Alright, so a while back I wrote this fanfic called While The Parents Are Away, if you haven't read it you can check it out now... Anyway, in it I reconnected an adult Azula with the Gaang as adults and now this is the story of how Azula got to that part from her escape from the mental institution (explained in the comics).
Let's not kid ourselves, it's mostly a love story, even though I prefer writing friendship and family bonds.
The stuff happening in 134 AG is after Azula met up with the Gaang, and the rest are flashbacks. You don't have to know about the previous story, it would spoil some parts anyway.
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134 AG
Azula stared at the sea from the ship's deck, thinking about her childhood home she'd soon see again. It distracted her enough to allow Zuko to sneak up on her and lean on the railing next to her.
"You know, we don't have to talk." she said when she spotted him.
"Azula, I last saw you thirty years ago when you were still bound on destroying my life. Now you're back with a son and a pirate empire. I want to hear about what happened to you."
"Well, let's see... I got both the son and the empire from my husband."
"That's good. Start with that. What was he like?"
"He had impeccable taste in women." she smirked and turned back towards the sea.
"Come on, Azula, you knew my wife since we were children. We have a long journey ahead of us, just give me something."
"You really want to know that bad?"
"Yes. Just start from when you first met Zari's father."
"Well, like every great love story it starts with thievery and murder..."
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103 AG
D. Dull. Lacking interest or excitement.
E. Ennui. A feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.
F. Forgettable. Fit or likely to be forgotten.
"Princess Azula! You are needed on deck!" a voice was heard from above the captain's cabin.
Azula hoped she'd at least get through half the alphabet while listing words describing her current situation. She was going to go with glum next, although it wasn't such a great fit.
"Princess! Are you coming?" the yelling seemed to be getting louder.
"Anything to kill the boredom!" Azula answered back, quickly jumping off the unfortunate captain's bed and onto the deck of the ship. Her associates helped her steal- commandeer an Earth Kingdom ship a few hours ago and the fool of a captain thought his pointy metal stick was going to be enough to take her down. Pity.
"There's a ship after us. We're not sure whose flag they're sailing under." Zirin said pointing at a still far away vessel. The girls loved sending her to talk to Azula when something had to be brought to her attention. Of all the friends she made at the institution Azula did like her the best, but she was too much of a crowd pleaser.
"This might be an unprecedented suggestion, but have you tried going faster?" Azula asked, still not seeing what they wanted her to do about it.
"I told him that, he says he can't." Zirin pointed to one of the sailors they kept alive on the ship to get them where they needed to go. None of them knew anything about sailing, but they did know how to be persuasive.
"I... Um. The other ship seems to be traveling... Um, faster than any I've ever seen... Ma'am." the man trembled more and more as Azula walked closer to him. She stared at him for a few seconds freezing the blood in his veins, only to keep walking and look at the enemy ship herself. It was unusually fast and getting closer.
"I don't get it. You think we should have let more of them live?" Zirin spoke, "Azula?"
"Waterbenders." the Princess concluded by watching the waves move around their ship.
"I'm pretty sure we're in Earth Kingdom waters still. Whose ship even is that?"
"It doesn't matter. It's about to be a flaming pile of timber."
As the ship was getting close, Azula felt confident she could hit it with lightning. She cleared her people, did the move perfectly and aimed directly at the vessel.
Just as the lightning bolt was about to strike the hull of the ship, one of their crew members redirected it into the sky.
"Wait, now they have a firebender too?" one of the girls came closer to take a look.
"Oh, no, no, no..." the sailor let go of the helm and tried to jump in the water as the enemy ship was almost caught up with them.
"Where do you think you're going?" Zirin caught the coward and put a dagger at his throat.
"Pirates... We better take our chances with the sea! If they catch us we're already dead..." the man continued yammering even under threat of death.
"Shut your trap." Azula said before seeing the water between the two ships freeze, connecting them. Good, she thought. Great even. Their morning confrontation was a drag, honestly. Maybe these people would put up more of a fight. It'd be fun, but it shouldn't take up more than twenty minutes...
She turned to look aboard the enemy ship and studied each member of the crew separately. Correction, ten minutes.
She was just thinking of how she'd separate the ships when they're all dead, when one man jumped over to her ship. It was a typical Water Tribe looking guy, holding two slightly curved swords.
"Hello, ladies and... Hostages?" the man stopped when he noticed all the men onboard were tied up or had a blade pointed at them, "Seriously? This ship too? Enough is enough, this is our territory. Who's in charge of this floating disaster?"
"That would be me." Azula carefully stepped closer to the enemy. He couldn't have been a lot older than she was. Could he be in charge of them?
"Be careful, he's a pirate!" one of the girls yelled, causing Azula to roll her eyes. As opposed to other captains who were usually useless, overconfident old men, this one was a nice improvement. Aesthetically speaking.
"It's Xun The Terrible!" one of the sailors screamed.
"No, it's Two Blade Yi... Everyone knows that." another one cut in.
"Those guys retired a decade ago, you know that, right?" the pirate smirked.
"So what's your pirate name Mister... Pirate?" one of Azula's friends asked.
"I don't have a pirate name..." he shook his head in disbelief "I'm not a book character. I do have a regular name. It's-"
"Wen?" Zirin asked from the back.
"Actually, yes." he turned and locked eyes with Zirin, "I know you from somewhere... Didn't we use to play together when we were kids?"
"Yes. You're a waterbender?" she asked, clearly remembering seeing him create an icy bridge to get to their ship.
"Now you know why I had to leave the Fire Nation..."
"So we don't see each other for a decade and you show up to rob me?"
"I'm sorry it's you. I really am." he shrugged, "Crew! Your Captain has made a decision... We're taking the ship!"
After Wen's signal all the men and women from the pirate ship drew their swords, making an unbelievable amount of noise, and jumped onboard Azula's ship. What followed was a quick-moving and unexpectedly bloody sword fight, with some bending thrown in for good measure. Azula seemed to be the only one who could hold her own against those people, even though she didn't even have a weapon.
Inevitably, she ended up faced against the enemy captain, Wen, since both of them could incapacitate several enemies with only one move. Azula dodged the one blade he had left and shot a pretty decent-sized stream of blue fire in his direction. It passed right next to his head.
"Nice one, but you missed." he said smugly.
"Did I?" she diverted his attention to his blade that took most of the attack and was now at the brink of melting. Wen's smirk faded as he discarded his last sword and got into his waterbending stance.
She allowed him to attack first, just to see how good he was. To assess the seriousness of the threat. They were pretty evenly matched for a few seconds until Azula felt two men grab her hands to stop her from fighting. She looked around and saw all of her friends were already defeated. They've surrendered, the useless bastards...
Azula was just about to use her right feet to burn this ship to ashes, when their captain walked over.
"Release the Blue Fire Girl." he said, and his men obeyed instantly.
Azula probably looked at least a little bit confused, because Wen looked at her next.
"I like a fair fight." he said as an explanation and got back into his stance.
"Said the waterbender on a wooden plank in the middle of a vast ocean."
"Well... I like to win, too." he smirked.
"Forget it. I'm not fighting you for the entertainment of these primitives." Azula crossed her arms while her comment earned a loud boo from the pirate crew.
"How about if I promise to release all of you if you win? Come on..."
"If I win you won't be here to give the order."
"Crew, if this woman manages to kill me, she is your new captain and you are to do as she says!" he declared before raising some seawater to surround his fists, "Shall we?"
Azula answered with a ball of fire heading straight for Wen's head. Again, their fight looked like it was a rehearsed dancing routine. Since they were so equally talented all of their attacks ended up nearly missing their targets. The people watching were getting more water and fire on them than the two people actually in the fight. In a few minutes, the constant clashing of blue water and blue fire became somewhat boring, so the two fighters reduced the distance between them. Less distance, less time to react... Someone had to take a hit eventually.
And Wen did, as Azula ignored bending and just punched him in the face when she saw an opening. However, she relished in her advantage for a second too long, since Wen managed to knock her down with a water whip and jump on top of her to hold her still.
"You see, normally, I prefer to do other more pleasurable activities with a woman on her back." he said smirking down at Azula. She didn't respond, which should have immediately made him suspicious. What did tip him off was feeling her chest move underneath him. She was taking an uncharacteristically deep breath. He rolled out of the way just in time to escape Azula breathing out a pillar of blue fire.
This time she was on top of him and held her elbow pressing down on his neck. It looked like she'd won, until he used his free hand to bend a giant wave that got a hold of her and pulled her overboard.
Now that he was free, he used the water to pull her back up where his people were ready to tie her.
"You fought well, but on the seas... There's no defeating me. Take her below!"
oooooooooo
Azula was taken to what appeared to be the captain's cabin. Her hands and feet were tied up, Wen even reminded his crew to gag her. Breathing fire was off the table...
She was left alone there for about half an hour before the Captain came to talk to her.
"I'm going to remove this," he put his hands on her gag, "I only want to talk so there is no reason to burn my face off."
As soon as her mouth was free, Azula blew a little puff of air towards Wen, expecting him to flinch, but to her surprise he didn't. He untied the ropes binding her legs and then moved to a more respectable distance.
"Where were you going when we caught you?" he asked.
"Fishing."
Wen chuckled, "Please, this will be a lot faster if you just talk to me."
"Oh, you said please," she teased, "Let me tell you all my secrets! I am powerless to resist!"
"Look, you seem like a smart person, so I'll just explain to you the situation you found yourself in. Your friends... They left you. They sold you out. I told Zirin I'd let them leave if they make it worth my while. So I gave them the ship back and they left me with all the money you stole and their leader who has a bounty on her head."
"Those filthy, back-stabbing... When I find them, I'll-"
"But you won't. Cause they're gone and you're here. But you're in luck, because I will let you go if you point me in the direction of a bigger fish, so to speak."
"So, you're fishing? What exactly do you think I know?"
"In my experience, low-level criminals lead to high-level criminals. I need you to help me find someone with a higher bounty, then I'll let you go anywhere you want. You have my word."
He was expecting her to jump at that deal, but his suggestion was met with mocking laughter.
"You really don't know who I am, do you?" she asked and then laughed again, seeing his face, "Check the poster they gave you."
Wen did just that and she saw his face change when he read her name.
"That's right, Captain. There is no one with a higher bounty than me." she said, because he didn't seem like he was going to say anything. He sighed once more looking at the paper and then started walking towards the door.
"Sit tight, Princess. We'll drop you off at the next port." he said and turned away from her to put away the poster.
"You're letting me go? That doesn't seem like a good business idea..."
"Believe me, I know what I'm doing..." he started, but then swiftly turned around catching Azula's hand in the air a mere second before she could strike him. He waited for her to extinguish the fire in her palm and then pushed the arm out of the way. "I'm not like the amateurs you're used to!"
How the hell did he hear her coming? Or did he just know she'd burn herself out of her ropes eventually?
"So sit down." he continued, "Because you're not a prisoner. We're letting you go."
"You can't show your face in the Fire Nation, right?" she smirked, sneaking a peek at her wanted poster, "You have the biggest catch in all of the world and all you're going to get out of it are a few bruises..."
"You're wanted alive. That means we'd have to take you right to the Fire Lord to get our cash."
"But there's a bounty on you too?"
"All of us. We take one step into Capital City and we're dead." he paused, "In two hours we go our separate ways, Princess Azula."
Wen was about to walk out when she yelled after him, "You're just going to leave me here, untied?"
"Let's see, you're confident, but you're not stupid... I just offered to let you go if you behave and should you choose to attack one of us anyway, you know that deal would be off the table. You'd end up alone, faced against a whole crew of mostly benders. And even if by some miracle you managed to slay us all, you'd be stranded on a ship you don't know how to sail. Would another ship pass by and pick you up? Maybe. Maybe not."
"Oh, Captain, you're no fun at all..." Azula rolled her eyes as she laid back on his chair.
He was pretty accurate about the two hours till making port. Azula had more than enough time to study his cabin down to every detail.
Who even was this guy to just catch her, separate her from her associates and then let her go? She thought pirates were supposed to be scary. Yeah, this one wasn't even trying... According to the stories she'd heard he was supposed to be ten to twenty years older, smelling of alcohol and a bit less refined.
But his cabin was meticulous. This guy had books near his bed. Books Azula's heard of before. Books Azula wanted to read. Books Azula had read.
She opened one of them and read the chapter title.
"The Battle of Nayeong." Or that was the title before Wen crossed off the name of the town in ink and wrote Oversized Egos instead of it. She remembered reading about this battle. He had the right idea...
As she flipped through the book she noticed he'd been adding things quite a lot. Mostly, it was just his version on what a certain general should have done to avoid what happened. Sometimes it was just jokes, like this one chapter where he corrected one guy's name to General Dumbass for an entire chapter before writing After reading this I am rooting for the Fire Lord at the end.
She'd never admit it, but some of the stuff she had time to read made her smile.
A knock on the door snapped her out of it.
"We're here. Small costal city. You're free to go." she heard Wen's voice through the door.
Just when things were getting interesting...
He let her walk out and onto the deck freely, but insisted he should walk behind her. Probably smart...
It took only one look off the deck of the ship for Azula to realize they'd brought her right back to the Earth Kingdom. Not only was she without a ship and associates, but she was back where she started. Usually, she would have just tried to sway them into working for her, but after chatting with Wen she couldn't guarantee that would work. He was... Different. It was actually intriguing and annoying all at the same time.
"Are you really gonna let her leave, Wen?" a voice was heard from the crew seconds before a man stepped out to speak.
"Just shut up, would you!" a woman spoke up to defend their captain.
"Stay out of this, Shi!" the man yelled, "First letting the ship go, now this? What's going on, Wen?"
"It's Captain." Wen corrected.
"Maybe it shouldn't be!"
Azula suddenly felt like she should have left quicker, while she had the chance. She wasn't sure making a run for it now would work.
"Captain, let me slice his throat! It would be my pleasure to end this mutineer..." Shi turned to Wen.
"Now, now... Easy." Wen started, "I explained myself already, not that I have to... We can't collect her bounty, so we're letting her go. You have a problem with that, you're welcome to try and capture her on your own. I'd love to see you try..."
The whole crew chuckled at that and Wen smirked, like he was taunting the other pirate.
"We could have just sold her to someone... This is just weak!" the man said.
"Listen..." Wen got right into the other man's face "I don't mind your sadistic inclinations. It's what makes you good at the job. But you follow my rules on my ship."
"She's one of-"
"She's one of us! She's on the run!" Wen took a step back, "Now just say Yes, Captain, you big idiot, and we can move on..."
It was obvious on the man's face he was considering it, but the insult proved to be too much. He punched Wen right in his face and had twenty blades pointing at him in seconds.
He really was an idiot, Azula thought.
"Fine, you want out? On your knees!" Wen said and the crew pushed the mutineer down until he kneeled. The Captain stood over him and drew his sword slowly.
Azula was aware this was the perfect opportunity for her to escape, because no one was paying attention to her. Yet, she wanted to see how this would play out.
Wen chuckled suddenly, looking down at the man and said, "You're not worth staining the deck for... Throw him overboard!"
"I'm sorry you had to see th-" Wen turned to where Azula was standing only to notice she was gone.
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Since I felt this might have been too short, to start things off I posted another chapter right away.