Azula

Despite her calm posture, Soon to become Firelord Azula felt very nervous, She had a lot on her mind. her coronation that's about to happen in a week after they finish rebuilding The Palace, Dealing with the united allies that took over The colonies, General Shinu being absent ever since his son's death, The Terrifying messages that's been sent from both the north and south poles that confirmed The upcoming spirits war.

But all this was in the back of her for the moment, because right now she's dealing with a problem that she's been planning for its solution for the past three weeks. Azula was walking towards her favorite spot of the city, the spot that has always been a source of comfort to her, The Cliff overlooking the ocean above Caldera City.

The Spot has always cleared her mind of things, but as of late, she's been using it for important meetings, and right now she's about to meet a man that was supposed to be behind bars, but she set him free to go on with her plan.

She finally arrived and found him sitting on The Rock that's supposed to be her usual seat,

"Get off that Rock, Scum." Azula said upon arriving.

Ding immediately stood up and moved away, "Normal people would say Hello upon arriving."

"This rock is MY seat, nobody sits here except me, you dare defile it with your nasty ass one more time and you'll find yourself swallowing blue fire." Azula threatened calmly as she sat on the rock, making Ding gulp nervously.

"Apologies, Princess." Ding said.

"FIRELORD!" Azula corrected him with a scowl.

"Apologies, Firelord." Ding responded fearfully.

Azula huffed but brushed it off, "Anyways. Is everyone in place?" Azula asked looking at the horizon, watching the beautiful sunset that she never gets to enjoy as of late.

"Yes, Your highness." Ding replied.

Azula sighed bitterly, "Looks like I won't get to enjoy watching the sunset again.." She stood up, and turned to stare menacingly into Ding's soul, "Failure isn't an option, you understand?" Azula said, her gaze still fixated terrifyingly at Ding.

Ding swallowed uneasily once more but nodded nonetheless, "Understood."

"Good.. Then let's move." Azula walked towards her destination, and Ding followed closely.

You wanna play? Then let's play, Old Friends. Azula thought as she put on her cloak and starting walking down the edge of the caldera and into The Firenation Capital.

She walked for some time with Ding following close by, as they are about to get over this problem once and for all.

They finally arrived at a seedy tavern in the middle of the city, what a place for low-lives. Waiting has never been her strongest suit, she hated waiting for people to arrive, but in this case, waiting is part of the plan, so she had no choice. As soon as she entered the tavern, Azula barely dodged an object that was immediately thrown in her general direction, a very large object, oh wait, it's not an object, it's a man, a man was thrown in her general direction.

Azula inspected the situation further to find that there is indeed a fight in the tavern, she stared menacingly at Ding who smiled nervously and motioned for her to take a seat at a safe table in the back, Azula swallowed her pride and decided to go on with the plan nonetheless.

At moments like this, she really misses General Shinu, who knew how to operate a successful plan, the man has been locking himself in his home ever since his son died, acting like his son was a spirit angel.

No, General Shinu, your son was an evil man who knew his fate will be as cruel as his actions.. just like i am an evil woman who knows her fate will be as cruel as her actions.. Azula sighed and looked at the ground in silence, she couldn't believe how things have gone stark, she couldn't believe how cruel her world has become, she lost her father, her brother, her love interest and now, she's about to lose her childhood friends.

Snap out of it, Azula! She scolded herself internally.

you are not doing this for you, this is for the people of The Firenation who want their nation to be peaceful again, and in order for the nation to be peaceful, its Firelord needs to feel safe, so this has to be done for the good of the nation.. and for her own good. They have been waiting for some time and still they haven't come yet, She's willing to wait but not that long. Azula turned her towards Ding.

"What's taking them so long?" She asked quietly but in a dangerous tone that startled Ding.

"To be honest, i don't know, Your highness. let's just keep waiting, maybe they had some troubles on the road." Ding responded looking frightened. Azula huffed and looked away, wanting nothing more than to have that wretched fool's head decorating her walls, but she decided to put the violence on hold for the time being.

They waited for another half an hour, inspecting the sight around them and looking for their adversaries to arrive, and their adversaries finally arrived, with impact too..

Azula and Ding were thrown away by a Combustion wave that hit the frontal door of the tavern and exploded knocking everybody out of their seats.

Azula groaned but she raised a hand to grab the table top to use it as support, when she got up to get a peak at the attacker, he wasn't there yet, but she noticed the people that were still conscious in the tavern used the back door to run away as fast as they could, screaming. The attackers made their way to the now wrecked frontal door, it was indeed Combustion Man with Mai and Ty Lee by his side.

"You fuckin' traitor.." Azula whispered while clutching her side in pain.

"You fuckin' murderer." Mai said, a look of betrayal in her eyes, and Ty Lee by her side looking a bit hesitated.

at first, Firelord Azula didn't have full control over her body, as the impact of the combustion wave dulled her senses, but then she took control again and in a flash she stood up, Mai tensed and held her knives in her hands as Azula was about to summon the biggest lightening blast to fire it at her friend, but then the lightening was stopped.. forcibly,

"What.." Azula managed to voice out and gasped with shock written all over her face before she fell to the floor, unable to move at all. Azula was about to complete her attack but she was stopped by Ty Lee who lunged at her and struck twice, instantly chi blocking her, Azula dumbfoundedly falls to the ground, paralyzed. Even Ty Lee seemed a bit surprised at her own actions.

Mai moved to her side and stood looking at Azula with tears in her eyes, "Why would you do that, Azula? I dedicated my life to you.. I loved you.. and how do you repay me? By killing my dad. All for your stupid throne! You selfish, egotistical, manipulative BITCH!" Mai said dangerously close to Azula who was laying on the ground, still in shock of Ty Lee's actions. Azula was silent for a while, she was beyond hurt by Ty Lee's actions, she kept staring at her for some time, she could understand why Mai would do this to her, but Ty Lee? She truly has no friends now. it's time to do the deed.

"Now." She only said, and before Mai could question the word, Highly trained Firenation Police Officers who work for Azula came out of hiding, Ding did as well and looked at Combustion Man and the girls who were staring dumbfoundedly at the scene.

"Well, don't just stand there. we have a deal." Ding said.. to Combustion Man.

The two girls turned around to find the big man turned his eyes from Ding to look at them menacingly, they backed off looking very frightened right now.

Combustion Man then held the two girls in place who kept screaming and trying to get out of his grasp but he was too strong for them, Ding and The Firenation soldiers then easily apprehended and pushed them to their knees, the rest of the soldiers then picked up a still paralyzed Firelord Azula as they were about to take her to safety, but she stopped them to say something to the girls, she looked at them in anger, especially at Ty Lee.

Azula could have started her plan as soon as they entered the tavern, but she waited until she could have a full view of where Ty Lee's allegiance lies, eventually Ty Lee chose Mai over her, and that hurt her more than anything.

Ty Lee was looking back at Azula with the same anger and disdain.. What did i ever do to you? Azula said internally.

"Take them to The Caldera City Prison. I want to interrogate them before sending them to the executioner." Azula said in a commanding voice, The Captain of The Police Officers nodded to The Firelord and took the now frightened girls away. Azula then was carried out of the place by two soldiers of the police and was escorted back safely to the palace, although she never spoke to them after the incident, but she made sure that Ding and Combustion Man stay under her control because she might need them in the future. Nonetheless, She ordered her Soldiers to put her in her room in General Shinu's home, and leave her immediately.

She was sitting on the bed in despair, she was starting to feel her muscles again when General Shinu knocked on her door. "Firelord." he called.

"Come in, General." She said, still laying on her bed. The General stepped in, and walked to her bed, he took a seat at the edge of the bed and Azula stood on it to look at him, she supposed her eyes were a bit teary as The General looked at her in sympathy but still he had to talk business.

"I suppose you are more than capable now to pay your debts, because the debt collectors are standing outside, one of them isn't looking very happy." The general said.

Azula understood which person he was talking about, the lady with the shirshu who helped them locate Combustion Man, The Lady June.

After Azula's encounter with Ding, she went to General Shinu and asked him to send a messenger hawk to his acquaintance of the earth kingdom, the lady with teh shirshu who would do anything for money, and The General couldn't argue as he was in mourning still, so he sent for her and she met with Azula, they agreed on a plan to locate Combustion Man and let Ding do the talking, Azula then asked June to come with her to capture Mai and Ty Lee, but she refused, saying it's not part of her payment, but Azula asked her to wait in the palace for her payment, and the lady reluctantly agreed.

"I still can't believe she agreed to stay in the palace and wait for her payment until you completed the mission, she hasn't been this patient with anyone before." The General continued, it's true, it wasn't easy to persuade her, but Azula had her ways.

"Well, I suppose her patience is wearing thin, so let's not keep her waiting any longer." Azula said as she stood up and headed towards the door with Shinu trailing behind her.

She walked through the corridors of General Shinu's palace, she's been staying with him for some time and so she knew her way in every nook and cranny of the palace.

She arrived at the great hall where they kept their special soldiers waiting, the giant metal monster, the sharp-tongued scarface and the lady with the shirshu.

As soon as she entered, she smiled her formal smile or as she called it 'The smile of the diplomat', "Apologies for making you wait, Lady June. I hope your stay with us didn't stir up any trouble." Azula said to June, neglecting the other two.

"It was starting to get troublesome, Yes. I hope my payment makes up for it." June responded.

"Oh, it will indeed.." Azula got closer to her looking her in her dull, lifeless eyes, "Tell me, June. are you fond of your life as a scavenger?" Azula asked all of a sudden, June's posture wasn't disturbed, but the look in her eyes sure was.

"Scavenger?" She asked.

Azula smiled at her as she walked around her and said, "You have to help me out because I'm finding it difficult to wrap my head around this particular situation, So you are fierce lady with a fierce beast, you are smart, you are cunning, you are a incredible warrior. as a person who spent her whole life caring for nothing but money, one would think you would be richer than the Beifongs right now. but that's not true, is it? and you know why, June? Because you are not targeting the right audience, you are not seeing the bigger picture around here.." By the time Azula said this she was in front of June once more, looking her dead in the eyes,

"What you have done your whole life is called 'begging for scraps' in my book. begging for scraps, just like a scavenger. Is that how you want to spend the rest of your life? going around in circles, misusing your abilities, and the abilities of that awesome beast of yours?" Azula asked, and she knew right then and there that the lady was triggered as June's facial expressions changed for the first time, but not to anger.. to amusement.

"I would rather you cut to the chase and propose whatever you want to propose instead of this pointless bullshit." June said looking interested in what Azula's about to say.

Despite the insult, Azula's smirk only widened as she was pleased with June's intelligence, "You'll earn much more working for us than working as a scavenger." Azula finally said.

But June countered, "I don't work for anybody."

Azula kept her confident posture on, "How about working WITH us? Both parties win." Azula proposed again, June thought for a second.

"I'm not playing word games with you. I'm still considered an earth kingdom citizen and this is treason."

Azula doubted her credibility so she threw in her final card, "Maybe.. But in my experience, a woman with your intelligence would find treason acceptable if they deemed it profitable. and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now if you cared about Loyalty." Azula said.

"Doesn't that cut both ways? If my loyalty to them doesn't matter, then so does my loyalty to you."

"I don't expect it to be, because I don't care about your loyalty to me, all I care about is your loyalty to money? Will it ever waver?" Azula asked.

June got closer to her, "Not on your life." She said confidently.

Azula smirked devilishly, "Good." Azula then extended her hand, "Is that an agreement that i think we're reaching?" She asked with a confident smile.

June was silent for a second, then she turned her head towards Azula with a smile, but it was so faint, only a person with Azula's perspective could see it.

"You have a deal." She said as she took Azula's hand with pleasure,

"And whenever you are tempted to sell me out, remember, whatever that temptation is going to pay you, I can pay you more." Azula said with a serious face, June was silent for a second before eventually smirking and nodding.

Azula then turned her head to Shinu who was looking at her with a proud smile, as if telling her 'You have the right instincts for politics', so she smiled back at him and turned her head back to June.

The moment however was ruined as soon as they heard clapping.

"Aw. What a touching moment, my eyes sting." Ding said trying to sound sympathetic.

Azula let go of June's hand and turned her head to him abruptly with her dark scowl that made Ding cower back, "What do you want, Scum?" She asked scoldingly.

With Combustion man back at his side, Ding had some courage to speak, "We want our payment too. My Lady, we-"

"That's The Firelord of this nation you are talking to, Boy. you'll address her as 'your highness'." General Shinu interrupted with a scowl of his own.

Ding put his hand in front of him in apology, "Sorry. i meant.. Your highness, We did our job, and we did it perfectly, yet we heard rumors that you're putting us back in prison.

You promised that the reward will be worth the struggle. and we struggled a lot, i expect The Firelord of our great nation to keep her word." Ding said, and Azula noticed his knees shaking, that outburst took a toll on his frightened body.

"Don't worry, Ding. you've proven yourself to be a soldier worthy of trust, both of you did. I'm sure Lady June will require your services in the job i am offering her." Azula said.

"I will?" June asked.

Azula nodded, "For a certainty.." Azula started, then she got closer to Ding and Combustion Man, "But as trust is rewarded with benefits. treachery will be rewarded much, much more severely. Understood?" Azula said, looking them dead in the eyes, The lifeless look in Combustion Man's eyes never changed, but Ding's eyes changed to that of fear.

"Understood, your highness." He responded.

Azula smiled at them, and then at June, before she turned to General Shinu, "Have them bathed and fed, and find them a room to rest in until the morning." Azula ordered.

"At once, Your highness." Shinu not-so-happily accepted.

Azula then turned on her heels and returned to her room, today was painful but successful, she had captured Mai and Ty Lee which is more painful than successful but she also had struck a bargain with June, Ding and Combustion Man.

And also, although he hadn't noticed it, it looks like General Shinu is back on track, finally she's going to be coronated next week with no burden on her back, things were looking very well. But Azula was much smarter than to be overly optimistic, the fights to come are going to be much more difficult than the ones she triumphed over, and she needs to be very ready for it.

It's time for The Firenation to return to its former glory.