The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

i. XI

Azami's eyes widened as she began to slowly back away from her brother. "W-what?" she stuttered out.

Azulon's glare pierced her to the core, and she felt like collapsing under the weight of his gaze. "Do you have any idea how long I spent looking for you? The lengths I went to in order to meet you here? Do you have any idea what you put me and father through?"

"I-I-"

"I spent nearly half a century searching for you," he hissed. "I even found a means to try and find you here after death, only to learn that you were playing a game of fucking hide and seek?"

Azami continued to move away from Azulon as he slowly crept towards her, a feeling of terror growing in the pit of her stomach. "I-I'm sorry?" she whispered, her voice shaky.

"SORRY?" he roared at her, and she flinched, tripping as she fell backwards, staring up at her brother in horror. He was slowly aging before her eyes, his hair turning to grey, then white as his skin wrinkled, but the look on his face remained the same. "You abandoned us, killing Father in the process, and the only thing you can say is sorry?!" 

Her body had frozen up at this point, her face completely pale as the man she thought she knew towered over her. "You promised me you would return home! When you disappeared, I tore the nations apart to search for you! I punished those filthy airbenders for taking you from me, and only now A CENTURY LATER do I find out you turned your back on all of us!" he screeched, his face filled with pain and rage.

Azami's gaze was locked on his eyes, filled with insanity, and she tried to form words but could barely create a sound. It was as if all the air in her body had abandoned her, and she found herself struggling to breathe. The image of her brother's elderly form slowly turned to dust, flying away in the wind, and Azami could only barely manage to curl up on her side as her body trembled.

Her eyes slowly started to blur, the world around her fading to black once again, and before she lost consciousness she heard her brother's voice echo one last time in her ear.

"You betrayed us, sister. You destroyed us, and we burned the world. For you."

Sokka P.o.V.

Night had fallen, and the two siblings found themselves in a similar situation to the previous evening, watching Aang wait for the Hei Bai spirit from the window, the old man who had guided them to the town standing behind them. After a while, Aang lowered his head and walked back to the main village, only for Hei Bai to suddenly burst out of a nearby house.

Aang screamed in fright, protecting himself with a ball of air. "Aang, what are you doing?" Katara screamed at him. "Run!"

Hei Bai started moving towards the large main building, where all the villagers were cowering in fear, but Aang quickly raced ahead of it, stopping the spirit in its tracks. He touched the spirit on its head, revealing an overlapping image of a large panda spirit.

"You're the spirit of this forest," Aang realized. "Now I understand. You're upset and angry because your home was burnt down." The Hei Bai stayed still, huffing slightly as Aang continued. 

"When I saw the forest had been burned, I was sad and upset," Aang tried to calm the spirit. "But my friend gave me hope that the forest will grow back." He held out the acorn that Katara had given him, and the Hei Bai gently took it before transforming into the form of a large panda. The spirit slowly walked out of the village, and once he passed the entrance it quickly filled with bamboo, the villagers all walking out with confused glances.

Sokka's face lit up as he saw Azami walk out with the rest of the villagers, seeming dazed, but as the three ran up to her he slowly started to frown. Something was off, her eyes seemed red and puffy while the rest of her face seemed paler than normal. Aang quickly embraced her, seemingly oblivious to her current state. "How are you? You were trapped in the spirit world for 24 hours, and-"