Do you ever think about Azula after Zuko's banishment and before she was sent on her mission? About the time it was just her and Ozai? Because I do.
Her worst fear is being what Zuko is to their father. It's easy to look at her smirking while she watches Ozai light Zuko’s face on fire and think that she enjoys her brother’s suffering, but from the day she was born, Zuko has been the bad example. The scapegoat. The failure she exists to surpass. Where he is disrespectful, she will be obedient. Where he is weak, she will be strong. She will make Ozai proud. She will be perfect. She has to be. Because if she isn’t -
well, in that moment she sees that for herself. Iroh looks away, but she doesn’t. This eleven-year-old child watches the whole gory scene that her experienced general uncle can’t stomach, because this is a lesson for her as well, that’s why Father had her be here, and so she must not let herself tremble or cry or flinch or scream. Zuko is. That means she can’t. Instead she will do the exact opposite, smile with a princess’s proper posture.
Then Zuko is banished. He will most likely never return - most likely die young. He isn’t around to be the foil under her jewel anymore, making her shine brighter simply by contrast. (Or to play with her or comb her hair. But it isn’t useful or becoming to miss those moments. She isn’t a child anymore; her childhood was burned through like Zuko’s skin.) All Ozai’s attention is on her. All her people’s hope in the next generation of royalty rests in her. If she doesn’t hold her shoulders back and keep her head high, she will collapse under the weight of her nation’s future. Zuko got what he deserved. Just as whatever happens to her, she deserves it too.
How many nightmares does she have? How many times does she flinch or shake when her father touch her? Or force herself not to? How many times does she smell burning hair and flesh and hear her brother’s agony when she spoke her own opinion in a war meeting? How much does she secretly grieve him, and scold herself for it?
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broke: Sakura is Tsunade and Rin, Sasuke is Orochimaru and Kakashi, and Naruto is Jiraiya and Obito
woke: Sakura is Orochimaru, Sasuke is Jiraiya and Naruto is Tsunade.
bespoke: Team 7 are all their own people and the those around them seeing them as ghosts of people they lost definitely had a negative impact on their development. Who are you when you're separated from the role you've been forced into? Who are you when you're not the demon fox, the valuable monster, the living weapon– the little ghost boy, wearing every face but your own? Who are you when you're not the reasonable one, the canon fodder, the people pleaser– the civilian-shinobi trying to fulfill both obligations? Who are you when you're not the burning avenger, the effortless prodigy, the flight risk– under the weight of your clan's legacy, a burden not made for one?
If they had to have parallels with anyone, Naruto would be Orochimaru and Sakumo (monster and failure you're called and so monster and failure you are. you sand down your sharp edges because not even home is safe for your true smile.)
Sakura would be Anko and Minato (there is something wrong with you. you're so angry, and you're so good at hiding it. you're so angry, and you're so horrible about hiding it. there are expectations and stories built up around what you are and none of them are you.)
Sasuke would be Obito (you're so full of love. bursting with it. of course you're going to try to change this ghoulish system that takes and takes and takes. of course you pull people in and then leave them.)
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🌠wip whenever🌠
Tagged by the lovely @priafey 🫶 thank you for the tag and sorry for replying so late hahah
I think my cicerlyn hyperfixation is starting to leave me, but i keep thinking about them all the time lol. Enjoy a handful of snippets i particularly like that i found in my notes app
Tagging: @azures-grace @cicerosfavouritelistener @abstractredd @vestigme @rustyram035 @v1ctory-or-sovngarde + anyone who wants to join <333
1a.
Fire and smoke. Long wooden beams snapped in half, crumbling to the ground. Lynwallyn gritted his teeth and dragged himself up, fighting off the sweet lull of unconsciousness as it threatened to claim him. He couldn't afford to pause.
He dragged himself out of the rubble, barely stopping to inspect his injuries. He wrenched a sword out of the nearest corpse. He snagged a pile of clothes he found in what he assumed were the barracks. He took anything his bruised and charred arms could carry. He left and didn't look back.
Days blurred. He found an abandoned shack in the middle of a forest. He used the bedroll, took everything he could and left.
Rinse and repeat.
He slept through most of the day. At night, he prowled the forest and searched for unsuspecting prey. He let himself get lost in the hunt, savouring the feeling of warm blood running down his hands. A few stray dogs tailed after him as he walked back to his camp, licking their teeth and eyeing the mangled corpse of the poor animal he just caught. He snarled at them and watched with satisfaction as they whimpered and scuttled away.
He took what remained of his meal to his hideout and skinned it, slicing it into smaller parts and making what passed as a meal for the next day.
He was gone as soon as the sun rose. He soon found a small village, River something. He sold the few pelts he got from the animals he caught. He ignored the curious, if not apprehensive, looks the locals cast his way.
He exchanged the stolen sword for a set of daggers at the local blacksmith, humming appreciatively as their familiar, comforting weight settled in his hands. His last stop was the general goods store where he purchased a single healing potion and some rations. He left without a word.
[Lynwallyn travels for a while]
1b.
Cicero whined for what must have been the fiftieth time, fists clenching and unclenching as he paced.
It wasn't fair! The cruel, awful farmer refused to help in spite of Cicero's pleading and begging. Oh yes, he had done lots and lots of pleading and begging, he had even offered coin! He had seen that look in the farmer's eyes when he produced his purse, gleaming and scheming. Trying not to show just how much he wanted to reach out and snatch it. And yet, he refused to even lift a finger. Anger coiled in Cicero's stomach, burning so bright it made his hands shake. He let out a strangled groan.
"Awful! How awful! Cicero and his poor, poor Mother are stuck! Oh, how will Mother get to her new home now?"
He spun on his heel, shaking a fist in the direction of where Loreius' house stood. "That damn farmer is of no help! So are those stupid guards!"
1c.
The Mer stared at him with a strange expression. His brow creased, eyes flitting over Cicero's face. "You could have killed me. But you didn't. Why?"
Why didn't he indeed, Cicero pondered. He remembered his fingers tingling as he reached for his knives, but something stilled his hand. He still has no idea why.
"Cicero is just a poor, humble jester, he knew a beast such as you would look for something different to eat. Yes, yes, Cicero imagines he would not be very tasty," he lied smoothly, giving the other man a wide grin. The Mer laughed softly.
The rope fell around his ankles before Cicero could react. The Mer closed the distance between them in a heartbeat. Cicero yelped, wriggling, as he was lifted off the ground and slammed against the nearest tree.
The man's eyes were even more impressive up close, his gaze almost burning into his skin as he leaned forward. Appraising. Analysing. Hungry.
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