After this, I'll try to post at least one chapter a week.
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103 AG
A cloak didn't make much of a disguise, but in the last few months Azula was astounded to find out how often it worked. She spotted one drying on a clothes line and carefully walked by to grab it. This was a rather small town, but you could never be too careful. Posters with her name on them were popping up everywhere these days, Zuzu really spared no expense.
She noticed a man go into an alley alone and saw an opportunity to improve on her newly formed financial situation. It didn't take much to scare him, a single fireball in her hand was enough to get all the money he had on him.
Next, she walked to a nearby food stand and tried to buy something. The line was insufferably long, but any sort of aggression would surely just draw attention to her. Right when it was finally her turn, she noticed the man she robbed pointing her out to a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers. Scum...
"Don't come any closer!" she swiftly grabbed the woman standing in line next to her and threatened her with a ball of fire. She should have known stealth wasn't the way to go about this... "I'll just take the bread and leave! And you're going to let me, or she burns!"
"Look at the fire! That's Princess Azula!" someone yelled from the crowd.
"Give up, we have you surrounded." a soldier said.
Azula looked around and realized she was a bit outmatched. She shoved the woman towards a pair of soldiers and blasted fire at the remaining three that were blocking her way. She managed to escape through a row of houses and into the next street, but they were all right after her.
She was looking around while running, trying to spot a good hiding place, but without luck. Finally, after turning a sharp corner she noticed a tight gap between two houses and slipped in before the soldiers could spot her.
They ran right past her and further down the street, but Azula found herself pressed up against a stranger in a really tight space. She didn't have the room to swing at him or firebend without burning herself, but she was thinking of creative knock-out techniques when she recognized his voice.
"Great minds think alike, I guess..."
She looked up and saw Captain Wen smirking down at her.
"This is your idea of a safe place to release someone?" she asked, trying unbelievable hard not to think about how close they were or the fact that she could feel his breath on her skin.
"Yeah, I'm clearly hiding in here because I knew exactly what I was walking into..." he paused while a group of soldiers walked past them, "I messed up, obviously. This place was never this heavily guarded."
"Well, I can only assume your plucky crew was already captured."
"No, they're back on the ship. It's just a matter of getting to them."
"They have the way to the shore heavily blocked." Azula said after peeking out of their hiding place.
"Obviously..."
"Obviously." she paused, "Well, there's two of us now, maybe we can take them."
"Let me take another look..." he started leaning towards the street before Azula grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him back, slamming him into a wall. His stare was initially pissed, but it seemed to soften as soon as his blue eyes caught her golden ones.
A soldier walked by but didn't see them.
"He was..." she started, letting go of his shirt.
"Yeah..."
"That's the only reason why I..."
"Uh-huh..." he looked away, "I think I know how we can shake them. Straight out and a few streets over. I know a guy."
"No, we need your ship to get out of here..."
"Just trust me, alright?"
She chuckled, "I'd rather take my chances with them alone." the tips of two of her fingers lit up.
"No, no... No lightning. Stealth is crucial. Can't you just follow me there?"
"Your ideas are what brought me here, Captain Stealth. I won't get myself captured because you don't want to kill people." she said, and Wen chuckled like he had no idea what she was talking about, "Like that man on your ship. You should have killed that fool."
Just as she was saying that, Wen bended some water out of his pouch, turned it into icy blades and sent them flying towards the street. When Azula turned around the soldier standing behind her was already dead. So, she might have misjudged the Captain a little.
They both ran outside and found themselves surrounded almost immediately.
"How about that lightning now?" he whispered while pretending to surrender. Azula didn't need to be told twice. She struck the biggest man and then turned to Wen, only to find he was already climbing the closest building.
He was rather surprised when he saw her use her fire to propel herself up there after him.
"In my experience they'll follow us up. And start shooting arrows and rocks..." he looked around now that they had a high vintage point, "If we want to get to the sea we should really-"
"We're going with your plan. Lead the way."
It was very visible on Wen's face he was about to gloat, but he didn't get a chance since the first soldiers had just climbed after the two of them.
"Follow me." he said and started running, jumping from one rooftop to another, while Azula fell behind to shoot one of the men with lightning.
"You can only take out one guy with that?" Wen asked while they were running side by side.
"What do you suppose the width of a lightning bolt is?" she snapped at him.
"Fair enough."
She turned around to take one more soldier out with her lightning, but there were a lot more of them. When she turned back she noticed they were at the end of a row of houses. The next one was way too far for a person to jump to it. A person without firebending that is...
"How are you-" she asked, seeing Wen wasn't slowing down at all while running towards the gap.
"Just go!" he yelled, and she hurried in front of him and made the jump with the help of her fire streams. As soon as she landed she turned around and saw Wen jumping, giving himself a shove with his bending water. When he was about at the half of his jump it became apparent he wouldn't make it. He reached out his right hand, but he would have still been a meter away from Azula's hand if he hadn't used his water to extend his reach.
When he began falling he transformed the water connecting them into ice and Azula was able to pull him up from the side of the building. Both him and Azula, as well as all the soldiers, were surprised that worked.
He then showed her what building they were looking for, but before entering they needed to deal with another group of soldiers on the ground.
"Lightning when I tell you." he said before placing ice in front of the men on the ground. Most of them slipped and fell right away and that was when he turned the ice to water. "Now!"
Azula fired the lightning, realizing what he wanted to do. In half a second her lightning took out the whole group of enemies.
"Literally ten times more lethal together!" Wen smirked. Azula was looking away, but he could have sworn he saw her smile slightly too.
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"Wen, you son of a bitch!" a bartender used as a sort of cheery greeting.
"Careful, Chao! You knew my ma and she wouldn't appreciate this kind of talk." Wen answered from the door. He just led Azula into a shady looking bar, where seemingly everybody knew him.
"And she'd appreciate you killing and thieving around?" Chao asked from behind the bar.
"If she knew how good the pay is, she'd join in..." Wen said and they both laughed.
While the Captain was reconnecting with his friends, Azula looked through the door into the street, checking if any guards followed them inside. None of the people in this establishment looked like they could help them.
"So, who's the babe?" Chao asked, looking over Wen's shoulder to Azula.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"She and I need to lose some soldiers." Wen said before it could get ugly.
"It'll cost you extra for two people, boy."
"Yeah, fine..."
After Wen agreed the bartender whistled and two of the more bulky men in the establishment moved the bar aside and removed a few floorboards under it to reveal a secret, coffin-shaped hole.
"Inside." Wen said and lied down into the hiding place.
"If you think I'm getting in there, then you..." Azula started, but then noticed soldiers outside through the window. She lied down next to Wen and watched as Chao and his men closed them in.
Azula was once again in a dark and unreasonably small space with the young captain. It was a lot like lying in a coffin only without the bliss of solitude and the comfort of death.
"Don't worry, Princess. We can't run out of air in here." he said quietly, probably as a response to her loud breathing.
"I am not afraid."
"I felt awful the first time. To be fair, I was only five and there were three of us in here." he added.
"Hey, lovebirds! Keep it down." They could hear Chao from outside.
After a few seconds of silence, the soldiers made their way into the bar. Their conversation with Chao was very audible from under the floor. The man held up his part of the deal, Azula wasn't so sure he would. He told the soldiers he saw the two fugitives ride south and out of the town. They searched the bar but didn't find them. Not even close.
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"Up you go, boy!" Chao opened up the hole only when he was sure they were safe.
"Saved my skin... Again. Thanks." Wen pulled a bag of coins out of his coat and put it on the table, "Now if you don't mind, the lady and I have to get going..."
"Wait. I want the pouch, too." Chao pointed to Wen's bending water container.
"What for exactly? You don't know where that's been..."
Chao didn't answer, he only gave his guys a nod and they forcefully took it from Wen. Seeing that, Azula felt it was time for her to intervene. She stepped forward and pointed each of her hands at one of Chao's henchmen.
"Nice friends you have there, Captain." she said.
"What are you doing, Chao?" Wen asked.
"You borrowed a lot of money from me over the years!" Chao said, "Ever thought about paying back any of that?"
"Alright! I just did a huge job, just let us go to the ship and I'll pay you what I owe."
"I don't want your money, boy!" Chao walked to him and shoved a piece of paper into his hands, "I want you to kill this guy for me. He lives an hour from here, it shouldn't be a problem. And we'll keep the girl here to make sure you come back."
"No!" Wen yelled before Azula could even make a move, "I'll stay, and you let her go. She'll get it done. Won't you, love?"
"Sure thing, sweetie." Azula realized this play was going to get her out of there the fastest. She could see Chao was going to say yes. And he did. He sent her away with a picture and an address and Wen stayed back. They were just strapping him onto a chair as she was leaving.
What a fool! Yeah, he had a nice collection of books and a sense of humor, but in reality, he was as dumb as a rock! He gave her a choice between guaranteed freedom and possible freedom and expected her to choose the former... No sane person would come back there.
Azula threw the paper with the information on the street and started running towards the shore. Everything was clear. Not a soldier in sight. She had to start rehearsing her speech for the crew already...
We tried to fight our way out together, but they were too strong. I tried to save him, but it was too late... No... I wanted to save him, but I was overpowered. Yeah, more womanly... I don't even know how I managed to get away alive. No one is safe here!
Yeah, that would work. Throw a tear in there and she'll be on that ship heading for the Fire Nation in no time. His crew didn't even seem that loyal, they probably wouldn't even care if he was gone. Just like the girls she busted out of that institution didn't think twice when they got an offer to leave her.
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134 AG
"Wait... You ran into each other accidentally three times?" Zuko asked, "That's a lot of coincidences."
"It was only two times and the second time was partially caused by the first time."
"But you left him there, tied up and surrounded by enemies..."
"Don't be so melodramatic. That wasn't the end of that." Azula said and watched as her brother's face lit up. For a man in his forties he was surprisingly teenage-girl-like.
"Are you two actually being decent to each other?" Mai approached them.
"Yes, Azula's talking about Zari's father." Zuko welcomed his wife to lean on the rails beside him.
"I definitely have to hear more details to believe it." Mai said.
"I'm already halfway throu-" Azula was interrupted.
"So, he was a pirate captain, who robbed her blind, but then they fought soldiers together and she let him get captured." Zuko explained and Mai nodded like it was a completely normal way to meet your spouse.
"By his own idiot friends..." Azula added, "Anyway, here it goes."
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103 AG
Empathy. Azula always had it on an intellectual level. Viewing a situation from another person's view point was very useful if one wanted to predict another's behavior. And she was freaking great at it. She used to be able to read people like they all had their thoughts carved into their foreheads...
But when other people spoke of empathy, they were often referring to something quite different. As far as she understood it, it was like an emotion's echo. And she never really got why someone would want someone else's second-hand sadness...
Her father once told her the two of them could never feel something like that, because they were different, perfected, better. But even using the intellectual one could fool you, because Azula fixated on her similarities with Wen so much, trying to understand why he would trust her, that she found herself back at that bar.
She was just about to fire blast down the door, when Wen ran out and almost crashed right into her.
"Azula? You should be miles from here right now..." he said, while reattaching his water pouch, "Wait, you really killed that guy?"
"No. But I need you alive to get into the ship. It's not safe to stay here." she was so thankful for her perfected lying skills sometimes.
"I can think of ten other ways to handle it, I'm sure you can too."
"You wanted me to leave?"
"I just thought us working together came to an end and I wanted to give you a painless exit." he shrugged, "I knew I could take those guys out as soon as one of them was dumb enough to pour a glass of water. But thanks for coming to the rescue."
"It wasn't rescue." she rolled her eyes, "It was ensuring my passage out of here."
"Right. Well, consider your passage ensured." Wen turned to head for the shore and Azula slowly followed him. She was almost sure she saw him smile slightly while they were walking.
"I just hope your crew hasn't already vanished with the ship."
"Of course, they didn't. I'm their captain."
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Wen stood at the dock and stared into the horizon, while Azula laughed delightedly.
"I told you..." she wiped the tears from her eyes, "I'd invite you onto my ship, but you gave it away. I guess, I can't call you Captain anymore..."
"They didn't steal it." he said simply, ignoring her mocking.
"No..." she said as sarcastically as she could, "I'm sure they're having it cleaned for you."
"They thought I was captured and they're at the rendezvous point." Wen turned and looked around like he was finding his bearings.
"They are thieves and they stole something."
"You're wrong, Princess. But if you don't believe me, by all means, stay here." he started walking away from the docks.
"I'm good at reading people and from what I've seen, they stole from you because you're too lenient with them." she started walking after him.
"That's a lot of advice coming from someone whose crew is definitely in the wind. They were terrified of you." he stopped so he could face her while he talked, "Yeah, I can read people, too."
"Well, then you know that's just what people do. They leave, no matter what you do." she felt that might have gone deeper than their current discussion was calling for.
"Not all of them. You're smart, but you're wrong about my people."
"I'm never wrong." she said, even though she remembered her miscalculation concerning her friends Mai and Ty Lee quite vividly.
"Then you won't mind placing a bet. Come with me to the rendezvous point. We have an agreement that they wait there for three days before assuming I'm dead. If they're not there I will admit defeat."
"And what would we bet on? We're both completely penniless."
"The loser has to call the winner the unrivalled expert on human nature."
"That sounds incredibly childish and pointless..." she said and he started walking away.
He was surprised to see her follow him.
"I didn't say no." she explained herself, "Now where are we supposedly meeting your crew?"
"That's the thing... It's on another island. I know the route, but it'll take a few days. I'm still your best bet for getting a safe trip to the Fire Nation."
"We don't have food, a map, money..."
"It'll be an adventure."
"That's what idiots say to justify going into a situation entirely unprepared." she looked over to him.
"We are both master benders. We are both highly intelligent. I'd call that prepared enough." he must have thought he was so clever, sneaking a compliment in like this.
"True."
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Anyway, I wrote most of this a while ago, but I kind of hated it so I decided I won't post it.
Here's how that went...
I'm not 100% happy with how this turned out, but I a few days ago I thought: What the hell... If someone likes it, they'll read it. If no one likes it, no harm done...
And since it wasn't doing anyone any good sitting on my hard drive... Here.
I'm working on something else right now, so this will cover me while I do that, hopefully.
Anyway, I know there are a lot of Azula/OC romances out there, I usually kind of suck at romances, let's all be honest.... But I like the idea of Azula meeting someone who's at her level. I don't really ship her with any of the canon characters seriously, because none of them fit just right.
Something I should have mentioned before, the years are just there to help me mostly. That means Azula is 18 at the time she first meets Wen. Her "friends" from the institution are featured in the comics, so them and Zirin, not my OCs, real canon characters.
That's all. Hope you enjoyed it... If you did, if you maybe want me to continue this, spend a few minutes and leave me a review... :)