Stranded I

The Fire Nation ship Gudan was preparing for launch. The food had been delivered to the galley, the engines were well oiled and fueled, and the captain was standing by to send her into the waiting arms of the sea. A small crowd of people were waiting to see the hull of steel set off, mostly family members saying goodbye to someone from the crew. All that was missing were the special guests.

A squad of Fire Nation soldiers, surrounding a girl in chains, were marching towards the awaiting ship with hopeful anticipations of stopping by the kitchen. She had her ebony hair acting as a curtain for her face, and clean, red Fire Nation clothing on.

The last airbending master in the world, dressed in yellow and orange monk clothing, was tailing behind the procession. The small group of people waving to the crew stopped and turned, watching the squad of firebenders escort the young prisoner.

When Aang passed by the group they resumed their cheery feel and some even waved to him, to which he waved back with a smile.

The soldiers made their way to the boarding bridge, where a soldier marked them off a check list and stepped aside for their entrance.

Aang walked to the bridge and the soldier looked at his clipboard, "You're not scheduled for a boarding, Avatar."

Aang pulled a scroll of paper from the inside of his cloak, "Zuko said I could come. He said to give you this."

The soldier unrolled the paper and scanned the document for a moment, before giving an approving nod and allowing him to proceed. "Everything seems to be in order, go on ahead."

Aang smiled and nodded, "Thank you."

He nodded and stepped back in place before another prisoner was being escorted to the bridge.

As Aang entered, he was greeted by another soldier, except this one had his helmet off, and a golden emblem on his shoulder proclaimed him a Royal Officer, "Ah, Avatar Aang. An honor to meet you." he held out his hand to which Aang shook. "It's a pleasure to have someone like you aboard the Gudan, the crew is ecstatic to your coming."

Aang smiled widely, "Thank you, Officer...?"

"Zhang," he answered, "Officer Zhang, at your service." he gave a short, courteous bow.

Aang returned with his own short bow, "It's a pleasure to be aboard Officer Zhang." He looked over at the girl and asked, "I've been told that she will be treated well."

Zhang nodded, "There are over 2,000 prisoners on board the Gudan for its ten day voyage, Azula will be treated the best of them all."

A guard ran in from a hallway to the left and whispered something in Zhang's ear. He stood in thought for a while, taking in the news, before excusing him off with a nod. "If you will excuse me Avatar, I'm afraid I have to help with some... conflicting matters with a prisoner. Corporal Tuma will escort you to your cabin, which I hope you will find to your liking." With that, he nodded to Tuma and walked away.

Tuma stepped forward, "If you would, sir."

Aang nodded and followed him through a hallway to the right.

The ship was a great example of Fire Nation engineering, as well as human advancement itself. She was fitted with three coal-fueled engines, capable of putting out enough horsepower to allow the four ton ship to travel at a good twelve knots (about the same as twelve miles per hour.) The ship was fitted with a four hundred man crew, and modified to hold up to 2,000 prisoners for transport to correctional facilities, prison labor constructs, or asylums.

Tuma led Aang to his cabin and unlocked the door for him, handing Aang the key.

"Thanks." Aang said, with no reply given back as the soldier began to walk back to his duties.

Aang took a sec to look around, the bare metal walls of the place gave the ship a boring feel, and he felt it a miracle the hunk of steel didn't just drop down to the bottom of the sea floor.

He opened the door to his cabin and walked in, closing the door behind him. It was a good cabin, however basic it may be. There was a queen sized bed, better than the usual twin that people got on cruises such as these, and a shelf that had scrolls on just about every aspect of bending. A toilet and other related things were located in a small room off to the side, as well as another closet at the other end of the room for storing clothes. The floor Aang was on was elevated about 100 feet from the sea, giving him a nice view of the ocean through his small window.

The only light source in the room was a lamp attached to the ceiling by a metal string, which could be turned on by flicking a switch located close to the door. A nightstand was by the bed with a book called Of the Avatar. He didn't mind going through it, he knew pretty much all there was to know on that subject.

He walked over to the bed and felt the thin hide covers, thin because of the high temperatures it could get to in an enclosed steel can.

Aang walked over to the bookcase and opened up a scroll on Theories of the Airbenders. He almost laughed at some of the wild speculations people expected of his culture, some even conspiring that they were a demonic cult, being purged by the Fire Nation for their "sins."

Before he moved on to a scroll on firebending, a knock was heard at the door.

Aang opened it to a woman in white, staring up at him with her ancient, stark blue eyes. "Ah, Avatar. It is good to see you here."

He smiled, "It's is good to be here," he bowed, "what brings you to my cabin, would you like to come in?"

She held up her hand, "No thank you, I won't be here long." her smile faded, "I am Master Healer Yuchi. I oversee the medical operations of 2,400 men and women, physical as well as menta. I am here to give you daily reports on Princess," she corrected herself, "former Princess Azula's mental health as you escort her to the asylum."

Aang gave a weak smile, "So, how is she?"

Her face took on a worried expression, "She's not well. Her insanity has almost taken complete hold of her mind, and if that ever does happen, she will be almost incurable."

Aang looked worried, "Is there anyway I could help?"

She shook her head, "I'm afraid not. Seeing you daily could simply be a reminder of her failure, which could also lead to more thoughts of her mother, her father, and Zuko. Which obviously wouldn't be good for her health."

Aang nodded, in thought, "Could we at least try? There's gotta be someway I could help her."

She thought for a moment, "Well... your supernatural connection to the spirits may assist her in some way, but that's not for certain, and even if it would help her... we don't know how." she thought for a moment, "If you would like to visit her, I will allow you to just this one time. If it works, we might work out a schedule for your visits."

Aang let out a breath and smiled, "Thank you."

The healer looked up with a look of suspicion, "Why do you want to help her so much? She almost killed you. Many times."

Aang's eyes appeared darkened and his stance slouched, he looked in her eyes and she could discern a deep feeling of guilt and distress, "I'm the cause of someone losing everything. I'm the reason somebody has gone almost completely insane. I have ruined many people's lives, while the job of the Avatar is to try and help everyone."

The healer sighed, "The Avatar's job is to provide balance, nothing more. I will say nothing else in the matter. If you would, Avatar, please follow me."

So yeah, my first Azulaang kicks off with a not so big bang, sue me xD

I've had this idea on my mind for FO-EVAH! So long in fact that I have run through the whole thing in my mind from start to finish at least five times... each with different results.

Some inspiration for this was drawn from TintedS's story The Sapphire Flame, another azulaang fanfic.

Quick clarification! The "I" at the end of the title is a Roman Numeral, just FYI.

Alert & fav if you think it's worth it, review whenever possible.

PEACE