[FIC] Sense and Sensibility (12/16)
Title: Sense and Sensibility, Chapter Twelve
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing: Eventual Zutara, mentions of Sokka/Suki
Wordcount: 1844
Warnings: none
Summary: Four years after the end of the war, Fire Lord Zuko is told he has two weeks to choose a bride from a group of five girls. Luckily, Uncle Iroh stacked the deck.
Author's Notes: I'm archiving things, so this one (which is my longest finished story to date) was written before season three premiered. Thus it is technically an AU. Chapter titles are from the musical Camelot, because I am a giant dork.
AN 2: Because this is an AU after season two, Zuko never dated Mai. Also I like her more now that I did when I wrote it, so... *shrug*
---Chapter Twelve: Fie On Goodness---
--Four Years Earlier--
Zuko stumbled through the palace. He’d lived here as a child; he should have known the layout well. Yet Toph had sent her earthquakes far past whatever battleground she held, causing many of the ornate pillars that supported the structure to fall and altering the appearance of Zuko’s former home. He crawled over one now and found himself face-to-face with Ty Lee. She was rather disheveled and a bit dirty, with her clothes ripped and her hair undone, but that didn’t matter to him. Zuko wearily assumed a fighting stance. He was so tired of this.
The acrobat looked Zuko over. He looked like he was in worse shape than she was, and Ty Lee was well aware of her appearance just then. Then she shook her head. “The Fire Lord’s dead, isn’t he?”
Zuko nodded. “Yes.”
Ty Lee sighed. “Then that’s the end of things.” She turned away. “Azula is in the Hall of Agni Kai, fighting the waterbender. If you hurry you might be able to save her.” It wasn’t clear which girl Ty Lee was telling Zuko to save.
Zuko stared at her. “You’re not going to fight me?”
Ty Lee laughed, and the sound was surprisingly bitter. “There’s not much point, is there? It doesn’t really make up for the things I’ve done, but…” She turned to look at him again, and her big gray eyes were pleading. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail.”
Zuko would have been shocked, but after everything else that had happened on this long, hard day, he wasn’t sure he could even be startled. Even when they were children, Ty Lee had always followed Azula willingly, often with joy. He didn’t know what had brought on this sudden rebellion, but he considered that it didn’t really matter. He was tempted to ask Ty Lee what she did want, but he had to get to Katara. Especially if the waterbender was fighting Azula. The Prince and Princess of the Fire Nation had some long unfinished business.
He walked past Ty Lee without another word.
She watched him, and silently wished him luck.
Had Zuko asked, Ty Lee would have been honest. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in the circus, where any trick she might do would be far less dangerous than the life she had led under Azula’s orders.
--Present Day--
Zuko stared at the order his uncle had given him. “Now? They took this long to make the decision, and they want it carried out now?”
“I understand that the timing is most unfortunate, nephew,” Iroh said, “but the Council of War Crimes says that Azula’s execution must be carried out as soon as possible.”
“If they thought that way they should have done it years ago,” the Fire Lord muttered. “It will have to be after the wedding.”
“Is that so your marriage can begin while you are still happy, or is it so you don’t have to be present when your sister is executed?”
Zuko avoided meeting his uncle’s eyes. “Both.”
Iroh sighed and took back the message from the Council of War Crimes. That particular council was located in Ba Sing Se and had been formed to decide the punishments for those involved in the Hundred-Years-War. Since most of the original agitators and many of the more recent ones, including former Fire Lord Ozai, were dead, it had taken the Council the time since its formation to reach a decision regarding Princess Azula and her companions.
Iroh looked into the fireplace, which was filled with flames despite the steadily warmer April weather. “Lady Mai is to be imprisoned indefinitely,” he told Zuko. “The Council believed what you told them about Ty Lee disappearing shortly after the final battle. They also agreed that after such a long time, searching for her would be futile.”
Zuko didn’t say anything. His uncle was the only one who knew about the visits the newly crowned Fire Lord had made to both Mai and Ty Lee. They both knew where Ty Lee was; Zuko had signed the order himself about a month after the war ended. That was the soonest he could manage it, and he hoped he’d given Ty Lee what she wanted. For Mai, life in prison was the worst punishment she could be given. Mai hated being bored, and being imprisoned undoubtedly bored her. Hopefully it would bore her to death, and Zuko would have one less prisoner to worry about. As for Azula…
“Shall I have Azula’s guards inform her of her sentence, or would you prefer that I do it personally?” Iroh asked, almost as though he could read his nephew’s thoughts.
Zuko had been staring at the floor. Now he lifted his head, though he still didn’t turn to face Iroh. “I’ll tell her.”
--Four Years Earlier--
Katara used the water whip to knock Azula off her feet. The Princess of the Fire Nation responded by shooting lightning at the waterbender.
Katara couldn’t move in time to avoid it.
Suddenly Zuko was between her and the lightning bolt. Katara didn’t know where he had come from; the last time they’d seen each other he was going to face Ozai with Aang.
Zuko redirected the lightning, sending it back to its source. Azula failed to completely dodge it, shrieking as her own attack fried and nearly destroyed her right arm. She sank to her knees, a furious glare pointed at her brother. “When our father finds out…” Azula hissed through the pain.
“Our father is dead,” Zuko told her flatly. “He was crushed when the roof of his chambers in the east wing caved in. The Avatar and I made sure of it.”
Azula stared at him in shock. “Damn you,” she managed to say before she was forced to give in to unconsciousness and fall over.
Zuko turned to Katara. “Are you okay?”
Katara looked up at him. She hadn’t seen Zuko this battered and bruised since their fight during the attack on the North Pole. And yet he was standing here asking if she was okay. This was not the Zuko she’d fought back then. Katara did the only thing she could think of. She flung her arms around Zuko’s neck, hugging him, and cried into his chest. She didn’t know exactly why she was crying; she didn’t care. Zuko hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around Katara.
It wasn’t until later, after their joyous reunion with the others, that Zuko thought that he wouldn’t have minded if the moment had lasted forever.
--Present Day--
To say that Azula, former Princess of the Fire Nation, was bitter would be a gross understatement. Things were not as she felt they should be.
Her father, who should have been known as the greatest Fire Lord in history, was dead.
Her inferior, traitorous brother was now Fire Lord.
She was a prisoner in her own country, the country that should have belonged to her.
The world should have been hers.
She should have had masses of suitors, all high-ranking men of the Fire Nation, bowing down before her and begging for her hand in marriage. She would have refused each and every one of them, of course. She would have enjoyed spurning them.
But no. The world was controlled by a handful of idiots once more, while Azula rotted away in her cell, waiting for them to pass their petty judgment on her.
Her right arm was shriveled and useless, a constant reminder of what was rather than what should have been.
Azula had been her father’s darling, a child prodigy, and so much more.
Now she was nothing.
She had woken up after her last fight here in this cell. Here she had remained for the past four years. She dressed in rags and ate food of poor quality. She had no visitors, and her guards had only spoken to her once: to tell her that Zuko had been crowned Fire Lord.
She’d screamed in fury for three days straight after that.
--------
Zuko approached the cell with little caution. There was nothing Azula could do to him now. “Hello, Azula.”
“Hello, Zuzu…oh, I’m sorry.” Azula rose, her chains clacking as she did so. She bowed deeply, never taking her eyes off her brother. “Greetings and felicitations to you, Fire Lord Zuko. To what do I owe this great displeasure?”
Zuko ignored his sister’s actions. “I’m getting married.”
The former princess’s golden eyes narrowed. “To whom, may I ask?”
“Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. I believe you remember her.”
Azula shrieked in response.
“There’s something else, Azula,” Zuko said. This was harder to tell her, for some reason. It wasn’t that he pitied her; no one could pity Azula’s fate after the things she’d done. But deep down, something still whispered the words his father had uttered so often.
“Azula was born lucky. You were lucky to be born.”
“The Council has finally decided on your sentence,” he said stiffly.
Azula waited for him to finish.
“You’re to be burned at the stake on the nineteenth. That’s in three days.”
“Will you be there?” she asked. If Zuko didn’t know better, he might have thought she sounded vulnerable. Maybe even scared. But he did know better.
Zuko didn’t look at her. “No.”
--------
Zuko was silent at dinner. That wasn’t entirely unusual, but this silence was both oppressive and depressing. When he left the table early, his friends (except for Toph) exchanged worried looks. Katara excused herself and followed him. He was moving quickly, and she didn’t catch up until they were just outside his suite of rooms.
“Zuko? What’s wrong?”
He kept his head down, hiding his face in the gloom of the torch-lit hallway. “I should hate her. She’s done so much, and I should hate her for all of it. But I can’t. I want to hate her, and I can’t.”
Katara embraced her soon-to-be-husband. She didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. “You don’t have to hate Azula, Zuko. She’s the one full of hate, not you.”
Zuko wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. “I know. I know. Azula is supposed to be executed in three days, and all I can hear in my head is our father say that she was born lucky, and I was lucky-”
“To find people who don’t care what he thought,” Katara interrupted. “Your father is dead, and soon Azula will join him. You should be thinking about our wedding tomorrow.”
Zuko smiled in spite of himself. Katara truly had a gift, being able to make him forget his troubles that easily. “Have you talked to the others yet?”
“Yes. Toph thought it was hilarious.”
Zuko lifted her chin and kissed her. Katara smiled back at him. “Isn’t it bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding?” she asked in her sweetest voice.
“I don’t believe in luck,” Zuko told her, but he kissed her once more and then said good night.
---End Chapter Twelve---
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing: Eventual Zutara, mentions of Sokka/Suki
Wordcount: 1844
Warnings: none
Summary: Four years after the end of the war, Fire Lord Zuko is told he has two weeks to choose a bride from a group of five girls. Luckily, Uncle Iroh stacked the deck.
Author's Notes: I'm archiving things, so this one (which is my longest finished story to date) was written before season three premiered. Thus it is technically an AU. Chapter titles are from the musical Camelot, because I am a giant dork.
AN 2: Because this is an AU after season two, Zuko never dated Mai. Also I like her more now that I did when I wrote it, so... *shrug*
---Chapter Twelve: Fie On Goodness---
--Four Years Earlier--
Zuko stumbled through the palace. He’d lived here as a child; he should have known the layout well. Yet Toph had sent her earthquakes far past whatever battleground she held, causing many of the ornate pillars that supported the structure to fall and altering the appearance of Zuko’s former home. He crawled over one now and found himself face-to-face with Ty Lee. She was rather disheveled and a bit dirty, with her clothes ripped and her hair undone, but that didn’t matter to him. Zuko wearily assumed a fighting stance. He was so tired of this.
The acrobat looked Zuko over. He looked like he was in worse shape than she was, and Ty Lee was well aware of her appearance just then. Then she shook her head. “The Fire Lord’s dead, isn’t he?”
Zuko nodded. “Yes.”
Ty Lee sighed. “Then that’s the end of things.” She turned away. “Azula is in the Hall of Agni Kai, fighting the waterbender. If you hurry you might be able to save her.” It wasn’t clear which girl Ty Lee was telling Zuko to save.
Zuko stared at her. “You’re not going to fight me?”
Ty Lee laughed, and the sound was surprisingly bitter. “There’s not much point, is there? It doesn’t really make up for the things I’ve done, but…” She turned to look at him again, and her big gray eyes were pleading. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail.”
Zuko would have been shocked, but after everything else that had happened on this long, hard day, he wasn’t sure he could even be startled. Even when they were children, Ty Lee had always followed Azula willingly, often with joy. He didn’t know what had brought on this sudden rebellion, but he considered that it didn’t really matter. He was tempted to ask Ty Lee what she did want, but he had to get to Katara. Especially if the waterbender was fighting Azula. The Prince and Princess of the Fire Nation had some long unfinished business.
He walked past Ty Lee without another word.
She watched him, and silently wished him luck.
Had Zuko asked, Ty Lee would have been honest. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in the circus, where any trick she might do would be far less dangerous than the life she had led under Azula’s orders.
--Present Day--
Zuko stared at the order his uncle had given him. “Now? They took this long to make the decision, and they want it carried out now?”
“I understand that the timing is most unfortunate, nephew,” Iroh said, “but the Council of War Crimes says that Azula’s execution must be carried out as soon as possible.”
“If they thought that way they should have done it years ago,” the Fire Lord muttered. “It will have to be after the wedding.”
“Is that so your marriage can begin while you are still happy, or is it so you don’t have to be present when your sister is executed?”
Zuko avoided meeting his uncle’s eyes. “Both.”
Iroh sighed and took back the message from the Council of War Crimes. That particular council was located in Ba Sing Se and had been formed to decide the punishments for those involved in the Hundred-Years-War. Since most of the original agitators and many of the more recent ones, including former Fire Lord Ozai, were dead, it had taken the Council the time since its formation to reach a decision regarding Princess Azula and her companions.
Iroh looked into the fireplace, which was filled with flames despite the steadily warmer April weather. “Lady Mai is to be imprisoned indefinitely,” he told Zuko. “The Council believed what you told them about Ty Lee disappearing shortly after the final battle. They also agreed that after such a long time, searching for her would be futile.”
Zuko didn’t say anything. His uncle was the only one who knew about the visits the newly crowned Fire Lord had made to both Mai and Ty Lee. They both knew where Ty Lee was; Zuko had signed the order himself about a month after the war ended. That was the soonest he could manage it, and he hoped he’d given Ty Lee what she wanted. For Mai, life in prison was the worst punishment she could be given. Mai hated being bored, and being imprisoned undoubtedly bored her. Hopefully it would bore her to death, and Zuko would have one less prisoner to worry about. As for Azula…
“Shall I have Azula’s guards inform her of her sentence, or would you prefer that I do it personally?” Iroh asked, almost as though he could read his nephew’s thoughts.
Zuko had been staring at the floor. Now he lifted his head, though he still didn’t turn to face Iroh. “I’ll tell her.”
--Four Years Earlier--
Katara used the water whip to knock Azula off her feet. The Princess of the Fire Nation responded by shooting lightning at the waterbender.
Katara couldn’t move in time to avoid it.
Suddenly Zuko was between her and the lightning bolt. Katara didn’t know where he had come from; the last time they’d seen each other he was going to face Ozai with Aang.
Zuko redirected the lightning, sending it back to its source. Azula failed to completely dodge it, shrieking as her own attack fried and nearly destroyed her right arm. She sank to her knees, a furious glare pointed at her brother. “When our father finds out…” Azula hissed through the pain.
“Our father is dead,” Zuko told her flatly. “He was crushed when the roof of his chambers in the east wing caved in. The Avatar and I made sure of it.”
Azula stared at him in shock. “Damn you,” she managed to say before she was forced to give in to unconsciousness and fall over.
Zuko turned to Katara. “Are you okay?”
Katara looked up at him. She hadn’t seen Zuko this battered and bruised since their fight during the attack on the North Pole. And yet he was standing here asking if she was okay. This was not the Zuko she’d fought back then. Katara did the only thing she could think of. She flung her arms around Zuko’s neck, hugging him, and cried into his chest. She didn’t know exactly why she was crying; she didn’t care. Zuko hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around Katara.
It wasn’t until later, after their joyous reunion with the others, that Zuko thought that he wouldn’t have minded if the moment had lasted forever.
--Present Day--
To say that Azula, former Princess of the Fire Nation, was bitter would be a gross understatement. Things were not as she felt they should be.
Her father, who should have been known as the greatest Fire Lord in history, was dead.
Her inferior, traitorous brother was now Fire Lord.
She was a prisoner in her own country, the country that should have belonged to her.
The world should have been hers.
She should have had masses of suitors, all high-ranking men of the Fire Nation, bowing down before her and begging for her hand in marriage. She would have refused each and every one of them, of course. She would have enjoyed spurning them.
But no. The world was controlled by a handful of idiots once more, while Azula rotted away in her cell, waiting for them to pass their petty judgment on her.
Her right arm was shriveled and useless, a constant reminder of what was rather than what should have been.
Azula had been her father’s darling, a child prodigy, and so much more.
Now she was nothing.
She had woken up after her last fight here in this cell. Here she had remained for the past four years. She dressed in rags and ate food of poor quality. She had no visitors, and her guards had only spoken to her once: to tell her that Zuko had been crowned Fire Lord.
She’d screamed in fury for three days straight after that.
--------
Zuko approached the cell with little caution. There was nothing Azula could do to him now. “Hello, Azula.”
“Hello, Zuzu…oh, I’m sorry.” Azula rose, her chains clacking as she did so. She bowed deeply, never taking her eyes off her brother. “Greetings and felicitations to you, Fire Lord Zuko. To what do I owe this great displeasure?”
Zuko ignored his sister’s actions. “I’m getting married.”
The former princess’s golden eyes narrowed. “To whom, may I ask?”
“Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. I believe you remember her.”
Azula shrieked in response.
“There’s something else, Azula,” Zuko said. This was harder to tell her, for some reason. It wasn’t that he pitied her; no one could pity Azula’s fate after the things she’d done. But deep down, something still whispered the words his father had uttered so often.
“Azula was born lucky. You were lucky to be born.”
“The Council has finally decided on your sentence,” he said stiffly.
Azula waited for him to finish.
“You’re to be burned at the stake on the nineteenth. That’s in three days.”
“Will you be there?” she asked. If Zuko didn’t know better, he might have thought she sounded vulnerable. Maybe even scared. But he did know better.
Zuko didn’t look at her. “No.”
--------
Zuko was silent at dinner. That wasn’t entirely unusual, but this silence was both oppressive and depressing. When he left the table early, his friends (except for Toph) exchanged worried looks. Katara excused herself and followed him. He was moving quickly, and she didn’t catch up until they were just outside his suite of rooms.
“Zuko? What’s wrong?”
He kept his head down, hiding his face in the gloom of the torch-lit hallway. “I should hate her. She’s done so much, and I should hate her for all of it. But I can’t. I want to hate her, and I can’t.”
Katara embraced her soon-to-be-husband. She didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. “You don’t have to hate Azula, Zuko. She’s the one full of hate, not you.”
Zuko wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. “I know. I know. Azula is supposed to be executed in three days, and all I can hear in my head is our father say that she was born lucky, and I was lucky-”
“To find people who don’t care what he thought,” Katara interrupted. “Your father is dead, and soon Azula will join him. You should be thinking about our wedding tomorrow.”
Zuko smiled in spite of himself. Katara truly had a gift, being able to make him forget his troubles that easily. “Have you talked to the others yet?”
“Yes. Toph thought it was hilarious.”
Zuko lifted her chin and kissed her. Katara smiled back at him. “Isn’t it bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding?” she asked in her sweetest voice.
“I don’t believe in luck,” Zuko told her, but he kissed her once more and then said good night.
---End Chapter Twelve---