he could not shake this feeling of unease and fear. It was an unusual feeling as he hadn't felt in a long time since he was usually able to keep his calm, but this felt different...
It felt as if the shadows themselves were alive and watching him.
He steeled his nerve as he walked through his house, ready for anything that could be thrown at him. Somehow that still didn't feel like enough or erased the growing unease in the pit of his stomach, but this was no time to hesitate.
After maybe only a few minutes of carefully moving through the house and double checking every shadow that seemed to move, he arrived at the general area where he believed the sound had come from. He quickly begun checking all the nearby rooms and spaces, broom closets and so on to try and figure out where that noise he heard came from. It didn't take him long to discover the source of the noise he heard earlier.
A broken window. Moonlight coming in from outside that illuminated the jagged pieces of glass that were laid out on the floor.
He quickly begun assessing what could have happened here, did a wild animal break in somehow? It hasn't happened before but its not as if it couldn't happen and he has heard cases like that happening when animals would break into houses searching for food...but the hole in the window was far too big for it to be just a run of the mill wild animal. Did his assistant break it then? No, also implausible, he would have taken care to clean it up immediately before he arrived.
So that left the question...who broke the window?
" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He was shocked out of his thoughts when he heard a loud scream of pain and agony resonate throughout the estate, breaking the still silence of the grounds and alerting him that somebody was being attacked. And he instantly recognized the sound of the voice. His own assistant screaming as if he was dying.
With no hesitation, he immediately ran down the hallways and corridors towards the source of the screaming which hadn't stopped in the slightest, his heart pounding against his chest in anticipation of the threat he was about to face, every passing second felt like ages as he ran as fast as he could towards the source of the screaming: The training courtyard.
He burst through the doors to the courtyard and ran down to the fighting arena, when the smell of burning flesh assaults his nostrils before he can gasp in shock at what he saw at the center of the dueling area.
His dear assistant, Fat was being held by the throat, suspended in the air by a single arm. It was clear that he was not subdued without a fight, a melted blade laid discarded at the side, and he could see the telltale signs of several severe burns on Fat's arms, legs and body with most of his clothes singed off.
But that wasn't what shocked him most, it was the face of the man who was holding his assistant's throat in a death vice. A face he had been familiar with and had seen in person from a distance, not much has changed despite the time that had passed since he has last since him. The moonlight shined on them in this arena, illuminating both of them.
" Ozai..." The swordmaster practically hissed the name as the former fire lord's face had come into view. Taking a good portion of his willpower not to tighten his grip on his blade, lest he let emotions overcome him.
" Piandou, I was wondering when you were going to come." Ozai said, almost sounding bored as he held Fat in a death grip. Looking at his captive prisoner." I was wondering if I was going to have to make this poor fool scream more to get your attention"
" Let my assistant go Ozai..." Piandou spoke in a calm tone, but it had a sharp edge to it that promised a painful retribution for any further harm. At the moment though, a few dozen questions swirled through his head.
He knew that the former Fire Lord had escaped prison a few months ago, information he had learned from his former student Sokka while they searched for Ozai. Iroh himself had sent him a letter telling him to be on guard and keep his ear to the ground in case any information about Ozai came up, which Piandou has certainly been doing but why was Ozai here in his home? Why come after him personally? How did Ozai get into his house? How was he even here and got in undetected?
Piandou shakes his head, he has no time to think about such questions. He can think about them after his assistant is safe.
Ozai didn't look the least bit fazed by the threat, in fact he looked rather calm as he choked the life out of Fat. " You know, its such a shame Piandou...you are truly a fine swordmaster. A shame you threw your lot in with my foolish brother and the Avatar "
" Why are you here?" Piandou asked, but he had a feeling he knew the answer. If he could just keep him talking long enough for him to get close to Ozai and rescue Fat then-
" To test my skills...you see Piandou, my skills and talents have gotten rusty and I need some practice." Ozai cruelly smiled at him, lighting a fire of rage in Piandou's heart." Perhaps you could use some motivation "
Piandou was briefly confused by what he meant...until he saw Fat's head burst into black flames, causing his assistant to scream.
" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fat screamed to the point his voice sounded strained for several seconds.
" FAT!" Piandou shouted, but he knew that it was too late.
Fat was dead within seconds.
Ozai chuckled cruelly as he seemed to relish the sight of his suffering. " I hope that suffices as proper motivation for you Piandou"
It took everything in Piandou's willpower not to charge forward blindly like a reckless novice swordsman on an emotional high, but he managed to stay his blade and avoid falling to Ozai's attempts to goad him. And he had realized what had just happened.
Ozai had his firebending back and his flames were black.
Piandou did not fully understand the situation or what was going, but he knew he could not let Ozai leave here alive.
The swordmaster took a deep breath as he prepared for combat, Ozai got into a familiar firebending stance.
Ozai made the first move, blasting a large plume of fire at him, which Piandou managed to dodge but still felt the sheer heat of it. Piandou had known that the former Fire Lord was powerful, but these black flames felt unnaturally powerful and hotter than any fire he had encountered before.
Still he would not surrender until his last breath.
He performed a quick slide just in time to avoid a stream of flame and did a quick jump through the air to avoid another ball of fire that was launched directly after it. He kept looking for the perfect opportunity to take Ozai's head. He jumped and moved from side to side to make it as hard as possible for him to be hit directly. He remembered that when engaging firebenders, one must always take care to avoid their flames and wait for the opportunity for them to overexpose themselves.
Ozai had power, but Piandou had speed and skill.
The former Fire Lord pressed his offense, moving closer and closer with each blast of black fire. But Piandou leaped through the air performing a somersault over Ozai's head to avoid a blast of fire, before landing behind the former Fire Lord and swung his blade in a perfect arc that would cleave Ozai's head clean from his wretched neck-
Before Ozai disappeared in front of his eyes in a puff of smoke.
Piandou found himself dumbfounded for a moment, what-
He did not have time to dodge as felt a sudden burst of flame at his side, causing him to shout in pain as he felt the sleeve of his nightshirt take the brunt of the damage. Before he felt a powerful gust of wind throw him off balance and tumbling onto the arena floor, only saving himself by performing a quick roll but still making himself let out a cry of pain as what felt like a few bones in his body being broken from the impact. He quickly picked himself off the floor and kept a handle on his blade.
Piandou's eyes were wide with shock and his breath was ragged from the pain, but also the sudden surprise-How did Ozai do that? Appear out of nowhere? And that gust of wind, it felt like airbending but much more violent.
He knew Ozai was a formidable and powerful...but this kind of power was unnatural. Out of this world even.
Piandou barely lifted his head in time to see Ozai disappear in a puff of smoke once more. He felt the heat before he even saw Ozai, the only thing saving him from being burned alive was his quick reflexes and jumping out of the way before he could get hit by the black flames, that still left his clothes singed slightly and with soot coming off of him. Piandou was given no time to rest as he quickly had to dodge more and more balls of fire, each one getting closer than the last. It left him with no chance to counterattack either with Ozai being able to disappear and reappear at will.
" AH!" Piandou let out a cry of pain as he got punched right in the face by Ozai who disappeared as quickly as he reappeared, but he quickly did several rolls that let him get back on his feet. That punch though...it felt as if 5 strong men had punched him, yet Ozai didn't seem any larger or more muscular than when he last he saw him. Could it that whatever forces are granting him these strange powers, are enhancing his physical body too?
That was not a comforting thought in the slightest if that was the case. Not only was Piandou beat in terms of power, but Ozai was starting to beat him in terms of speed as well! Piandou simply could not keep up with his ability to disappear in the blink of an eye and reappear somewhere else.
Still he would not lay down his blade and die. Otherwise, he would have no right to call himself a master.
Maybe a minute or two had passed, but by that point Piandou was suffering from several burns all across his body, his body physically aching from the physical attacks he had suffered as well. Broken bones and bruises that were hidden due to the burn marks. Piandou drew ragged breath, as Ozai stood opposite of him with not even a scratch on his body. The former Fire Lord almost looked pleased with himself.
" Your reputation precedes you Piandou, you are certainly formidable as a fighter...but this is unfortunately where it must end." Ozai said as he created a knife made out of fire." Defend yourself! Let us see who is stronger!"
Ozai charged at him suddenly and Piandou was prepared to defend from such a reckless charge. But he should have known Ozai was no fool.
The former Fire Lord once again disappeared in a puff of smoke and Piandou just barely caught the sound of footsteps reappearing behind him.
Without thinking, Piandou swung his blade in a clean arc behind him with the hope of deflecting the fire or cleaving Ozai's head off.
His blade met Ozai's fire knife...and the tip of his blade was cut clean off.
" Weak." He heard Ozai say before kicking him in the chest, causing him to fall to the floor with the grip on his broken blade finally lost.
And Piandou knew that this was the end.
With what little strength he had, he raised himself up to his knees and looked up at Ozai with sheer disdain. He will not give this tyrant the satisfaction of hearing him beg for mercy, because he already knew he had none to give.
" If you expect to hear me beg, you will be disappointed." Piandou said with anger and venom laced in his tone.
" You have more strength than my pathetic son Piandou, I shall grant you that much at least. " Ozai said with a simple shrug of his head that made Piandou think he was amused.
" You will not win Ozai. The Avatar, my student, the White Lotus, they will all hunt you down and end you..." Piandou said threateningly, but Ozai merely laughed in his face.
" That is exactly what I am hoping for Piandou..." Ozai said as he summoned a ball of black of fire, as a cruel smile played on his lips. " Beautiful isn't it? But perhaps I should show you the full extent of my powers now..."
Piandou's eyes widened further as a black flame engulfed Ozai...and what remained afterwards made Piandou feel genuinely fear, as flame itself radiated from Ozai's mere presence that he was sure would blind him.
" Agni help us..." Piandou breathed as he gaped in horror at what he saw.
The last thing he heard before the flames engulfed him completely was the sound of his own scream.
To anybody who was guessing that Piandou was going to be the first to go, congrats! You get a virtual cookie.
:)
In all seriousness, I was kind of indecisiveness over who Ozai should logically go after first, I was kinda torn between Piandou and Jeong Jeong. But eventually I decided Piandou would be best as Ozai's warm-up. And I will admit that I was a little worried that the fight scene was too short for a Master swordsman like Piandou to get absolutely wrecked by Ozai in such a short span of time, but some pals of mine who I showed the scene to earlier said that the fight being short kinda does make sense. Since Ozai literally has teleportation powers, crazy black firebending and some other spiritual tricks. They pointed out that even for a swordmaster like Piandou, throwing in things like supernatural powers are going to trip him up.
Plus, I'm not really that good at writing choreographed fight scenes so please bear with me.
This chapter was meant to show just how dangerous Ozai has become with his newfounded powers and I hope I managed to get across just how terrifying that prospect really is. Ozai was already pretty goddamn stacked with his firebending, now I literally gave him the ability to teleport, windblast, enhanced strength and some other powers that I haven't even revealed yet. So yeah, Zuko and Aang are not in for a fun time fighting against him.
Hope you all enjoyed some of the opening domestic mother-daughter bonding between Azula and Kazumi, hope the latter's words of encouragement were fitting for the scene at least.
Now let's answer some reviews shall we?
To Kamen Rider Sentry:
Thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying the story so far. I do plan on having Azula eventually meet Kiyi again, but its not quite going to be under the circumstances most people expect so stay tuned for that!
Regarding your question about my other story. To clarify, Jaune is present in Dishonored Princess he just hasn't shown up yet. Like in Ambition, he is one of Malty's former love interest but they fell out of love for completely different reasons that I haven't revealed yet.
To Lord 770:
Glad the last chapter was worth the wait, hope this one is too.
You are definitely correct in your statement to say that Azula has fully adjusted to her new life as a Spirit Navigator, it gives her a sense of purpose and peace being out there along with her mother-daughter relationship with Kazumi so she's definitely in a much better place now than she would be at the palace. But she's still a princess at heart and can't deny the want to help her countryman out of this disaster, not because she cares about Zuko mind you, but because she still cares about her nation and feels responsible for them.
In regards to her first true kill...there are definitely some stark differences along with the circumstances between how Azula was back then when she took down Aang and now when she killed cultist boy. When she 'killed' Aang it was for her father and she did it via lightning bolt, so there's some level of separation there. But here she did it up close and personal, for a good cause, yes but that doesn't make her feel any better when she knows that she killed a boy around her age. She is fully aware of what she did and has to live with it.
Hope I managed to write her reaction as realistically as possible.
With that said, I will see you all in the next one.
Angel Out.
