2,519Morality Chain
I own nothing.
Azula woke to the feeling of splitting pain in her temples.
So, not dead at least.
A moment later, she became aware of more pain, across practically her entire body. Her left arm felt as if it were still on fire, raw and blistering heat seared into her flesh. Knots of silver agony danced in her back, and a bone-deep ache had sunk deep into her legs.
She paused to take a breath before forcing uncooperative eyes open. The light of the evening sun seared into her eyes, and she squeezed them shut again.
"Gh," she forced a grunt out, realizing a moment too late that her throat felt like it was made of sandpaper. She managed a hacking cough. Pain spiked in her throat and chest and she fell back, out of strength.
"Easy there, I got you," Toph's voice sounded in her ear.
"Az! You're awake!" Zuko's voice in her other ear.
Both unpleasantly loud.
She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. If Zuko and Toph were both here and able to fuss over her, then the fighting was most probably over. In their victory.
Still, she wanted to see it for herself.
Another slight pause to gather strength, and then Azula pulled herself into a sitting position. As she did so, she made the observation that her earlier assessment of her body's wounds had been off the mark.
Even more places hurt now.
Another moment to catch her breath, and then she looked up, willing her eyes to properly focus on the dark shapes several paces away from her.
Sokka, arms folded.
The Avatar, staff in hand, staring down at-
Ozai.
Lying on the floor in an ungainly heap. From where she stood, she could observe his breathing. Slow, laboured, but steady.
"You left him alive," her voice was soft, but the Avatar heard her anyway, and turned to face her. Something like concern flitted across his features.
"It's all right, Azula!" her brother's voice, seeming both close to her ear and yet muffled and indistinct. "It's okay."
"How is this okay?" her voice came out as a hoarse gasp, and she had to break off an attempt at a rant to cough. "He's still alive."
Zuko paused, a moment of hesitation so small Azula almost missed it.
"He can't Firebend anymore."
Azula blinked and felt her throat seize on empty air.
"What?"
"Aang, he did – something. I'm not really sure what it was, but father – Ozai can't Firebend any more."
She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus past the pounding in the back of her skull. Ozai's eyes were filled with a dark rage, but he didn't do or say anything that would contradict Zuko's assessment of the situation, and so Azula shifted her gaze to the Avatar instead.
"You stripped him of his bending?" she asked.
"I did," he confirmed with a nod. "He's not a threat any more. To us, or to anyone else."
Ozai.
The Fire Lord.
Without Firebending.
A true son of Agni. Without Firebending.
She couldn't help it.
Azula cackled.
Her laughter was rasping, shrill to her own years, and her throat roared in protest at the abuse. But she couldn't help it, or stop her shoulders from shaking with cruel mirth.
"So," she said once her laughter had subsided, "this is your idea of mercy?"
Aang didn't reply immediately, instead shifting his posture to look out to the sea.
Her own gaze shifted once more, to her father. Defeated.
Broken.
"You don't object, do you?" he finally said.
"You defeated him, not me," a smile curved across her lips. "Do as you please."
She closed her eyes and slumped back, feeling both Toph and Zuko's arms catch her.
The breeze was warm.
(X)
Azula work up to the feeling of a dull ache in her head.
She blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling before registering that there was someone sitting at her bedside.
"This is the second time I've had to heal you from your own Lightningbending," Katara said. "Let's not go for three, huh?"
Her smile was wan.
"Katara," Azula breathed out. Then her gaze sharpened. "Ty Lee-"
Katara place a finger to her lips, but her smile grew wider as she inclined her head.
Pulling herself into a sitting position, Azula saw the corner of the room that Katara had indicated.
Ty Lee was fast asleep, slumped against the wall in her chair.
"She was exhausted," Katara said as she lowered her hands to continue working on Azula's wounds, "but she insisted on staying here. She wanted to wait until you woke up."
Azula didn't reply immediately, letting her gaze linger on Ty Lee's sleeping form.
There was a faded bruise on her cheek. Her right leg was heavily bandaged.
Taking a deep breath, Azula flung off the blanket that had been covering her legs.
"You should still be resting," despite her words, Katara made no move to halt Azula as she stood.
As Azula stood on her feet (and noted unhappily that she was indeed feeling a slight rush of giddiness), Ty Lee stirred and blinked.
The two of them looked at each other silently for a long moment. Ty Lee was the first to move, clambering to her feet. Azula didn't miss the wince of pain as she stood.
And then she smiled. It was crooked.
"Azula, I-"
Azula crossed the room in three quick strides, one arm reaching out and pulling Ty Lee into a hug. She pressed her friend's body close to her own, tightening the embrace as much as she dared.
"Don't you ever do that again," Azula said into Ty Lee's ear as she held her body close. "You're not allowed to disobey me like that again. Do you understand?"
A hoarse chuckle.
"I knew you'd come for me," was her reply.
Azula settled on a sigh as her own response as she finally pulled away.
"Well, not if you'd managed to escape first."
It hadn't been the best attempt at levity, but she'd expected a smile, or at least a quirk of her lips. Instead there is a pained grimace and lowering of her eyes.
"What happened?"
"… They broke my leg," Ty Lee said.
"What?"
Ty Lee's shoulders raised and lowered.
"Like you said. I think they wanted to make sure I wouldn't be able to escape. They broke it, and then set it so that it healed wrong. I can barely walk right now."
"I'll kill them," the words came out quickly, almost without thought.
"What?"
"The crew of that ship. I'll have them all executed for what they did to you."
"NO!" Ty Lee's grip on her tightened, and she shook her head.
"After what they did-"
"The war's over! The killing should stop too! Right?"
Azula paused, took a deep breath.
Remembering the defeated, broken form of the Fire Lord.
"You're right. The war's over."
"I can help fix the leg," Katara's voice from behind, "but it'll mean breaking it again and then setting it properly this time. It'll take a while, even with Waterbending. But we'll have that leg as good as new, I promise."
Ty Lee smiled.
Azula nodded once.
"And in the meantime, you. Back to the bed. There'll be time for talks and celebrations later."
For once, Azula decided not to snark back at Katara and allowed herself to be led back as she felt her exhaustion catch up with her.
She laid down, and closed her eyes.
(X)
Azula awoke, feeling refreshed and relaxed.
"Day of the coronation! How're you feeling, Princess?"
"Right now?" she said without opening her eyes. "Mostly a sense of irritation that you've decided to turn my room into your personal hang out spot."
"Hey, Fire Lord Sparky said we all had free run of the palace. Can't blame me for taking his words at face value!"
She sat up and rubbed at her temple. "Then I'll have to teach Fire Lord Zuzu the finer points of making verbal agreements once I have the time. In the meantime, I need to freshen up, so get out."
Toph grinned and gave her a lazy wave before strolling out the door of the room, replaced immediately by handmaidens who began the process of getting Azula ready for the day.
Once tolerably presentable and having eaten a quick breakfast, Azula stood on a balcony overlooking the plaza. A sizeable crowd was already forming.
"Hm."
"What's with you being all pensive and stuff?" Toph said as she came up behind her. "Feeling nervous?"
"Should I be?" Azula snorted and shook her head. "Mostly, I'm just glad I won't be the one standing in front, having to give speeches."
"Huh."
"What?"
"I'd have figured you for the kind who likes giving long speeches."
"Maybe if it was to get soldiers riled up for a battle," she folded her arms, staring up at the sun that shone high overhead. "Or maybe threatening someone with punishment if they messed up. Today's speech shouldn't be like that, though. A lot more focus on peace and restoration, and all that. Not exactly something I've a lot of experience with."
A silence descended on the two of them until Toph leaned back. A stone obligingly jutted itself out of the ground so she could rest against it, and Azula decided against mentioning how much money it would cost to repair the floor.
"All right, so. Back to the first question. What are you being all pensive about?"
Azula drew in a deep breath.
The issue of the colonies is still up in the air.
There's already been reports of some of our battalions refusing to lay down arms.
Ty Lee still hasn't fully recovered yet, but she's mentioned being interested in Suki's band of soldiers.
The Fire Nation's path… is in flux.
"The future, I suppose."
A grunt from Toph.
"Yeah? Well, the problems will still be problems tomorrow. Today's the day to focus on what we've already done."
"Quite a nice way of saying you're just procrastinating on dealing with them."
"Time and place for everything, ain't it?"
Azula nodded once, a slow and deliberate action.
"Yes, I suppose that's true."
(X)
The cheers of the crowd had long since faded as Azula made her way along the worn stone path. Pausing to glance at the orange-red rays of the setting sun, she took a deep breath, shook her head once, and stepped inside.
The interior of the prison was dark and cramped, but clean. Zuko had ordered as much.
Moving at an unhurried pace, Azula paused in front of one particular cell, took a deep breath and reached up to push the door to it open.
From behind the barred prison, Ozai sat, glaring at her. Distantly, Azula noted the thick cloaked draped over body and wondered if he was cold.
For a moment, there was simply silence, the two of them sizing the other up.
"What do you want?" Ozai was the first one to break it.
"Zuko hasn't been to see you, has he?" was Azula's reply.
There was response save for the sullen rage in his eyes.
"Today, the Fire Nation charts a new course. One away from war. Harmony and cooperation with the rest of the world – or at least, that's the official stance."
"And you'll be there to guide it, I assume – you, and your brother, that mewling excuse for a prince."
"Fire Lord, now."
A snort, and lips were pulled back into a sneer.
"A title he did not earn. A crown that was given to him by another."
"..." Slowly, deliberately, Azula folded her hands behind her back.
"Do you think you'll hold this country together? One half of the Fire Nation would like nothing more than to see the usurpers dead. And that's before the negotiations, and I use that term loosely. The vulture-crows are circling, Azula. They will tear this land to shreds, feast on its corpse, and they will do it in the name of the Avatar's Balance and Justice. And who will Zuko be to defy it? When the Avatar is the one whose favour legitimises his rule?"
Slowly, Ozai pulled himself to his feet and stepped towards the bars of the cell.
"My fire has been torn from me. I will never hold the throne again. But as the nation crumbles, and as your precious allies dwindle, you will go to your restless sleep every night, watch the shadows darken, and you'll know, that I was right."
Azula took a deep breath.
"You asked me what I wanted when I came here. And it was partly to let you get that off your chest."
He kept his glare, but Azula could tell that she had caught him by surprise.
"That's your philosophy to the very end. Power and brutality is the only way. Compromise is vulnerability. Weakness," Azula sighed and shook her head once. "I used to agree with you.
"Honestly, a part of me still does."
And no one else in the world will ever get that admission from me.
"I came here to tell you that this is where it ends. I won't be chained to you, or your views, any more. I've found another way."
Ozai's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing in reply.
Azula turned to leave. Paused, and turned back to look at him again.
"Maybe you'll find one yourself, while you're in here," a shrug. "After all, someone once told me that suffering could be a pretty good teacher."
Without waiting for a reply, she walked out of the cell.
The door slammed shut behind her.
(X)
A knock sounded from the doorway
"I'll get it," Oisha told her husband, who had looked up from the desk.
The past few days had been a whirlwind of chaotic activity. The sudden news of the Fire Nation's surrender had upended most of the region's daily routines, and the soldiers stationed in the region appeared indecisive, about whether they truly still had governance over the small village while waiting for the orders to pack up.
With a shake of her head, Oisha forced those thoughts down. The fighting had stopped. She would be grateful for that much.
She opened the door, and blinked.
In front of her was a carriage, drawn by several eagle-horses. The carriage itself was decorated with fine filigree of gold and jade, and the wood shone with a luster. On the doors of the carriage, embossed in red and black, was the symbol of Fire Nation.
What in the world-
The driver of the carriage hopped down, and made to open the doors. There was the clatter of wood against wood and the rustling of cloth, and-
Time seemed to grind to a halt.
They looked older. Of course they did. It had been fifteen years, to say nothing of however they had been treated while in captivity.
But it was still-
"Father?" her voice was quavering. "Mother?"
"Oisha," her mother said. And somehow, that single word drove it home to her. This was real.
They were real.
The snap of a scroll being unfurled, distant to her ears.
"Be decree of Grand Chancellor Azula," the driver began, "Ryou and Shin, parents of former Royal Guard Oisha, are hereby cleared of all charges of treason and disloyalty. Henceforth, they are granted freedom as citizens of the Fire Nation, and are to be given proper redress for their wrongful incarceration."
She barely registered as she ran forward, throwing her arms around the both of them. A moment later, she
"Oisha?" Yi's voice from behind her. "Is something the-"
She laughed and whirled, drawing her husband into the hug as well.
"Thank you," she whispered to she knew not who. Agni perhaps, or the Azula he had mentioned. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
The sun shone overhead.
(X)
"You know, you can't keep lazing in here forever," Smellerbee's voice sounded through the darkened interior of the room.
Jet merely grunted in response, turning over on his mattress so he was now facing away from the door of his room.
A brief pause, and then the sounds of shuffling as Smellerbee flopped down onto a nearby stool.
"You know, I figured you'd be happier. What with the Fire Nation surrendering, and the war ending and everything."
"You don't get it!" Jet snappedone hand balled into a first and punched down onto his pillow. "She played us all for fools, left us to wallow in the dirt, and then a few months she just declares the war is over, everybody go home!? And she's not going to pay for any of her crimes! None of the Fire Nation are!"
He sat up and turned to face Smellerbee, who had her arms crossed. She heaved a sigh and opened her mouth to retort, but just then-
Longshot opened the door and stepped into the room.
"What?" Jet blinked. "No, I didn't order anything."
"Me neither."
Longshot raised and lowered his shoulder.
"A package?" Scrambling out of bed, Jet rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and headed for the entrance to their home.
There it was. A small red box, lying just outside their doorway.
"You didn't see who left it here?" he questioned as he reached down to pick it up.
Longshot shook his head.
Heavy.
He tilted the box, felt the something rattle inside.
After a moment, curiosity won over and he went inside, laying it on the table before working to pry it open.
"Whoa!"
Smellerbee's surpised gasp matched Jet's own. Even Longshot's eyes widened.
A tea set for three people. Tucked into one corner of the box, a bag of Earth Kingdom coins.
"Someone got lost and dumped this on the wrong doorstep," he snorted and shook his head.
"There's a card in the box. Maybe it'll say who this belongs to."
Warily, Jet retrieved the card, before flipping it open. His eyes widened.
To Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot
Consider this payment for services rendered.
What you do with the money is up to you.
My uncle insists you don't waste the tea, though. He picked the leaves out himself.
Best regards.
And at the bottom of the note, stamped into purple ink, was the seal of the Fire Nation royal family.
(X)
"Yep," Toph nodded. "They got the box."
"All right," Azula returned the gesture. "Thank you. Let's be on our way, then."
The two of them continued in personable silence as they passed into the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se. Azula's eyes flitted about, noting some of the structural damage the city had received during Uncle's battle to reclaim it.
"So tell me," Toph mentioned as the continued their journey into the Inner Ring, "is this what you're going to be doing from now on? Paying back everyone you acted like a jerk to? Because I don't know what you've done, exactly, but I can't help feeling that it's a long list."
"I'm not interested in people like Jet who think I have answer for the entirety of the Fire Nation's history. But yes, I suppose I do believe in balancing my own ledgers, as it were."
Another brief pause.
"You think Jet's going to use the cash to make something out of his life? I mean, I don't know him personally. But the way you and Katara talk, it's like he's driven by, I dunno. Needing something to hate."
Azula raised and lowered one shoulder.
"Maybe, maybe not. It's out of my hands now."
And she left it that.
In a moment, they were back outside the Jasmine Dragon. Taking a moment to observe the signboard above the store, she stepped inside after Toph.
"Your Highness! Welcome back!" Jin greeted her. "Please have a seat and I'll have your tea out in a moment."
Toph waited until she had vanished into the back before elbowing Azula, a grin on her face.
"She's still scared of you, you know."
"I cannot begin to imagine why."
"Azula!" her brother's voice drew her attention, and she spotted him seated at the table, along with the Avatar and the rest of his companions, apparently playing pai sho. With a nod of acknowledgement, she walked over and settled herself down.
Tea was served – excellent, as usual. She observed the games going on – Katara was good, almost managing to take a game off Uncle – and made idle comments as the situation called for it.
"Azula!"
She turned around, and smiled.
"Ty Lee."
Her friend had entered the tea shop, closely followed by Mai. Zuko's attention was instantly drawn to the latter and the two of them quickly found a separate table.
Ty Lee, meanwhile, came up to her. And despite her best efforts, Azula could still see the tiny flicker of discomfort every time she put weight on her right foot.
"Have you been resting well?"
"Remember," Katara chimed in from the other end of the table, "no acrobatics at all until I give you the okay."
"I got it already," Ty Lee rolled her eyes before smiling and Azula. "And yeah! I've been resting well. Suki gave me a lot of reading material on the history of the Kyoshi warriors so I'm not bored."
"Ah," Azula nodded once. "So you've decided on joining Suki, then?"
"Well, yeah. Almost." Ty Lee reached up to scratch at the back of her neck. "But I, uh. Well."
Azula raised an eyebrow, waiting for Ty Lee to finish.
"I decided – I won't leave if you don't want me to. If you want me to continue being your vassal or – well, just for me to be nearby, I'll stay."
She swallowed and nodded, once.
"I won't run away again. I promise."
Azula was silent as Ty Lee stumbled through her declaration.
And then she nodded back to her.
"All right. Since you're offering, then heed my order, Ty Lee."
She raised Ty Lee's hand with her left, before covering it with her right.
"Go. Find the path that makes you happy. And when you do return, I'll be waiting."
A grin split Ty Lee's face and she tackled Azula in her tightest hug yet.
After that the party continued on.
Sokka began drawing some hideous scrawling that he claimed was supposed to be all of them together celebrating.
Uncle dragged his tsungi horn out of the storage room and begin playing it, which was Azula's cue to find the first polite opportunity to step out of the tea shop.
She found herself waiting on the balcony, watching the sunset, when she heard the patter of distinctive footfalls behind her.
"So what are you thinking about, Princess?"
"Who says I'm thinking about anything in particular?"
"You're breathing the way you do when you've got something on your mind."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not breathing any different from normally."
"Sure you aren't."
Azula sighed.
"If you must know, I'm wondering about Zuko being Fire Lord."
"Oh?"
"He's had barely any training in how to rule. And to come into power in what's going to be the most major upheaval in Fire Nation policy in a hundred years… well, he's got his work cut out for him. All of us do."
"I'd have figured he'd want to ask Gramps for advice. Or have him be Fire Lord instead. That works, right?"
"Zuko wouldn't dream of forcing Uncle out of his retirement and running his tea shop," Azula paused and heaved a sigh, "And even if he did, I wouldn't allow it."
"How's that?"
"It's an obvious case of conflicting interests. You can't be the head of an international organisation that's supposedly neutral and sovereign of a single nation," she cocked her head to the side, "as it is, we've got reports from several ministries complaining that Iroh might have compromised state secrets during his tenure as Grand Lotus."
"Well, when you put it like that."
Another brief pause.
"So. How do you think tomorrow's meeting is going to go?"
"… Honestly? Probably badly. We've prepared as much documentation as we can, but I'll bet any amount of money King Kuei never even considered that we'll fight to keep some of the colonies so we'll basically be blindsiding him and his advisors."
"And I'll get a front row seat to that?" Toph's grin widened. "Can't wait."
"Hm. I'll be surprised if we even manage to clear all the items on our agenda without it descending into yelling at each other."
"Mmhm, mmhm. And then, what's next?"
"Meetings," she said without breaking her gaze from the sunset. "Lots of meetings. Probably a few assassination attempts. The odd coup here and there. Maybe a territorial dispute that'll threaten to reignite the whole war again."
"Ah, the boring stuff."
Azula snorted.
"What about you? War's over. I doubt you'll want to spend a lot of time at the negotiating table with the rest of us."
"Been doing some thinking of my own. Being the world's greatest Earthbender is great and all, but it'd be kinda sad if everything I know just ends with me, you know?"
"You mean your Metalbending?"
"Exactly. Thought I'd start up a school of sorts. A Metalbending Academy. Might spend a bit hunting for people who have an affinity for bending metal and gather them up to teach them how."
"I see. Well, best of luck with that endeavour. If you ask nicely, I might spring you some of the funds you'd need to set that up."
"Hah. Only if you promise to visit, Princess."
Azula smiled, and continued to smile as she caught the fist Toph aimed at her shoulder.
(X)
"Her Royal Highness, Grand Chancellor Azula."
As her presence was announced, Azula strode into the throne room, taking a long look around the chamber.
"I see you took Uncle's advice to install more torches along the walls."
Zuko's smiled and turned to regard the new light fixtures.
"What can I say? I always thought the room was a bit too gloomy."
"And no wall of fire? Is the high and mighty Fire Lord deigning to allow his subjects to gaze upon him whenever they so wish?"
"I tried it. It's not me."
A moment's pause, and then they shared a brief chuckle.
"So, did you receive the latest updates?"
Azula waved the list she brought with her. "The scribes provided me with a copy this morning."
"… Did you remember to thank them?"
"It's their job."
"And if they feel appreciated for it, they're more likely to go above and beyond! It costs nothing to be polite!"
"Ah, so if I thank them, maybe they'll use the premium ink to write it down in the future."
"You're incorrigible, you know that?"
With a smile, Azula settled onto her seat, next to the Fire Lord's throne.
"I've already looked through most of the agenda. The Avatar's managed to broker a tentative agreement around Yu Dao. It'll be up to us to hammer out the details, of course. That will still take a while. Still no word from the 31st mountain regiment. We probably have to consider the reports that they've gone rogue to be accurate. Meanwhile, the Northern Water tribe seems amenable to a trade deal in exchange for more information on how we construct our ships, but they insist on having blueprints for the current generation fleet instead of the older models. And also, another two generals sent in formal requests for Agni Kais so they might, and I quote, 'punish the perfidious wretch who betrayed Sozin's glorious cause.'"
"Of course," Zuko sighed and rubbed at his temples. "No rest for the weary and no shortage of issues to resolve."
The doors to the chamber opened once more, and the ministers slowly began to stream in.
"No doubt," Azula agreed. "But."
"But?"
"Whatever happens, we'll handle it together."
Zuko smiled and straightened in his seat.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, we will."
STORY END
Author Notes:
Holy shit it's done.
Almost fourteen years later, it's done.
Wow.
To think this started with me leaning back in my chair and thinking 'What if Zuko and Azula got along better' all those years ago and then deciding 'I can fire up the computer and put my own interpretation on it, so why not?' And then an entire sequel series, a live action movie, and a whole bunch of other stuff came and went before this story even finished.
Okay, so let's talk a bit about the last chapter. When writing it I had a lot of ideas for the epilogue scenes. Negotiations, arguments, the gang hanging out, other consequences of Azula's actions I wanted to explore.
And it was long. Really long.
Way too long for a single chapter that I had intended to be the denouement.
So I ended up cutting up most of it and decided to stick mostly to the scenes depicted in the ending of the show proper. The other epilogue stuff may or may not end up becoming it's own shorter story in the future. I'm not promising anything though.
In the more immediate future though, I'm going to finish touching up the story and copying it to Ao3. And continuing to work on my other stories since for every idea you manage to write down two more pop up.
In the end, I feel there's really not much else to say except that I hope to enjoyed my interpretation of Azula and her new relationships with Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, Toph, Iroh, Ozai… everyone else, really.
Thank you all so much for sticking with me and reading this! As always, any reviews or comments would be very much appreciated!