Disclaimer: See Chapter 3.
Trapped
An Avatar: The Last Airbender oneshot (in four parts)
Part 4
Iroh knew it would be hard to convince his Water Tribe hosts to let Zuko stay with them. He had built up a lot of good will with them over the years, but "what to do with the Firelord's son" was almost as important a matter as what to do with the Avatar, and they wouldn't let him decide it all by himself.
Or, at least, that's what he assumed.
However, everyone knew that Ozai had done everything short of disowning the boy, and certainly had no intention of letting him succeed the throne. Even Zuko knew that—had known that; he just only recently was willing to admit it.
Hama still wanted to kill him, of course, but Hakoda and Kanna were willing to listen to Iroh. So he told them his plan.
After Ozai was defeated, someone had to take the throne, or the Fire Nation would fall into anarchy. Azula couldn't do it—she was the Avatar, and the Avatar could not directly involve themselves in politics like that.
They could install someone unrelated to Ozai. However, the Fire Nation royalty's bloodline had been unbroken since the country's founding; the general populace would not accept someone who was not descended from the sun spirit, Amaterasu.
Which left Zuko.
Kanna decided to let Iroh try his hand at taking care of the boy. Hakoda agreed, and Hama bit her lip and went along.
As usual, Kalu was humming as he checked Azula's condition. Even after she recovered from her broken limbs, Hakoda still insisted on giving her regular check-ups.
And Kalu still insisted on engaging her in pointless conversation.
"You've been withdrawing yourself even more lately, little Avatar."
Like that.
"I still can't airbend, in case you haven't noticed. Chatting isn't going to help with that."
"You sure? I don't think the Air Nomads were all shut-ins."
"Shows what you know. They lived in those temples in order to 'escape from the world.'"
Kalu started up his damn humming again. "I suppose I'll have to defer to your expertise, little Avatar."
Azula grunted. Despite his words, though, Kalu spoke up again soon.
"Your brother's an interesting fellow. He barely talks, either, but his and your grumpiness seem to come from different sources. Do you have any insights on this matter?"
Azula snorted. "Zuko's always been a loser. Don't ask me to understand the way his brain works."
Kalu's humming got even louder. "I'm not sure you know how anyone's brain works, little Avatar."
That brought Azula up short. After a few seconds, she asked suspiciously, "What's that supposed to mean?"
The asshole laughed, and ruffled her hair. Azula grabbed his wrist, and he said amicably, "Just that you have trouble looking at the world through others' eyes."
"Why should I?"
"Exactly! Just like that. Well, check-up over. Your body, at least, is fine." He hummed loudly, not letting her get another word in, and left the igloo.
I really despise that half-breed, Azula fumed.
"It's kind of amazing, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Azula grumbled.
"Well," Katara enthused, combing Azula's hair, "after all this time, for you to meet your brother again…it's just really touching, you know?"
Azula bit her lip. "Yup, I'm so incredibly happy that my brother's back."
Naturally, Katara missed her sarcasm, and barreled right through her words. "He's a lot different from you, though. I mean, you're always so composed and in control, while he's—"
"An idiot?"
Katara giggled. "That's one way to put it, I guess."
Azula's stomach, where Zuko had kicked her, started throbbing. "Can we talk about something else?"
"Sure. Um…how's airbending—"
Azula clenched her fist. "Not that."
There was a pause. "Well. Um. Do you want to go somewhere today?"
Azula moved her nose up and down. "Sure. Let's see. We can walk around the snow, or wander the ice, or, ooh, I know! We can freeze our asses off in a blizzard!" She raised her voice to a high pitch. "Hm, they're all such good choices, I just can't decide!"
Katara harrumphed. "You don't have to be so pissy about it, Azula."
Azula's mental supports had been slowly weakened during the past few years. Losing to Zuko had made one snap. Now, a second one crumbled. "What the fuck do you know about anything, you naïve little wench!" she screamed, kicking Katara away.
From far away, she could feel that her leg had been wreathed in flames, and some part of her brain registered Katara gasping and groaning in pain, but she paid them no mind. "For the past two years, I've had to listen to your pointless whining about nothing," she growled. "Let me teach you a little something about the world, girl. I am the princess of the Fire Nation, not to mention the Avatar, and you are the spawn of some pissant southern barbarian who has delusions of grandeur. In a just world, you'd be groveling at my feet, not torturing me with brainless blather. From now on, don't talk to me unless you have something of value to say. Then again, you wouldn't know value if it punched you in the face, so just stay away from me, and we'll both be much happier."
She gauged where the girl was lying by her crying, stepped over her, and walked out of the building.
The next day, Iroh found her while she was once again trying, and failing, to airbend.
"I know what you're going to say, so shut it, old man," Azula grumbled. "I don't want to hear you going on about friendship and kindness."
After a few seconds, Iroh spoke. "These people are your only allies, Azula. You—"
"They're not my allies!" Azula roared, blasting a fireball into the sky. "They're the Avatar's allies!" Azula raised her other hand to unleash another fireball, but her wrist was grabbed before she could.
"You are the Avatar, Azula," Iroh said, his tone brooking no argument.
Azula argued anyway. "No, I'm not! The Avatar is an immortal spirit from Agni-knows-where that infects people whenever its previous host dies, and wants 'balance' in the world, whatever that means. I'm an evil bitch who used to be princess of the evil Fire Nation, all I want is to rule the world, and everybody here would kill me if I didn't happen to be lugging around some stupid fucking Avatar spirit!" She turned in the general direction of Iroh and tried to morph her facial features into some sort of a glare. "And you'd be the first in line, wouldn't you? Dear Uncle."
Neither of them spoke.
After a minute, Iroh let go of her wrist and walked off. Azula spent the rest of the night raging against the world while telling herself it was firebending practice.
Zuko was doing well, Iroh thought; he was becoming more and more like his old self. He was going out into the tribe occasionally, though he mostly just quietly observed other people. He was even starting to develop a good rapport with Sokka.
Katara was doing less well. She was very broken up about what Azula had done to her. As far as Iroh could tell, it was only her sense of duty to the tribe that kept her from taking revenge on the Avatar; for now, she seemed to be mostly nurturing her hatred for the other girl. Not that he could blame her.
Azula…was bad, and getting worse by the day. By now, she had almost shut off all contact completely. She refused to meet with anyone by choice, and any time she didn't spend training she spent lying on her bed.
But the worst part was, she was right about him. He wouldn't necessarily kill her if she wasn't the Avatar, but he certainly wouldn't particularly care what happened to her. Pretty much everyone else felt the same way about her. She was a horrible person—and because of that, he had no idea how to help her.
Zuko looked down, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
There was no answer. After a few seconds, he shrugged, and open it.
Azula was lying on her bed, as she was doing more and more these days. He briefly wondered what she thought about there, all alone.
"Hey," he said hesitantly.
No answer.
"So," Zuko said. He gulped. "How's, um, life going?"
Silence.
"Well, I just came here 'cause I thought, well…Sokka and I are going hunting today. Would you like to, maybe, come with?"
Very slowly, Azula raised her head, and turned her head toward him, giving him a nice look at those empty eye sockets. He involuntarily flinched back, and had a moment of guilty gratitude that she couldn't see him do it.
"What are you doing?" she asked very slowly.
Zuko blinked. "Huh?"
"You hate me," she said, still speaking slowly. "So why are you here?"
Zuko blinked again, going over what she had said in his head. "Well," he said as a placeholder, trying to think, "I don't hate you, and, I'm worried about you?"
Mentally, he kicked himself for that rising intonation.
Then, Azula started giggling. Zuko gaped at her, and didn't react as she said, through the giggles, "You are such a liar. Of course you hate me; I've made your life hell for the past seven years. You tried to bring me in chains to Ozai just a few months ago. Damn, Zuzu, did you really think I'd fall for that?" Suddenly, she stopped giggling, and her tone turned dark and hateful. "What are you after?"
Zuko gulped again, looked to the side, and tried to mentally steady himself. "Look," he said, "we've never had a good relationship. But, I've never hated you. And I did try to capture you, but that was when—" pause, breath, "—when I still wanted Father to accept me."
There was a long silence after that. Zuko dared a glance at Azula, but she was still in the same position, eyes…or where her eyes should have been…fixed directly on him. After a while, she finally responded.
"You really are stupid. You still want Ozai to accept you, you know. It's just you want Iroh to accept you too, and he happens to be closer right now. All you care about is how others perceive you."
"That's not true!" Zuko shouted, all hesitation forgotten. "I heard things, and saw things, when I was with the army those two years! I know the kinds of things the Fire Nation does—my father does—to those he conquers! And…" he looked down again. "I know what it's like, to be the center of father's attention. It…it wasn't what I thought it would be like. It was like he was trying to make me into someone I'm not."
"Can't blame him," Azula snorted.
Now Zuko was angry. "You're one to talk!" he shouted. "I used to be these peoples' enemy, but you know what? After a few months, I'm friends with their chief's son, and they let me wander their grounds with barely a second glance! Do you know what they say about you? You've been here two years, and you're the Avatar, but you managed to chase away the one person who was willing to put up with you! So who are you to talk about me like that?"
This silence was much shorter.
"Get out," Azula said, her voice low.
Zuko complied.
It had been almost a year since the last time Azula visited the spirit world. Given that her meetings with Aang were devolving into him repeating the same movements over and over, it was decided further meetings were useless until she managed to begin airbending.
Roku was becoming more worried each day she didn't show up. Hatsuna, her faith in the young Avatar long gone, was her usual ornery self. And he could never tell what Aang was thinking.
Then Azula showed up again, riding with Aang and Appa. Briefly, Roku almost drowned in hope, but one look at Aang's face crushed it.
For the first time in as far as Roku could remember, Aang looked uncomfortable.
After Appa landed, Azula hopped off, and immediately stalked toward Roku until she was staring directly at him with that eyeless face.
"I just have one question," she said. "Is it possible to get the Avatar spirit out of my body?"
Roku looked at Aang, who shrugged helplessly. So she asked him this question too, I see, Roku thought, and sighed inwardly. Ignoring Hatsuna's snort, he looked at Azula, and did his best to make his face and voice kindly.
"Azula," he said. "The Avatar spirit isn't in you. It is you. There is no way to remove it. Even if there was, it would result in your death."
They looked at each other for several long seconds. Then, for a brief flash, he thought the girl was about to attack him. But, just as quickly, that feeling passed, and she just nodded.
"Understood." Azula turned around, and walked back to Aang. "Take me back to my body, Aang."
With one last sad look at Roku, Aang nodded, and took off with the young Avatar on Appa.
"She's crazy."
Roku looked over at Hatsuna, who was lying down on her back. "Why do you say that?" he asked evenly.
"Because it's true," Hatsuna said, with the air of someone explaining something to a particularly slow child.
Roku kept his manner calm. "You don't know that—"
"Sure I do, and you do too. If we don't do something, she really is going to destroy the world." Hastuna looked at him, and her face was as serious as he had ever seen it.
Roku paused, choosing his words carefully. "What do you suggest we do?" he finally decided on.
Hatsuna let out a deep, long sigh. "I have no clue," she grumbled.
Roku turned back, looking at the spot Appa had been. He didn't dare voice it in front of her…but in truth, he agreed with Hatsuna.
And, like her, he had no idea what to do.
It happened on a particularly cold morning.
Azula didn't know why it happened. Nothing special had occurred for at least a week. Sure, she failed to airbend, but she had been failing to airbend for two years and three months. There really was no reason for it to happen after that failed attempt, on that particular morning.
But it did anyway.
The last string holding Azula up finally snapped.
She curled up into a ball, and began to cry.
Dammit, dammit, dammit, she cursed, punching the snow-packed ground. My life is destroyed, my father betrays me, everything I ever wanted goes up in smoke, and I can't even do what every other Avatar managed to do. Tears were streaming down her face. What the hell does it mean anyway, "the essence of airbending is freedom"? You tell me that, and then tell me that I have to "give myself up to the world" to gain "enlightenment." How am I supposed to—
And then it hit her. A stupid, crazy idea that was likely to get her killed.
But, at that moment, she didn't really care about that last part.
Azula stood up, wiped the tears away from her face, and began running.
Of all the people, Sokka was the one who first noticed Azula was missing.
After a while, the cold had seeped into her legs such that Azula had to stop running. But she was still a firebender, if nothing else, and it would take a long time for the freezing temperature to get to her, as long as she was careful.
So she was trudging along the white wilderness, wind blowing around her, heading in the direction of that Spirit Mountain she had visited so long ago.
If Azula was being honest with herself, she wasn't exactly sure why she was doing this. It probably arose out of all those stupid Air Nomad beliefs Aang had talked about—"the essence of airbending is freedom," "the Air Nomads separated themselves from the world of desires," "in order to airbend, you have to give yourself up to the world," and all that crap. It had rolled around in Azula's head, and ultimately, her brain had spat up "isolate yourself and battle nature." There was also some half-formed idea that some feature of that Spirit Mountain place might help her.
Or maybe she just wanted a clear goal again, with the means of accomplishment already open to her. What that goal was didn't particularly matter.
Either way, she was far from any semblance of civilization by the time her rational mind re-asserted itself.
Right when Azula found herself in the middle of a blizzard.
At which point she quickly became very, very afraid.
Hakoda was still traveling among the tribe's roving bands, to make sure they were in good shape and doing what they were supposed to be doing. So without him, the emergency meeting was left with only Iroh, Zuko, and Kanna—as well as Sokka, who insisted on attending, Kya, who heard about it from Sokka and was apparently quite worried, and Katara, who Iroh didn't know why she showed up.
Zuko and Sokka quickly volunteered that they had investigated, and there were clear footprints showing that Azula had left the camp, apparently willingly. Of course, she then seemed to walk into a blizzard, which erased any further hopes of tracking her.
"I have no idea why she did this," Zuko muttered, shaking his head.
"'Cause she's a crazy bitch," someone said.
All eyes turned to Katara.
"What?" she said, arms crossed. "She is."
Kya seemed disturbed. "Katara, I know you two had a falling out—"
"She attacked me! For no reason!" Katara screamed. "And that's not all—she made it quite clear that she was only pretending to be my friend for two years! If she wasn't the Avatar, she'd have been out of here long ago!"
Kya looked much more uncomfortable, and Iroh was forcibly reminded of a conversation he had had with Azula that he'd just as soon forget. Luckily, Sokka decided to take up the role of responder. "Look, Katara," he said, "I'm no fan of Azula, and even Zuko's told me more than a few horror stories about her. But…she is the Avatar, you know?"
"Until she dies," Katara countered.
There was a sharp sound, and the girl recoiled in shock, a bruise starting to form on her cheek.
It took a second for Iroh to realize that he was the one who slapped her.
Azula did several deep breathing exercises to try to calm herself down. Either they worked, or she convinced herself they worked, and she started to ascertain her situation.
She was somewhere in the South Pole. Not far from Hakoda's current temporary camp, but she figured she had been running for a good long while, so it wasn't a short distance, either. And she had no idea about her exact location.
Oh yeah, and she was in a blizzard, with no supplies.
She was finding it very hard to hold onto her rationality. But she managed it, barely, picked up her feet, and starting moving in the direction where she figured she probably came from.
Zuko had no idea what he should think at that moment, after Uncle slapped Katara. Unconsciously glancing around, to gauge the others' reactions, he noticed that Sokka's mother was barely managing to withhold Sokka from moving in on Uncle angrily, while his grandmother remained silent, staring intently at the scene in front of her.
Katara, after a moment of shock, rounded on Uncle in force.
"What was that for!"
Uncle himself seemed in shock, staring at his hand. Zuko closed his eyes, cleared his throat, and summoned up his courage.
"What did you mean by that, Katara?" he asked her.
She turned to him, her expression unreadable. "I meant, when she dies, she'll no longer be the Avatar. Right?"
"That is not true, Katara," the grandmother interrupted. "The Avatar is continuous, from this world's beginning to its end. Azula is and forever will be one part of the Avatar's existence."
Katara opened her mouth, closed it, and looked away.
"She betrayed me," the girl eventually managed to say. "I thought she was the world's savior, and my friend. But she just pretended to be those things. Instead, she's…I don't even know what she is."
"She is my niece," Zuko heard Uncle say, and when he looked at him, Uncle had closed the fist that slapped Katara, staring at it with grim determination. "She is blood of my blood. And even had she not been the Avatar, I would not want her to die."
He looked at Zuko, with an expectant expression. Zuko nodded, then looked at Sokka.
Sokka still seemed angry, but he sighed. "I'll get mad for my sister later," he said magnanimously. "For now, let's go save the world's savior."
Sokka looked at Katara. She wiped at her eyes, and nodded glumly.
They couldn't alert the tribe at large—most of them were young, old, or infirm, and thus unable to brave the raging blizzards; besides, it wouldn't be good to let Azula's wild trek be widely known. So, in the interests of time as well, they only picked up Kalu, and the seven of them alone headed out to look for Zuko's sister.
It was cold. Really cold. So cold that Azula's firebending wasn't close to being enough to fight it off. So cold that she even became tired of shivering.
As she placed one foot in front of the other, for whatever twisted reason, her brain started spitting memories at her.
"Airbending is a defensive art," he said as they practiced a kata that would, supposedly, blow an enemy away. "The Air Nomads practiced nonviolence—they refused to harm anything, even insects. That was how they gained happiness."
Happiness? If you didn't harm anything, you'd just end up being trampled by everything. No wonder the Air Nomads were wiped out—they probably gave the Fire Nation soldiers lotuses as they were being mowed down.
After a few seconds, Iroh spoke. "These people are your only allies, Azula. You—"
Allies, huh? Those were useful temporarily, but in the end, you couldn't trust anyone you didn't control. That was the first lesson Father—Ozai had taught her. And he was right about that, if nothing else. Allies were only good insofar as you could turn them into friends, and friends were only good insofar as you could turn them into servants.
Now Zuko was angry. "You're one to talk!" he shouted. "I used to be these peoples' enemy, but you know what? After a few months, I'm friends with their chief's son, and they let me wander their grounds with barely a second glance! Do you know what they say about you? You've been here two years, and you're the Avatar, but you managed to chase away the one person who was willing to put up with you! So who the hell are you to talk about me like that?"
Zuko was always so stupid, as long as Azula knew him. "Friends"? Did he honestly think any of the Water Tribesmen wanted him there? He was only there because Iroh wanted him there, and none of the others had the guts to oppose him. He was always utterly dependent on others; this was just the most disgustingly extreme example in recent memory.
"A master airbender matches his movements to his opponent's. Ultimately, you have to realize that there is no distinction, and give yourself up to the world. By doing that, you gain enlightenment."
Speaking of dependence, Aang elevated it to some kind of philosophical ideal. Giving yourself up to the world and letting it control you was "enlightenment"? What were you enlightened to, your own stupidity and powerlessness? Azula could almost see the Air Nomads "giving themselves up to" the Fire Nation soldiers that were slaughtering them.
"Well," Katara enthused, combing Azula's hair, "after all this time, for you to meet your brother again…it's just really touching, you know?"
Katara was always saying stupid stuff like that. She really was a born follower, just like Ty Lee. But at least Ty Lee had known she was a follower, or let Azula teach her that she was one. Katara seemed to find it her mission to 'improve' every life she came across. Like she really believed that she could save everyone by herself, or something. It would've been comical if it wasn't so annoying.
"And stop defending him, you fire asshole!" Hatsuna roared at Roku. "No matter what he said, he was a coward, and you know it! The fact that he didn't even care enough about the world to stay here is proof enough!"
Now that Hatsuna woman, she at least knew the way the world worked. It was a battle of all against all for control of the world, the stakes the ability to do what you wanted. Hatsuna knew what she wanted, and was willing to take it. But she failed, and even now she was reaping the consequences of that failure. She wasn't able to control the world as much as she wanted to, and so she lost. A mistake Azula would not repeat.
The asshole laughed, and ruffled her hair. Azula grabbed his wrist, and he said amicably, "Just that you have trouble looking at the world through others' eyes."
Azula had thought that Kalu, too, was somewhat rational, but that conversation destroyed what little respect she had for him. What did he mean, she didn't know how other peoples' minds worked? She knew that perfectly well—they always did whatever they could to accrue benefit for themselves, unless they were stupid naïve chattel (which, admittedly, much of the world was). Why should she "look at the world through others' eyes" when others were so idiotic?
"Even though they were your friends, they're also daughters of influential families, so they managed to escape punishment. As far as I know, Mai went back to live with her family, while Ty Lee went to the circus."
Azula still had somewhat fond memories of Ty Lee, the Perfect Servant, though they were tied up with a good deal of contempt for the girl as well. Mai was similar to Azula in many ways, but she just couldn't play the game as well as Azula could—not to mention, she was just a noble while Azula was the Princess. That's just the way the world worked: some people are born as the cat, and some as the mouse. Nobody could change that.
Azula said levelly, "So who's the brave prince, here to rescue the beautiful princess? Although I suppose I'm not so beautiful anymore."
"It's Iroh."
As time went on, Azula had understood Iroh less and less. She had assumed he was trying to overthrow Ozai as revenge, and to become Firelord himself, but now she wasn't so sure. It was like he had risked his life and abandoned his status out of some general ethical belief that Ozai "should be defeated," but she had a hard time believing he could be so stupid as to give allegiance to a principle, of all things. And then there was his taking Zuko under his wing, which Azula didn't even try to understand for fear it would rot her brain. She was seriously starting to wonder if he was going senile.
Azula grinned. "Tell me, Zuzu. How does it feel to be so powerless?" she asked his retreating figure.
Normally, Zuko became completely sulky and introverted after she beat and/or intimidated him, so Azula turned her back on him after the question, deciding on some more firebending training.
"Better than being you," she heard behind her.
Who the hell was he to say something like that? At the time, she was better than him in every way possible. She was smarter, stronger, more attractive, more influential, and was definitely next in line to become Firelord, no matter what their birth order was. How could he ever want to be himself and not her?
"Freedom isn't about following your desires. It's the opposite—it's being able to resist your desires, separating yourself from the material world to escape the cycle of reincarnation."
The Air Nomads really didn't understand anything, did they? They thought they were 'free,' when they were really shutting themselves up in their monasteries and following an insanely strict set of rules in order to please abstract principles that didn't actually exist. In order to be free, you had to control things. To be 'completely free,' you had to control everything.
That's right, Azula thought to herself. I have to control everything. I need to—
Her legs stopped moving, as her brain ground to a halt.
I need to control everything?
Need?
She had no idea why it finally made sense to her. And when it did, she had no idea why it once hadn't. It was like the entire world was completely new and different.
Does that mean, all this time, I've just been controlled by my desires? My desire for control…has controlled me? The more I fed it, the more trapped I became?
All her memories flowed together and swept across her mind. Her knees buckled. She would've cried, except her tears were frozen in her eyes, and she would've laughed, except the wind had stolen her voice.
I couldn't even control my own needs, she thought, spasms of mirth rocking her exhausted body. All this time, I've…I've…
She turned her head skyward, and let out a scream filled with more emotions than she could name.
They had quickly split up, with instructions to return to camp if they felt they wouldn't be able to go on for much longer. So technically, Iroh had no idea whether or not someone had found Azula by now. But they probably hadn't—the South Pole was large, huge swaths were uninhabited, and the blizzards were raging.
Ice slowly sank its way into Iroh's joints and hopes. He fought it off as much as he could. Azula had to be here somewhere, and there's no way he could live with himself if—
And then he saw it.
A huge pillar of brilliant light, shooting into the heavens.
Before he knew it, Iroh was running toward that light, all exhaustion forgotten. He had no idea how long he ran, but eventually, he came close enough to see it.
Azula was floating in that pillar, arms outstretched, the same brilliant light shining out of her eye sockets.
Then she looked down, and for one second, Iroh could swear she saw him.
The pillar was gone with a flash, and Azula flew down, throwing up enough wind and snow to send Iroh flying back, landing down hard. When he picked himself back up, he was staring right at her, at those brilliant beams of light that used to be her eyes.
And he finally believed, truly believed, that she was the Avatar.
Then she pointed at him, and for a blink, Iroh thought she was about to kill him.
Then, abruptly, the light faded, and Azula started falling. Iroh moved just fast enough to catch her.
Several days later, Iroh was at her bedside when she awoke, along with Kalu.
"How are you doing?" Kalu asked, all trace of amusement gone from his voice.
"I feel all right," Azula responded, after a few seconds.
Kalu nodded. "That's good. You had almost frozen to death. Normally, you'd be almost immobile for a couple of weeks, but because you're a firebender you should be up and about again soon enough. Still, just to be safe, I'd suggest staying in bed for at least three days."
Azula made no response.
Kalu looked at Iroh with a pleading expression. Iroh gave him a tight nod. Apparently pleased, Kalu stood up.
"Well, I think I'll leave you alone with your uncle. See you soon, little Avatar."
Iroh spent a few minutes just looking at Azula, after he left, before speaking up again. "Can I trust you not to do anything strenuous if I'm not here?"
"How much of an idiot do you think I am?" she said, in a flat voice.
Iroh shook his head, uncaring that she couldn't see it. "In that case, would you prefer I left you alone?"
She was silent for a few seconds, but as expected, she said, "Yeah."
Iroh nodded, again uncaring that she couldn't see it. "Very well. I'll see you later." He stood up, and was walking out of the igloo, when he felt it.
A gust of wind that ruffled the hair on the back of his head.
He turned around in shock, which only deepened when he saw what his niece was doing.
She was laughing. Not a displeased snort, an ironic snicker, or even a pleased chuckle. She guffawed, hands clutched to her sides and tears rolling down her cheeks.
He had never seen her so happy in his life.
He stood there, in shock, for several minutes, until the laughter subsided, and Azula wiped the tears from her face.
"We need to make new plans soon," she said, smiling.
It wasn't easy. Worldviews don't change overnight, even after you realize that they're fundamentally flawed.
She didn't immediately reconcile with Katara, or Zuko. She didn't start making overtures of friendship to Sokka. She definitely didn't start thinking of Iroh as some kind of substitute father figure, or even really treat him with more respect.
She still really wanted to kill Ozai, even after realizing that it was probably just to confirm that she wasn't dependent on him.
But she was, at least, starting to rebel against her own wishes and desires.
Besides, the other important things would come with time.
After all, she was the Avatar.
END
Author's Notes: So, in case you haven't noticed by now, while the plot was inspired by "A Twist of Fate," the actual theme and story arc were inspired by every single "Azula is redeemed" fanfic ever written. This is my interpretation of Azula, as well as my interpretation of what it would take to get her to be something resembling a good guy. Friendship, at least, definitely ain't gonna do it.
I would like to apologize that you didn't see Azula meet up with Toph. The plot arc revolved around airbending, so unfortunately, she just wouldn't have fit.
I would also like to apologize if this last chapter came off as a bit Katara-bashing. I swear that wasn't the intention, but I needed a foil for Iroh to realize his own character development, and I was inspired by the fact that, well, Katara doesn't take too kindly to betrayal in canon either. I think her actions were eminently understandable.
Anyway, feeble justifications aside, I would also like to use this place to announce that I will be writing a sequel to this fanfic (or, to be more precise, you could say this is kind of like a prologue to the fic that'll come after it). It'll be called "The Adventures of Avatar Azula," and will be fairly significantly different from this one, in content and tone. I also won't wait until the entire thing's finished before posting chapters, for reasons that should become clear when you actually see it. As to when the first chapter will be ready? Well, I'm going to be busy with NaNoWriMo and RL stuff this month, so I imagine it'll be around the middle of December. Sorry.
A few other things: First, while I generally don't like trolling for reviews, I would like to state that I highly appreciate all the reviews I get. But I appreciate even more the ones that contain constructive criticism. So if you didn't like some portions of this fic, please do tell me—we learn more from our failures than our successes, as they say.
Second, I wrote this without a beta, which was definitely to its detriment. If you'd be interested in being a beta for me, please PM or e-mail me. I would be willing to look over your stories in return.
Thanks to everyone who read this entire thing. I hope you enjoyed it!