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Azula's Lost Chapters OR Azula's New Cook	By : DecieverGod Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female Views: 13899 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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The princess awoke early the next morning. Well it was more that she opened her eyes, and decided that it was light enough out that she should get up for the day. It wasn’t that she was tired; so much as she didn’t particularly feel like being out of bed. Her eyes were tired of the color green. Her ears were tired of the never ending din of this city. Her spirit was tired of playing the pawn.

Azula sighed light and strolled into the kitchen, she’d never cared much for tea, but it did have a certain quality about it that helped to settle one’s mind.

She filled the kettle and set it on the stove, over one of those little piles of twigs and with a flick of the wrist… Sighed, Spark Rocks, where… Lang handed her a pair. “Thanks.” She muttered back as she clicked the two together and lit the burner. She felt pathetic, needing these stones to start a fire… Wait.

Azula turned back to the strange male visitor standing in her kitchen, not perhaps early in the morning, but still the morning. “Who are you?” She raised an eyebrow at him and sized him up. He didn’t appear to be a burglar, in fact he appeared to be quite comfortable puttering about the apartment, a little awkward perhaps but only because he was attempting to remain silent.

He returned her confused stare. “Lang Lee.” Azula crossed her arms and leaned against the wall beside her. “Ty Lee’s boyfriend?” That answered her question sufficiently, and she nodded lightly, relaxing.

“Oh, you two had a good night then I suppose?” It was too early for pointless subtlety in her mind.

“Y-yeah…” Lang nervously rubbed the back of his head. “But by the time we got back it was already late… and I live on the other side of the ring so Ty Lee invited me to stay the night…”

“Of course she did.” Azula didn’t really care, but seeing how he insisted on explaining his presence in her kitchen while she busied herself reducing perfectly decent food to a black crunchy substance reminiscent of charcoal, she supposed she might as well play along. “Well, I hope you slept well…” No she didn’t.

Another nervous laugh. “Eh… well your futon’s a little lumpy but… yeah I slept fine.” He smirked a little, and Azula couldn’t help but join in, Ty Lee had made him sleep on the floor…

“Well you’re welcome to stay for breakfast…” The princess smirked a little and turned back to the gently flickering flames, just beneath the kettle. “Though I’m not entirely sure what to make, I’m sure I’ll figure something out…”

“Sure why not, that sounds nice.” Lang smirked a little, sitting down at the small breakfast table that occupied one side of the kitchen. “I’ve never had a Warrior’s breakfast before.” He smirked a little more chuckling lightly at his own joke.

Azula’s brow twitched. This boy was no gentleman. A gentleman would’ve offered to help her cook the meal. A gentleman should render assistance to a lady in whatever task she might undertake. She rolled her teeth against each other.

But it was against her current role to confront this boy about his lack of proper manners. Azula smirked a little. Well if she couldn’t confront him, she’d just have to torture him, after all, now she finally had someone to test her cooking on. Mai simply refused, and Ty Lee had taken to hiding whenever the Princess was cooking.

“So Lang… You’re from an affluent family? You did say you lived on the other side of the upper ring…” Azula smirked a little as she tossed together a light assortment of salmon-squid slices and chime peppers.

-

Xin Fu kick in Tatsuya’s door that morning, hoping to catch the young Fire Bender unaware, just out of personal pride. He didn’t.

Tatsuya hadn’t slept.

Not a single moment of reprieve had been granted to the Captain that night.

He’d spent it beset by images of… well, images of everything. Every phantom his mind could conceive had been born from the darkness and set to work ripping and tearing his body to pieces.

Even now, as he artfully prepared his own breakfast, his mind reeled at the world around him.

Master Yu presented him with a large bag, the contents of which were to be his mock uniform for the, ‘tournament’ they called it. Tatsuya could think of a few other words he might’ve used for it.

Deathmatch was at the top of his list, though he was hardly in a state to pass judgment. His mind was beset upon itself, and though his outward appearance was calm, his hands eerily steady. His thoughts were chaotic.

What if… If he… Could they have… Could she be…

All the possibilities, rolled about behind his eyes, the grimiest visiting him several times before being replaced by something else. His hair was a mess, he hadn’t bothered to restore it after he’d tossed and turned in bed all night. He felt the weight of his shadow as he dragged it behind him, following the two Earth Benders toward wherever it was that this ‘tournament’ of theirs was to be held, underground some place, it figured.

He heard Yu recite the rules. Weapons weren’t allowed, he’d have to leave his halberd behind. You won if the other combatants lost consciousness, submitted, or died. Killing was frowned upon, but people wouldn’t likely care in his case. They didn’t care if he died, of if he killed… He was Fire Nation after all.

Tatsuya shrugged them off. The arena was underground, though still a sizeable structure. It even had locker rooms for the combatants, not that they were much, but it was something to have a place to collect you head before you went off to die…

All the Captain could do, sitting in that dank, dark room, breathing the stink of sweat mixed with blood and earth, was think.

What had happened to Princess Azula? Had he really abandoned her? Had she needed him when he wasn’t there? Was it his fault the Earth Kingdom had captured her? Was it his fault she was being tortured? Was it his fault she was…

He’d long since given up giving himself any excuses. They were all worthless lies anyway…

He’d known what he was doing when he’d left that camp. He’d known he was leaving his post. He’d known he was abandoning the Fire Nation, and Princess Azula with it… It didn’t matter what his reasons were. Reasons didn’t matter in the real world.

The Fire Nation had started the war. What their reasons for that didn’t matter. The simple fact was, they’d started the war, and were vilified for it.

His father had… heh… His father. His father had died in service of the Fire Nation. His father had been a villainous bastard, a cruel heartless man who’d seen what he’d wanted and taken it. His reasons were self serving, pointless, cruel and worthless. His father had been a villain, and Tatsuya was better off for having never met the man.

And his mother… his mother be damned, she never showed him one ounce of affection. All she’d ever done was, was pity herself!

She’d brought him into the cold and unforgiving world, and then hated him for being there! Her reasons, that she hated his father for what he’d done, that she hated his father for his nation, but that was no fault of his! She was as cold and heartless a woman as any, and Tatsuya was better off for having seen her dead!

A cold chill fell over him...

He’d forgotten, but, how could he? The day he’d finally been accepted to the Fire Navy. The day he’d sought to leave the suffering of his childhood behind. The happiest day of his life.

The day his mother had hung herself.

But what of it?! She’d never shown him any affection, and on the one day in his miserable life that he might’ve had some glimmer of cheer she’d murdered herself to spite him!

Tatsuya silently cursed the cheering that beat against the stone walls of the small, dark room. He cursed the voices, and he cursed their owners.

And why shouldn’t he?! They were Earth Kingdom! He should curse them! They were the same people who had battered and beaten him as a child. They were the same people as his cursed mother!

The same monsters that had battered and beaten his innocences from him, They were the ones which had stolen his happiness from him, and he Should hate them for it. Them, and everyone else!

No one, not one person in this damned and godforsaken world had ever cared more about Tatsuya than a speck of earth beneath their shoe, and each of them had been egger to prove so!

Tatsuya tore open the sack Yu had given him. He tore it open and stared.

He held in his hand, the uniform of a Fire Nation Royal. Too big for Princess Azula’s… and too old for anyone else.

His hands trembled and he threw it to the ground.

What did he care for the Fire Nation! Not one of them had every accepted him, not one of them had ever shown him the comradely, the sense of brotherhood that he’d deserved. He’d join the military ready to fight and die for anyone that stood beside him, for anyone that wore the uniform of the Fire Nation!

He threw his fist into the stone locker, the heavy sound of broken stone and bone mixed with the muffled cheering from just beyond the walls.

He’d been ready to fight and die for any one of them, and they’d never have done the same for him. They’d hated him. They’d hated him for his mother’s unspoken sins. They’d hated him for simply being born to an Earth Kingdom tramp, rather than a Fire Nation woman. They’d hated him for… For everything he was!

And he hated them back! Tatsuya snarled away from the locker, spitting fire and kicking over the bench he’d sat on. He stood there in the middle of the empty room, listening to the muffled cheering, his back to the uniform.

He had hated them…

Even now, remembering all the suffering of his life, all the unjust accusations, all the torments, all the pain, and all the undue anguish, he just couldn’t conjure the hatred the way he used to… He didn’t hate them anymore.

He wanted to, with all his heart he wanted to. But he didn’t.

Tatsuya walked over to where the Royal armor rested, and righted it, brushing the dust and dirt from it. His hand hurt, and he chuckled lightly, just, looking at the armor, admiring it.

He’d given up his right to hated them when he’d met her… That perfect, powerful, beautiful and at the same time terrifying creature, the beast that’d stolen the rage right from his veins… Princess Azula.

He was going to find her. He needed to. He had to. If he died he was going to. It was the only way he could redeem himself. It was the only way he could…

He sighed. He didn’t know anything anymore… He knew he needed to redeem himself. But he wouldn’t admit to betraying Princess Azula. It just, didn’t feel right to say he betrayed her, when all he’d wanted to do was help her. He couldn’t have betrayed her. He just couldn’t have.

Tatsuya put on the armor, cleaning himself up as he did. He tied his hair back, pinning it in place with a brass needle. He tightened the wrist guards, and strapped himself into the boots. He’d done it a million times before. He didn’t even think about it, until he saw four small words, just barely visible, etched into the inside collar of the chest piece. ‘Be safe my son.’

He brushed his hand over them. They were burnt in, from the looks of it by the hands of a Fire Bender.

He couldn’t help but smile. He knew the message wasn’t for him, but he couldn’t help but think that it was. That someone, he’d never met, and probably never would, cared for him, because he wore the uniform of the Fire Nation. Because he was a Son of Fire.

Tatsuya strapped himself into the armor, brushing himself down and taking one last look of himself before he stood ready at the entrance to the area. He was a Son of Fire, and he was going to prove it.

-

The arena was massive. The entire thing at least twice the size of a Fire Nation barracks, and entirely underground, there was even a waterfall feeding a small river ringing the battlefield on the far size. Though truthfully the actually battlefield was just about the size of a barracks, the raised stands were at least half again as expansive. The stands were packed, hundreds of people, men, women, and even a few children gathered in their seats to watch.

An Earth Bender, walked out into the center of the battleground, even distances from the three gates that fed combatants to the arena. He was older than Xin Fu, but looked very much like what the gruff unmannered man would’ve wanted to be when he grew up. He stomped the ground and rose up atop a sizable pillar of earth.

“Do you want to see some bending?!” His voice echoed about the cave, and the crowd cheered back in an incurable din of encouragement. “Do you really want to see some bending?!” Again the crowd roared back, this time with such fervor that the great glowing crystal sun of the cavern seemed to tremble. “Then do I have a treat for you!”

He waved his hands out to either side pointing out at the audience as he masterfully whipped them into a frenzy. “We’re starting today off with a bang folks! For the first match of the day we have a landmark battle!” He paused to listen to the appreciative cheers. “Today only, not one… Not two… But three separate Benders will be fighting for their live and your entertainment!” The crowd roared up, and their ring master smirked.

“Allow me to introduce, the first of today’s combatants, and the best Earth Bender ever to be featured here on Bending Battles! You know him, you love him, you come to see him! Earth Shaker Shu!” The ring master pointed to the gate on his right, and a large, though surprisingly young Earth Bender walked out.

He was wearing something that, might’ve been a uniform if it had a shirt, and though he wasn’t a scrawny man, he didn’t look as broad as most Earth Benders. But the coating of dirt was there. He walked, shaking his fists above his head and working the crowd, over to the right side of the ring master.

“And now for combatant number two…” The ring master was clearly having fun introducing his fighters. “All the way from the Northern Water Tribe… the only Water Bender to hold her stuff against the big bad boys from Ba Sing Sei… You’ve seen her fight, you’ve tried to date her… the Queen of Ice herself… Torrent Tamer Kara!” This time he pointed to his left, and an older Water Tribe woman walked out.

She wore something like what people expected Water Tribesmen to wear. A heavy leather shirt died blue, cut short to expose her stomach, with a white rimmed shall puffing up her shoulders, and matching sleeves, separate from her shirt, and some kind of padding reaching from her ankles to knees. No shoes, just like the Earth Bender though.

She walked over to the left of the ring master’s speaking column tossing a friendly glance Shu’s way before they both turned to face the final gate.

“And now…” The ring master put a sinister ring in his voice and the stadium quieted. “For our final combatant we have not just one surprise… but two. Not only is this the first time he’s appeared in our fair games, but this is the first time Any practitioner of his art has appeared in Bending Battles, since its establishment some three years ago…” He paused for dramatic effect; the audience was practically hanging on his every word. “Ladies and gentlemen… Natives and refugees… I give you… for the first time ever. Captain of the Chained Phoenix… Officer in Armies of the Fire Nation… Captain, Tatsuya, Phoenix Flame, Shooouhei!” He cast a dramatic hand toward the final gate and the entire arena fell silent.

At first everyone just stared. It was hard to make out in the darkness of the walkway, but then, slowly, it came into focus. That vibrant red armor, dark black hair, tied up in a topknot, skin paler than any Earth Kingdom native, and that confident, dominate stride.

The stands erupted. Such a deafening din had never been heard before. Insults mixed with screams. Fear mixed with outrage, and soon only rage remained. Rocks, drinks, trash of every kind rained down from the stands. Some of the stones nearly reached him, tossed by bending, not by hand, but he simply let all of it, every insult, ever death wish, wash over him, splash against the Royal Armor he wore, and become nothing, meaningless.

Tatsuya marched up to stand in front of the ring master’s speaking pillar, and the earth bender brought it down to stand with the three combatants. Shu, the Earth Bender, was already glaring at Tatsuya. Kara, the Water Bender, seemed to regard him with more… apprehension.

“Alright kids you know the rules.” Even between the combatants the ring master commanded attention. “Don’t try to kill each other.” He glanced to each of them, lingering on Tatsuya the longest. “But make it a good fight… and above all, keep it interesting, got it?”

“Agreed.” Shu fell into his stance, at first equally regarding his other two combatants, but eventually settling on Tatsuya alone.

“Agreed.” Kara pulled a lash of water from the rivulet behind her, arching it over her shoulders.

“Agreed.” Tatsuya shifted down into his own stance, and took a deep breath, trying his best to bring his mind to the here and now…

“Alright then…” The ring mastered kicked off the ground, sending himself high into air, flying back up into the V.I.P. box of the stands. “Let the Bending Battle, Begin!”

-

“What do you mean you know where the Avatar is?!” Azula slammed her hands down onto the breakfast table, and the remains of her cooking nearly exploded off the stove.

Luckily Lang was a little too frightened by the apparently very upset woman glaring down at him from across the table. “Well… uhm… no, not exactly… I mean… I heard about him leading a stampede through the outer ring a few days ago… but, I don’t exactly know where he is now…”

“Mhm?... What’s going on?” Ty Lee groaned as she leaned her head around the doorway inside, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Ty Lee get ready!” The princess spun on her heel, marching to her own bed chamber to do the same.

The gymnast just sort of blinked and looked to the boy sitting at the table. “What’s going on?”

Lang blinked, rather confused himself. “I’m not entirely sure… but I think it has something to do with the new zoo in the agrarian zone…”

“Oh I love the zoo!” Ty Lee grinned practically ear to ear. “Are you going to take us to one?”

Again the boy blinked, he wasn’t sure if it was just something about Kyoshi Warriors, or these girl in particular, but he was getting very confused. “Uhm… yeah sure, I guess I could even round up some of the guys and we could make it a date.”

“Eee! I’ll go get ready!” And after a rather shrill shriek the gymnast vanished back off to her bed chamber, leaving one very confused young man sitting in front of a plate of what was quite possibly at some point in the past fish and peppers alone.

Thought not for long. “What’s going on?” Mai walked into the kitchen not long after Ty Lee had left, as uninterested as ever in the happenings of the world, but interested at least, by the noise coming from the kitchen.

“Going to the zoo, wanna come along? I can set you up with a friend.” Lang had finally decided to just roll with whatever happened and hope for the best. They were cute after all.

“Whatever…”
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Azula's Lost Chapters OR Azula's New Cook