#in what way did they think ''old man'' would properly convey that?

[uiruu]

one gripe i have with subtitles for stuff like Squid Game is that it translates some things that don't need to be, and doesn't translate some things that would be helpful. for the latter, in season 1 when Saebyeok says her name to Gihun, he says "that's a beautiful name, it doesn't really suit you though". I'm sure to many people watching, they'd just have to go ".... is it?" because they don't know that Saebyeok means dawn. her name is Dawn. i don't want them to translate that every time lol but i feel like that one scene could have had a parenthetical saying "saebyeok means dawn". Minyeo, when she says her name, says something like "yes that's my real name", i think. if the subtitles explained that she said that because Minyeo means "beautiful woman" that would have been helpful to people lol.

as for the former, ive always hated how Korean stuff translates words like oppa unnie hyung and noona in subtitles. Minyeo calls Deoksu oppa and the subtitles say "old man" but it doesn't mean that, lol. it does mean she's calling him older than her, but it's more like "big bro". but honestly it's SUCH a standard Korean thing that i kinda just wish it was left as oppa. if you watching something in the Korean language, then oppa unnie hyung and noona are just things you'll have to learn. it's not hard lol. girls call older boys who they're close to "oppa". boys call older girls who they're close to "noona". boys call older boys "hyung", girls call older girls "unnie". it's a sign of deference to an older person but also closeness. they literally mean sister and brother, but translating them as "brother" or "sister" or "old man" feel.... unnatural in English lol. the subtitles often translate them as just the character's name, like when Ali says Hyung the subtitles say Sangwoo. that's correct. but when the subtitles say big bro or old man, that's just... nobody talks like that in English lol

[ghostyolive]

I will always be so mad that FMA:B gave Greed a different dialogue with Bradley after the Devil's Nest massacre than in the manga because it feels like it just changes his characterization to be so much plainer and more cartoonishly assholish. Like they really wanted to rope you into thinking he was a bad guy so that his twist of caring about people would feel stronger, but it just makes me sad. In the VIZ Media Fullmetal Edition translation, the exchange goes:

Greed: "Whoa there Bradley. How could you do this to them? They were my people."

Bradley: "Feeling pity for your pawns? How pathetic."

Greed: "Pity?! Do you forget who the hell you're dealing with?! I am greed incarnate!! Money, women, henchmen, everything-- they're my possessions! They're all mine! I won't let you take away what belongs to me!!"

...And the exchange in the English dub of FMA:B goes:

Greed: "Whoa, that was a little excessive. Killing me is one thing, but they're not coming back."

Bradley: "Pitying the lost lives of your pawns? Pathetic."

Greed: "Excuse me, are you senile? Did you forget who I am, old man? I'm the living incarnation of greed! Those weren't my friends, Bradley. They were my possessions! Money, women, henchmen-- They're all possessions!"

And that difference is absolutely insane! His manga version is in some ways more obvious and in some ways more ambiguous about his care for his friends. On the one hand, he staunchly refuses to pity them. (I would say that this is because he respects their right to self-determination and what they signed on for when they followed him, but that's almost pure speculation.) But on the other, he specifically refers to them as "[his] people." This really effectively toes the line between multiple meanings-- "[his] people" colloquially would refer to friends, but it also emphasizes ownership. It sets up his arc of acknowledging friendship while also not detracting from his care for the Devil's Nest gang.

The anime just makes him... indifferent and snarky? On a surface level, it makes his character arc far more clear as somebody learning to love and care about others, but it also really devalues his experiences with his gang. I guess I can almost understand why people just forget about them aside from the bit with Bido when they only watch FMA:B considering that it absolutely glosses over just about every part of the manga that makes you care about them. Why should people consider those random guys in the beginning when he makes it clear that he never cared about them? /s

And it's more than just the writing that I have a problem with. Even the animation is so distinctly different from what's shown in the manga that the tone ends up absolutely flipped on his head.

(Note: this online scan doesn't use the official translation) Greed's expression here can best be described as one of pure rage. I think you could maybe loosely interpret the first panel as a grin, but the second panel clears up how he's feeling pretty well. It's especially poignant since the three panels preceding these two entirely obscure his expression. Any calm and collectedness has been shed in the face of his gang's massacre and his eyes are bulging and furious in a way that they haven't been drawn before. And how does the anime handle this absolute gut punch?

Um. Not good, frankly. It's definitely got the wildness of his original expression, but it conveys none of the anger. It throws off what's essentially his greatest display of hypocrisy-- That he only gets angry when his gang is hurt, just like how Ed only gets angry when Al is hurt. Absolutely nothing about his reaction properly conveys rage or frustration, and that honestly just sucks. While episode 13 served as a pretty decent and streamlined recap of chapters 25-28, episode 14 really screwed with some of the moments that made Greed's arc feel so powerful and bittersweet.

Tl;dr Please oh please go read the manga version of og Greed's arc <3

[yilinggusu]

Rak is down at the bottom of the ocean when he has flashback of his family and we find out why he doesn't believe in love. His mother paid his father to love him and still his father abandoned both of them. Even after Rak's father tells Rak's mother he will stay if she pays him it wasn't enough for Rak's father to stay. Then Rak is warned by his mother to never love anyone unless he wants to end up abandoned and alone even after paying someone to stay. The reminder of all of that is enough to send Rak into a panic because he is more or less doing the same thing with Mut by paying for his services.

Boxed in by the cave entrance walls and the weight of the ocean pressing down on him he starts to panic as he remembers his mother fighting with his father. He remembers how his mother asks his father why can't he love her or his son. Rak's father tells her to pay him if she wants him to stay. Rak has a front row seat to the fight where he witnesses his mother say she gave his father everything she had and ask if he will abandon the two of them. Neither parent cares that Rak is seeing all of this while crying on the sofa. Rak remembers his mother's warning of to never love anyone if he doesn't want to end up like her.

It's enough to make Rak freeze and his air regulator (I don't know if that's what they are called) falls out of his mouth. Rak realizes what happened and he starts to panic before he starts to drown. The fact that he is all alone when it happens could symbolizes how Rak felt every day for a long time. All alone with no one to care about him or to help him when he needs it. Everyday he felt suffocated from the weight of his past along with the hurt and pain of going through what he went through at a young age.

But this time he is not alone because then we see Mut who finds Rak in a panic and drowning. Mut reaches Rak just in time to save him from drowning. Mut literally gives him oxygen by breathing into his mouth so Rak can breathe before giving Rak his regulator back so he can put it into his mouth. When Rak calms down Mut helps Rak put his goggles back on before checking if he is okay.

While Mut gives Rak mouth-to-mouth resuscitation the song lyrics can help convey what Rak is feeling and thinking.

'No matter how much I want to love you, my heart is afraid of reopening old wounds, despite my fears, deep down inside, I still hope that you won't reopen my old wounds'

It's fitting that the lyrics play over the scene where Mut helps Rak get his regulator into his mouth and his goggles back on his head. Deep down somewhere within himself Rak is not willing to admit or acknowledge that he wants Mut to love him, he wants to love Mut but Rak is so afraid of history repeating itself that he keeps Mut at a distance. It's probably why he 'pays' Rak for his services. He thinks Mut will only stay with him if he pays him. That if he pays Mut for his services like the way he asked Mut in the shower how much would he have to pay for Mut to sleep with him. Oh my poor Rak did you not see the way Mut looked at you in that shower when he said that he's expensive. The man was willing to fuck you for free because he's got it bad for you but he's willing to go along with what you want. Anyways back to this topic.

When Rak finally calms down and can breathe properly he then gives Mut the signal that he's good to go. Mut is right there in Rak's moment of need to help Rak when he needs it.

Mut tightly holds Rak's scuba tank strap before he pulls him up with him towards the surface and does not let him go. Rak grabs onto Mut's arm like it's a lifeline. Not only was Rak physically drowning but he has been emotionally drowning for years with no one to help him until now. When Mut finds Rak he not only pulls Rak out of that dark place he is in not just physically but also emotionally. As Mut starts to swim up to the surface Rak tightly holds onto Mut's arm as they swim up to the surface. Mut has no intention of ever letting Rak go and will help Rak out of that dark place he is in emotionally. They just don't know it yet.

How long has Rak been alone with those thoughts of feeling abandoned and alone. He doesn't believe in love and thinks no one will ever love him unless he pays for it just like his mother did all those years ago. To Rak love is a transaction. It's something to be bought and it can also used against you along with bringing so much pain leading to eventual abandonment. To Rak love means ending up alone and unloved and that he's only worth being with for his money and wealth. He believes that love is not real and it something that only belongs in his novels. He's always thinking of his mother's warning to not love anyone if he doesn't want to end up like her and his sister.

At the bottom of the ocean it's no wonder those flashback came out of nowhere. Things like that always do even when you least expect it or in a place you think it would never happen but it does. The brain is strange like that especially when it comes to past trauma.

Also at an underwater cave entrance the currents are very turbulent and the pressure of being so far down below the surface can be very daunting. The crushing silence can make your thoughts much louder making you remember the things you don't want to remember.

Rak probably feels that crushing weight on him every day. He wants love just not the kind his mother put up with for years. If he didn't want love then why does he write about it in his novels but says he doesn't believe in it. Then Mut comes into his life and willingly accepts Rak's terms and conditions and payments making Rak feel like history is repeating itself. It's another reason why he probably had those memories and had a panic attack. They always happen when you least expect it.

When Mut finds Rak at the bottom of the ocean Mut helps him breathe again both literally and figuratively. Rak grabs onto Mut's arm like it's a life line as they swim up to the surface. They swim up into the light and leave the darkness of the bottom of the ocean behind. The darkness of the bottom of the ocean is a symbolism of Rak's state of mind. He's been trapped at the bottom of an ocean for his whole life only the ocean is in his mind. Until now.

On the boat Mut asks Rak if he okay. Mut looks concerned and genuinely worried about Rak because he clearly sees how shaken up Rak is after what just happened. Mut doesn't reprimand Rak for going down alone. He tells Rak he knows that he's a certified diver but still gently reminds Rak that amateurs should never go down alone and to go with a friend. My guess is that Rak is so used to being alone and doing things by himself for a long time that he didn't wait for Mut so Rak went ahead thinking he would be okay. Hyper-independence is very real and we can push people away thinking we don't need anyone especially their help so we keep people at a distance.

When Mut asks Rak why he panicked Rak just changes the conversation because it's too real to talk about what happened before Mut found him at the bottom of the ocean. Rak deflects and asks Mut why is he called Mahasamut. Mut sees Rak's deflection for what it is and goes with it so laughs as they fall into their playful bickering over their names. Mut tells Rak it's because their names rhyme while Rak tells him their names don't rhyme and asks him did he fail Thai. Mut laughs it off and becomes so warm and tender towards Rak that it's very obvious that Mut likes and cares for Rak a lot. Mut shows Rak a warmth that Rak has never received in his whole life until now.

Rak is shocked at Mut making a play on their names by telling Rak that he has to love him. Mut says Tongrak's name which means must love before he points at himself and says Mahasamut which means ocean. Since Mut never does anything by halves and it's only episode two he tells Rak you must love me. Mut clearly likes Rak a lot and I think Fort confirmed that Mut liked Rak straight away but I could be wrong on that. I'm so glad they changed the 'you have to love me' scene from the Love Sea trailer from the beach to the boat because this one is a million times better and it has so much more impact after what happened in the ocean.

Rak as usual is floored by Mut's comment and he looks genuinely shocked at Mut telling him that he has to love the ocean meaning Rak has to love Mut. It's all just too much for Rak who falls back into deflecting and defensively points out to Mut that love is just a figment of our imagination. Rak is so uncomfortable and afraid over Mut's words and actions because he doesn't think all of that is possible or that it's possible for Mut to love him unconditionally and not expect anything in return. Rak also thinks it's not possible for Mut to love him because Mut only wants something in return which is his money. Rak feels like Mut is getting too close for comfort. It leaves Rak visibly uncomfortable and he deflects by standing up and telling Mut that he's hungry before walking away. He doesn't see Mut watching him with a disappointed look on his face. Mut knows something is up with Rak but he doesn't know what it is yet and he knows Rak isn't going to tell him either.

While Rak thinks love isn't real and a figment of our imaginations he also thinks that affection can only be received when it's bought just like his mother bought his father's love. Rak may write romance novels but he thinks unconditional love isn't real and belongs in fiction. Rak thinks Mut only stays around him because Rak is paying him and there is no way Mut could ever have genuine feelings for him at all. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out over the next eight episodes. Fort and Peat did absolutely amazing in this episode especially with the underwater scenes and I know they will continue to be amazing for the rest of the series.

[silent-sanctum]

✧ Polaris ✧ - Jotaro x Reader

PART 9: Get to Know You

— The previous parts of the fic can be found in the pinned post of my profile. Hope you enjoy! —

I rise from the dead yet again! But sorry for the wait! College's been rough with the workload but I've managed to put out a new part! No warnings this time, just joot's emotional development and a bunch of jotaro and reader fluff interactions~ But what if I told you that there's 2k+ more story over in my AO3? It's exclusive over there because it contains my OC's lore (aka the character the reader's standing in place of here). However, I promise you it's worth reading with jotaro gradually learning to open more to you and both of you just basking in peace. Regardless, hope you enjoy!

word count: 2.6k

Bright light dawned beyond his shut eyes.

Already? Jotaro stirred from where he lay on the grass, flexing his arms to stretch, though he did expect his left to be a bit heavy. Through his early morning squinting, he turned to the spot where a girl should be lying only to find it unoccupied and his arm free.

“Morning~”

Jotaro sat upright and turned to look at you sitting cross-legged across from him. He quickly swept his gaze over you to check how you fared- faintly flushed cheeks, puffy eyes, fixed hair, smoothed-out uniform. You appeared good compared to the state you were during the night prior but-

“How are you feeling?”

You looked up in thought, humming as you planted your hands on the ground to lean on them. “Better? But admittedly still like shit. As expected, I couldn’t sleep for long and ended waking up shortly after falling asleep but,” you glanced at him with a soft smile. “Company was able to get me through the hours.”

Jotaro nodded once at the words with the smallest of smiles on his face responding to yours.

“So yeah. I somewhat patched bits of myself back to… this.” You gestured to your body with one sweep.

“That’s good.”

You tilted your head with concern. “How about you?”

The probable bruises spotting all over his back and arms as a result of the chaotic whipping ached at the mention but he paid no attention as he shrugged with casual ease. “I’m fine.”

“Jotaro,” he paused at the mention of his name. He stared into your eyes and felt the weight of your gaze towards him. One that, paired with a gentle smile, carried an array of sentiments unable to be conveyed through words. “Thanks for last night. Really…”

You had a lot going on behind your confident strides, and to this moment Jotaro has yet to know about them. But with the shared look of trust between him and you, he was in no hurry to figure them out.

He tipped the visor of his hat down as a sign of acknowledgment and as means to cover his warming cheeks.

“Alright,” And as if nothing happened, you were up and standing with a clap and dust of your clothes. “Enough with the sappy stuff, we should head back to the others. They must be starting to think we did something freaky last night knowing them.”

Getting up as well, Jotaro rolled his eyes at the thought of the Crusaders poking fun at them for the nth time. “Definitely.” Though, by the feel of the mellow sunlight on his skin, it wasn’t too late in the morning and a bit more exchange of words would be nice before returning to the annoyance that was the group itself.

It’s been a while since you’ve properly talked to him like this after all.

“Let’s?”

He nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

With you leading the way back, they both returned to the main campsite and was greeted with the bizarre sight of Kakyoin dropping what looked like a literal piece of shit into a bowl Joseph’s breakfast pudding, before offering the bowl to the old man to feed the evil-faced baby with enthusiasm.

Jotaro didn’t question what the reasoning behind it was nor did he care that much, though you were about to if it wasn’t for Avdol, the moralistic guy that he was, politely telling you that infant was devious for some reason and what the other student did wasn’t entirely wrong.

You glanced at Kakyoin’s arm, read the “BABY STAND” carved on the skin, and understood, joining them to watch the whole feeding happen.

Polnareff woke up minutes too late to witness the child suffer from feces-tasting food.

Letting that be a bygone, the Foundation managed to track the group by the time the sun was high in the sky. In two separate teams, one transported the grimacing infant to a nearby village while the other brought the Crusaders to a remote island where they would wait for another vehicle departing for Egypt.

A submarine if he heard right.

The island itself wasn’t all too bad- Fine sand, lush tropical trees, and the tranquil ambiance of the sea. Jotaro wouldn’t mind waiting here. In group fashion, everyone kept themselves preoccupied to pass the time. The Frenchman ran off to god knows where, you and the older adults engaged in simple conversation, Kakyoin probably went to look for Pol to make sure he didn’t get himself into any trouble-

While Jotaro was left sitting by himself on the sand, a lit cigarette in hand when finding some temporary peace in the near-rhythmic crash of waves.

It felt… strange.

Even though he’d asked for breaks numerous times during their battles, a weight grew heavy on his shoulder at the fact that with each passing second, his mother’s life was slowly dwindling away and all the times they got blocked off by either an enemy or mundane inconveniences were seconds thrown away that could have been used to further progress this damn trip.

He took one long drag of his cigarette and sighed deeply, letting out a small plume of ashy gray into the air. All those times he cursed at her, dismissed her motherly affections, downright ignored her… Jotaro placed his hand on his nape, scratching lightly as if it would alleviate the rising guilt in him once he realized what he’d been doing.

What was this for? Why was I so mean to her when she did nothing but love and care for me? For a well-kept facade I didn’t even want in the first place? He hated that it took a life-or-death situation for him to ponder like this. Mom… I should call her soon…

“The young Joestar is in deep thought I see.”

Jotaro snapped out of his thoughts to notice Avdol taking a spot beside him. “So?” He took another drag.

“There’s nothing wrong in self-reflection from time to time,” he said. “For someone in their youth, all this chaotic fighting and constant travel must be starting to make you wish you’d be in school right now, right?”

“It’s fine,” the teenager shrugged. “School sucks and it bores me.”

“The high grades Holly-san told me you got throughout your academic years says otherwise.” Jotaro grumbled something incoherent that he himself didn’t know what the words were. “You’re thinking of her, aren’t you?”

“It’s shitty to think about how much of an asshole I was…”

Avdol chuckled. “I’m not going to say you’re wrong. You definitely disrespected your mother most of the time all of us were in the same room together, but as terrible your behavior was-” he patted the delinquent’s shoulders. “I know you still love Holly with all your heart. You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t the case.”

Jotaro remained silent. He wasn’t wrong…

“Toss all my other wisdom talk aside if you wish, but I hope this advice would stick with you,” Avdol turned to his clasped hands. “Holly’s still here and when you return to her, I suggest you let her know how much you love her the way you can instead of pushing her away. Cherish the ones you love while they’re still here with us.”

If it were weeks ago, Jotaro would have done what Avdol said seconds ago and dismiss this sagely talk as nothing but some sort of “respect your parents” propaganda. Oddly enough, he didn’t feel the urge to ignore his words now that he’s stuck worrying over his mother’s life.

The spark in his cigarette dimmed down to ashes. “What’s with the random inspirational speeches? You a counselor or something?”

The Egyptian smiled. “Teacher actually. If I wasn’t doing readings or fortune telling, I worked with children, especially the troubled ones, and guided them with the right knowledge and values to live through life. That is until DIO found me and I had to seek Mr. Joestar for protection.”

Jotaro scoffed. “You see me as a kid then? Is that it?”

“Are you not? You’ve yet to mature past your rough edges after all.”

He clicked his tongue, thought not entirely disagreeing with the adult. “Whatever.”

“An answer expected from you.” Avdol stood. “You’ll understand when you’re older. Who knows? You might be a teacher in the future as well if fate deems it to be.” With that, he walked back to the others and left the reserved teenager alone with his thoughts.

Yeah right… like that would ever happen. Time continued to pass as he remained sitting on the sand, mulling over what Avdol had said to him together with memories of his mother stirring in his thoughts. At some point, Jotaro had dozed off, leaning on his propped-up knee with the remains of his cigarette left somewhere on the sand beside him.

When he came to, the sun was halfway down the horizon, dimming the sky above as the stars slowly made themselves visible. He expected to wake up by himself as is the case every time he took his naps, but with one glance to the side, he found you watching the sea beside him.

You noticed him staring so you spoke. “You’re awake.”

“I assume the sub’s not here yet?” The pointed stare and silence you gave him the answer. He sighed. “Figured.”

“Mr. Joestar and I took one stroll around the place and there’s a bunch of neat little hideouts on the island you could have slept in. It’s more secluded and quiet, has enough wind to keep cool, and the grass is short enough to not be itchy,” you said. “Why choose this spot by the water?”

“Ambiance,” he said in return. “I like the sound of waves. It’s… calming.”

He took one glimpse at you to gauge for your reaction. You weren’t looking at him when you had that soft smile on your face as you had this faraway gaze facing the mellow movements of the ocean. “The waves make me relax too. It’s what helps make it so beautiful aside from its glittery surface.”

Jotaro thought about what you said to him back in Singapore. The ocean looks beautiful, don’t you agree? Fresh from his talk with Avdol, he couldn’t help but be nostalgic for a second. “Mom used to take me to the beach when I was little… usually when I felt like shit. And it helped somewhat.”

“Lucky you. My birthplace is by the sea and by this point, you already know I had a rough past. So, I’d watch that huge body of water sway with the breeze and let myself listen to the waves as a mean for comfort.” This time, you faced him and locked his gaze with yours. “Looks like we’re not so different from each other, huh?”

“You tend to overshare though.”

“But you’ve gotten used to it by now, huh?”

He shrugged. “A bit.” A bit? A complete understatement considering his level of tolerance to her numerous bouts of talk. “But it’s either that or spend the rest of lunch bored out of my mind.”

You cooed, cupping your cheek with a small tilt of your head. “Are you saying you miss the simple times of lunch with yours truly? Or am I hearing things?”

Though he hated admitting it, he thought about what Avdol said and with some heat to his cheeks, Jotaro tipped his hat over his eyes and gave one small bob of his head. Not allowing him the silence to wallow with self-embarrassment, you giggled as you shoved him lightly.

“And here I thought you wanted this bitch to shut up.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Jotaro looked at you this time, finding some sort of relief in the fact you blushed deeply at the sentiment despite the teasing you were fond of doing to him. “I still prefer some peace and quiet.”

“Hey I’m not judging,” you raised your hands. “Not when I also miss our mini rooftop breaks. It’s… a nice breath of fresh air. Literally.” You let out a breathy laugh, eyes closing from your smile.

Jotaro could feel his heart beat a bit faster than before. One that always came with warmth on his face, his hands turning clammy and his stomach feeling a sensation similar to that of fluttering butterflies. It happened more often the more they made progress to Egypt.

Fuck. I don’t want to think about this. He took in a deep breath and sighed, blurting out the first thing that came to mind to divert the subject away from the familiar banter. “Admitting you like the smell of smoke now?”

“Huh?”

“It can’t be a breath of fresh air when I smoke next to you every time.”

You rolled your eyes. “The winds blow them away from for most of the time so I don’t really care, but don’t think I’ve noticed you’d smoke less and less the more we hung out.”

Jotaro cocked an eyebrow and fished through his pockets, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. To prove a point, he flipped the lid open to reveal five sticks remaining inside out of 20. “I beg to differ. This is my 3rd pack this trip.”

Which was a lie. It’s his first and is this empty only because Polnareff wanted some to smoke and practice the delinquent’s parlor trick for the nth time.

“Yah!” You leaned forward to try and snatch the box off his hand. “Are you trying to kill yourself on purpose?!” You swiped again only for Jotaro to lean back and stretch his arm away from you with a smug smirk. My turn to tease. “You can’t do that now, we have unfinished business!”

“I don’t care.”

You deadpanned. “Liar. Now give me.”

Without anyone noticing, you ended up sprawled over his lap still struggling to reach for the pack of nicotine in his outstretched hand. Too preoccupied with making sure your grabby hands won’t reach it, Jotaro didn’t notice the slim strip of rose-gold creeping up behind him to snatch the box off his hold.

The delinquent clicked his tongue, crossing his arms. “You cheated.” Though you didn’t care as you leaned back with cheeky smile and tiny shimmy, pack of cigarettes now in your hand. “Doesn’t matter. I can always buy another.”

“To practice your little cigarette trick for the masses?”

“I can do 5 at once.”

“Shut up. You’re lying.”

“I can show you.”

You scoffed, tossing the box back at him with defeat. “Unbelievable. You really do have a death wish.”

Jotaro grew acutely aware of how much closer you got to him without you noticing, so close that he felt his shoulders brush against yours and the back of his hand overlapped with your smaller, softer one. His chest tightened and his pulse increased yet again beneath his aloof expression.

As the two of them watch the sun set below the horizon, he stilled as you leaned your head on his shoulder. Respecting the quiet air of the area, you said to him in a hushed voice. “I’d rather you not die on my watch. I don’t think my heart can handle any more of those.”

You said it with nonchalance and a smile, but he knew better. He slowly turned to glance at you still facing the ocean. Any trace of playfulness you had minutes ago dissolved, making way for that tone of sadness and longing to make its appearance just as it did prior to your breakdown.

Under the touch of your hand, his fingers twitched ever so slightly, wanting to graze your skin as minuscule means to soothe you. But Jotaro had a feeling you just needed company and nothing else at the moment.

He allowed you to rest your head on his shoulders, peacefully watching as the sky grew dark and its stars started to twinkle.

“I won’t.”

[jackoshadows]

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” - Pride and Prejudice "Only half a hundred times," Dany teased. "You gave up too easily, my lord. For I must marry, all agree." "A khaleesi must have a khal," said Irri, as she filled the queen's cup once again. "This is known." - Daenerys, ADWD.

I have been listening to Austen on my way to work everyday. Finished P&P and have taken up Mansfield Park. It's, IMO, singularly boring and not as entertaining as the rest of Austen's work. It's incredibly slow, there's pages and pages of events that does not push the plot forward - like the play the Bertrams and Crawfords put on - and Fanny is the least interesting of Austen's female leads.

There have been discussions on how, in terms of Austen heroines, Arya Stark comes closest to Elizabeth Bennet with regards to her questioning of the patriarchal ideals of femininity, her wit and vivacity, as detailed here and here.

However, I did notice some similarities between the characters/dynamics of Mansfield Park, the Starks of ASoIaF and one my asoiaf ships Jonrya!

First, there is 10 year old Fanny feeling the outcast and lonely at Mansfield Park until Edmund steps in and befriends her.

Afraid of everybody, ashamed of herself, and longing for the home she had left, she knew not how to look up, and could scarcely speak to be heard, or without crying. Her feelings were very acute, and too little understood to be properly attended to. Nobody meant to be unkind, but nobody put themselves out of their way to secure her comfort. - Fanny, MP

Reminds me of Arya in King's Landing feeling lonely and missing her home, brothers and especially Jon Snow.

That was when Arya missed her brothers most. She wanted to tease Bran and play with baby Rickon and have Robb smile at her. She wanted Jon to muss up her hair and call her “little sister” and finish her sentences with her. But all of them were gone. She had no one left but Sansa, and Sansa wouldn’t even talk to her unless Father made her. - Arya, AgoT

She went back to the window, Needle in hand, and looked down into the courtyard below. If only she could climb like Bran, she thought; she would go out the window and down the tower, run away from this horrible place, away from Sansa and Septa Mordane and Prince Joffrey, from all of them. Steal some food from the kitchens, take Needle and her good boots and a warm cloak. She could find Nymeria in the wild woods below the Trident, and together they’d return to Winterfell, or run to Jon on the Wall. She found herself wishing that Jon was here with her now. Then maybe she wouldn’t feel so alone. - Arya, AGoT

We have Fanny sad and feeling like no one really understands or cares for her and then being comforted by Edmund.

A week had passed in this way, and no suspicion of it conveyed by her quiet passive manner, when she was found one morning by her cousin Edmund, the youngest of the sons, sitting crying on the attic stairs. “My dear little cousin,” said he, with all the gentleness of an excellent nature, “what can be the matter?” And sitting down by her, he was at great pains to overcome her shame in being so surprised, and persuade her to speak openly.

This mirrors Arya's relationship with Jon, where we know he is whom she goes to for solace and companionship - not her father, mother or other siblings. It's Jon Snow. Like getting bullied over her appearance leading to her thinking she was a bastard and getting comforted by Jon Snow.

"A shade more fun than needlework," Arya gave back at him. Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father's face, as she did. They were the only ones. Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair. When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It had been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her. - Arya, AGoT

Edmund and Fanny becoming very close and Edmund helping Fanny get pen and paper to write home and selling his own horse to get a new horse for Fanny so that she can go riding - which she loves to do!

For a long while no answer could be obtained beyond a “no, no—not at all—no, thank you”; but he still persevered; and no sooner had he begun to revert to her own home, than her increased sobs explained to him where the grievance lay. He tried to console her. “If that be all your difficulty, I will furnish you with paper and every other material, and you may write your letter whenever you choose. Would it make you happy to write to William?” - MP

Though Edmund was much more displeased with his aunt than with his mother, as evincing least regard for her niece, he could not help paying more attention to what she said; and at length determined on a method of proceeding which would obviate the risk of his father’s thinking he had done too much, and at the same time procure for Fanny the immediate means of exercise, which he could not bear she should be without. He had three horses of his own, but not one that would carry a woman. Two of them were hunters; the third, a useful road-horse: this third he resolved to exchange for one that his cousin might ride; he knew where such a one was to be met with; and having once made up his mind, the whole business was soon completed. The new mare proved a treasure; with a very little trouble she became exactly calculated for the purpose, and Fanny was then put in almost full possession of her. - MP

Jon secretly gets a sword, light and thin, made especially to fit Arya's hands and gifts it to her because she wants to learn how to use a sword.

“I have something for you to take with you, and it has to be packed very carefully.”  Her face lit up. “A present?”  “You could call it that. Close the door.” Wary but excited, Arya checked the hall. "Nymeria, here. Guard." She left the wolf out there to warn of intruders and closed the door. By then Jon had pulled off the rags he'd wrapped it in. He held it out to her. Arya's eyes went wide. Dark eyes, like his. "A sword," she said in a small, hushed breath. "I can be fast," Arya said. "You'll have to work at it every day." He put the sword in her hands, showed her how to hold it, and stepped back. "How does it feel? Do you like the balance?" "I think so," Arya said. Arya ran to him for a last hug. "Put down the sword first," Jon warned her, laughing. She set it aside almost shyly and showered him with kisses. - Jon, AGoT

Then there are the other supporting characters.

There's Tom Bertram who's like Robb, the eldest son and heir who treats Fanny like a little sister.

Edmund was uniformly kind himself; and she had nothing worse to endure on the part of Tom than that sort of merriment which a young man of seventeen will always think fair with a child of ten. He was just entering into life, full of spirits, and with all the liberal dispositions of an eldest son, who feels born only for expense and enjoyment. His kindness to his little cousin was consistent with his situation and rights: he made her some very pretty presents, and laughed at her. - MP

There's a Mrs. Norris who is very similarly to Septa Mordane in her treatment of Fanny Vs the Bertram daughters, always putting down Fanny to uplift the other girls - similar to how the Septa drags Arya down to uplift Sansa. This has a detrimental effect on the Bertram girls just like it does for Sansa - encouraging them to be mean to Fanny in the same way Sansa/Jeyne mock Arya.

The Bertram sisters mock Fanny for not being good at music or drawing and is told by their aunt Norris that this indeed makes Fanny stupid.

“Yes, I know there is, till I am seventeen. But I must tell you another thing of Fanny, so odd and so stupid. Do you know, she says she does not want to learn either music or drawing.” “To be sure, my dear, that is very stupid indeed, and shows a great want of genius and emulation. But, all things considered, I do not know whether it is not as well that it should be so, for, though you know (owing to me) your papa and mama are so good as to bring her up with you, it is not at all necessary that she should be as accomplished as you are;—on the contrary, it is much more desirable that there should be a difference.”

And as Austen succinctly and rightly puts it, this sort of encouragement and mentorship from their aunt Norris leads to a lack of humility and generosity in the sisters.

Such were the counsels by which Mrs. Norris assisted to form her nieces’ minds; and it is not very wonderful that, with all their promising talents and early information, they should be entirely deficient in the less common acquirements of self-knowledge, generosity and humility. - MP

We see this in AGoT Sansa - the lack of self-awareness, of humility and generosity in the way she treats Arya, Jon, the small folk, Mycah and even Jeyne Poole. Septa Mordane's thoughts and opinions have had a negative effect on ALL her pupils. It's encouraged Arya's low self-esteem and Sansa's vanity and classism.

And while Septa Mordane, Sansa and Catelyn always put Sansa on a higher pedestal than Arya in terms of perfection, intelligence and beauty, it's Jon Snow who considers Arya to be clever and pretty.

"What could you want to see?" Sansa said, annoyed. She had been thrilled by the invitation, and her stupid sister was going to ruin everything, just as she'd feared. "It's all just fields and farms and holdfasts." "Hodor!" Sansa yelled. "You ought to marry Hodor, you're just like him, stupid and hairy and ugly!" She wrenched away from her sister's hand, stormed into her bedchamber, and barred the door behind her. - Sansa, AGoT

But what if Arya was not there to be saved? What if Lady Melisandre's flames had told it true? Could his sister truly have escaped such captors? How would she do that? Arya was always quick and clever, but in the end she's just a little girl, and Roose Bolton is not the sort who would be careless with a prize of such great worth. - Jon, ADwD

"Good." She had never cared if she was pretty, even when she was stupid Arya Stark. Only her father had ever called her that. Him, and Jon Snow, sometimes. Her mother used to say she could be pretty if she would just wash and brush her hair and take more care with her dress, the way her sister did. To her sister and sister's friends and all the rest, she had just been Arya Horseface. - Arya, ADwD

And despite aunt Norris and the Bertram girls finding Fanny to be deficient and stupid, Edmund thinks of her as clever and capable.

“To be sure, my dear, that is very stupid indeed, and shows a great want of genius and emulation. - Aunt Norris, MP

Kept back as she was by everybody else, his single support could not bring her forward; but his attentions were otherwise of the highest importance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures. He knew her to be clever, to have a quick apprehension as well as good sense, and a fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself. - Edmund, MP

Fanny has a lot of love for Edmund, a mixture of gratitude and affection.

In return for such services she loved him better than anybody in the world except William: her heart was divided between the two. She regarded her cousin as an example of everything good and great, as possessing worth which no one but herself could ever appreciate, and as entitled to such gratitude from her as no feelings could be strong enough to pay. Her sentiments towards him were compounded of all that was respectful, grateful, confiding, and tender. - MP

Edmund and Fanny consider themselves brother and sister, love each other that way and there is a strong emotion there between them.

"By eight in the morning Edmund was in the house. The girls heard his entrance from above, and Fanny went down. The idea of immediately seeing him, with the knowledge of what he must be suffering, brought back all her own first feelings. He so near her, and in misery. She was ready to sink as she entered the parlour. He was alone, and met her instantly; and she found herself pressed to his heart with only these words, just articulate, 'My Fanny, my only sister; my only comfort now!' She could say nothing; nor for some minutes could he say more." - MP

“What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister? Bring her home, Mance., and now I am about to save four thousand of your free folk. You owe me this one little girl. - Jon, ADwD

Despite growing up together, Edmund and Fanny do part as Edmund goes to college and Fanny stays at home. They write to each other and keep in touch, which Jon and Arya cannot do. And while going through their harrowing journeys (Arya) and climbing the ladder to Lord Commander (Jon) they miss each other dearly and want to see each other again.

There are of course differences. I find Jon's love and admiration/respect for Arya to be greater than Edmund's for Fanny. Jon thinks Arya is perfect as is while Edmund sees himself as helping Fanny grow as a person. All the girls Jon admires or falls in love with mirror Arya in terms of personality, looks and physicality (Ygritte, Alys, Val). Jon straight up compares Ygritte and Alys to Arya. In contrast Edmund falls for Mary Crawford who is the opposite of Fanny and where Fanny and Mary are compared with each other in the book. Jon is searching for an Arya in every girl he meets, right from ACoK, while Edmund only acknowledges that Fanny is the person for him at the very end. And then there's the difference in Arya and Fanny, where Arya has more in common with an Elizabeth Bennet than with Fanny herself. And Jon is no Edmund.

So yeah. I remember reading somewhere that GRRM has read Jane Austen. So these similarities are fun even if they were not intended or are wholly unrelated.

[beauty-and-passion]

Are you seriously calling Thomas Sanders' patrons on Patreon his "investors" 😭 The way crit people talk about him you'd think he was a one man evil corporation, and not a single, mostly well-meaning guy who can't delegate properly, while creating videos that are free

Well, how would you call people who give money to someone to help them produce stuff? Are they not investing in art? Maybe "investors" was a bit too specific for a term, but it conveyed the meaning well, imho.

Also, I don't know why underestimating the value of money. I don't know if Thomas' patrons are all filthy rich or money falls from the sky for them, but I usually work to have money, they don't come for free - at least for me. Therefore, if I have to use them, I want to do it properly and not waste them. And I don't know you, but if I give money to someone who doesn't use them properly, I would feel very pissed.

And nope, that doesn't mean Thomas is "a one man evil corporation". I doubt anyone in the ts_criticism tag ever talked about him this way. What I found here are mostly frustrated people or people who point out the shitty stuff he did/does. Even in my last post, I purposely specified no one is here to burn him at the stake. He's unprofessional and disorganized, sure, but that doesn't make him the root of all evil.

One last thing: the "free video" card is so old, everyone already explained why it doesn't make sense and the videos are not free. Thomas still gets revenue from YouTube, so no, he's not making videos "for free". Also, if he has a sponsor, he's getting paid. Again, not free work.

And I know some people don't like to hear this, but if patrons are giving you money every month, what you make is not "for free". You have basically a salary, hence your work is not for free.

Again: I don't know why people refuse to admit it, because there is nothing wrong in being funded to make videos (or art in general). But for me, considering the result of these funds as "free", seems to invalidate the importance of Thomas' patrons - and Patreon in general.

[kazhewbrekker]

january book reviews

the stolen heir : holly black ⭐⭐⭐⭐

it took me about a week to read this book and by that i mean i read half, wasn’t impressed, took a week and came back and finished it. like with the cruel prince, the beginning and middle of this book aren’t all that exciting in my opinion, but holly takes the cake as usual for her incredible endings. honestly at this point reading a holly black book is worth it just to see how she wraps it. but yeah, i think it was a good starting point for the duology, im positive the prisoner’s throne will be better, as was the case with tcp > twk. im happy to say towards the end i had really connected with oak and suren/wren, however i feel like despite how fun of a concept it is to put wren and jude in direct opposition its...hm, bad ? to clarify, i wish that i felt conflicted on who’s side i was rooting for. but even if wren was in the right, which...bridle aside she isnt, i would still be in jude’s corner simply because even with all the time spent with wren it’s not enough to...connect with her on the same level as i did with jude. and thats a heavy ask to be fair; jude is one of my favorite character’s in the ya/new adult genre. but i think a understandable worry with this duology is that the folk of the air series might overshadow this new story holly black is trying to tell. i can’t say definitively if it has or has not, but i think she’s done a better job of balancing the new characters and plots with reference to the old. it’ll really be a testament to how well she can keep both separate and important in the next book as she’s hinted that jude and cardan will have a bigger role (which makes sense, since we’re uhh going to war. uh oh).

the invisible life of addie la rue : v.e. schwab ⭐⭐⭐

i read 60% of this book probably over a year ago. maybe two. on a plane. this is a reoccurring problem. but i gotta say, schwab is the queen of concepts. she hasn’t had a single book concept that i wasn’t at least a little intrigued by. unfortunately, uhh, this doesn’t always translate to an interesting plot. the beginning of this book is good, it’s engaging (as far as i remember), bestie lost me when she introduced the most uninteresting man in the world: what’s-his-name. no actually, what was his name--hold on--henry ! his name is henry. he is boring. i understand his purpose in the story, but uhh, the most interesting thing about that man was...the deal he made with the devil i guess ? and that gets revealed so late in the game you have to wade through addie being infatuated with this Regular Guy (not that i blame her when he’s the only one that can remember her), but god, yeah that’s a pretty comprehensive reason for me putting this book down for so long. the ending though, see this is the important part, the ending was very good. i was happily surprised how open-ended it was. though the hopeless romantic that lives deep inside my chest and chews on my bones will continue to believe that the dark could learn to love, okay. i don’t think that should be held against me, either way addie wins. slay queen.

daisy jones & the six : taylor jenkins reid ⭐⭐⭐

very different book from the two other before this, lol. im pretty sure i picked up this book offhandedly the last time i went to b&n, i read the seven husbands of evelyn hugo last year and wasn’t...super impressed ? authors tend to hit me a lot harder with their debuts then second or third releases. for some reason. i really respect reid for her use of journalism styles to tell these fictional stories, how much historical research probably goes into making everything seem realistic. i do think--as a personal opinion--writing about music is a very challenging thing. it’s very difficult to properly convey how music sounds, or feels, without being able to hear the music itself. (i feel the same about dancing, but that’ll probably come up another day). but the story is as much about the music as it is about the complex interweaving relationship of the characters in and outside of the band. shout out to my girl, camilla, the best character in that book. i think the most impressive thing to me about the book, besides the stylistic choices (aka the interview aspect), is how the waves minor characters like camilla or teddy or simone make deeply effect every aspect of the story. very akin to real life, there’s so many people that can change the game for you--especially for character’s like daisy and billy who are so deep in substance abuse and addiction at certain points. overall, really great book, the very last page made me laugh out loud.

beach read : emily henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐

emily henry books feel like a guilty pleasure to me at this point. i started reading her books on my flight to new york last summer, which is coincidentally where i picked up a physical copy of beach read that slept in my suitcase for uhh...six months ? anyways i finally decided to read her after talking about emily henry and her books with a friend of mine. it was a very good decision on my part--this is my favorite of her books. i feel like i need to start with the things i dont like about this book, lol. my biggest pet peeve with contemporary romance is that every single one of these characters is an author, or a publisher, or does something in the literary industry. please stop. i get thats where a lot of these authors have experience, it is their field, but jesus christ can we just have like. an illiterate main character. someone with an undeniable hatred for everything book-related. let’s be quirky and different...please ? all that said, january and gus have some actually great conversations about writer’s block and how it feels to write outside of your comfort zone. i’ll say out of all the books ive read in recent years that have to do with writers (another of which being an emily henry book 🙄), this is the best its been done in my opinion. the relationship development in this book is just very gradual and i love that, the fact that they knew each other before, but not deeply enough to be friends so we still get to see them get to know each other beyond their work is really important to me. sidenote: completely understand what january means when she’s talking about the sad and depressing shit people write about in an undergrad creative writing program. good lord. the heavy topics in this book felt very well handled in the context of...yknow a romance novel, it was kind of nice to have a love interest that wasn’t like...secretly a huge asshole who’s hiding the worst secret in the world. they had me worried for a second there when the exwife showed up, but the swerve at the last second was very appreciated. this book would have a very different review if that had been handled differently. lemme tell you, lol. overall, very enjoyable, probably the most fun ive had in this genre since the hating game. wow.

[simplegenius042]

Azriel - Daughter of Joseph, Hija of Silva

Now early on in mid to late 2022, I had posted a little “what if” scenario. That being, “what if Rook was Joseph’s daughter (aka Baby Girl Seed)?” (or alternatively what if Baby Girl Seed lived and became a junior deputy)

And that title’s pretty self-explanatory, but it essentially came up with the scenario that Joseph didn’t kill his infant daughter (either he failed to do so or his stress and despair tricked him into thinking he did), which regardless of how that happened, would displease the Voice, but they’d somehow work with it.

Anyway, I started to wonder how I could work this in my own fanfiction, and change it up to fit my storytelling needs and have something different beyond “a deputy who is important to the Seeds in some way comes along to put a stop to their madness”, while also involving Silva.

And at this time I was struggling with how to properly convey one of my other storylines Far Cry El Industrial’s Reign, or what it had been originally called at the time “Far Cry The Powerbroker’s Reign”. Instead of being a 26-year-old junior deputy, Silva is a 37-year-old businesswoman who owns an industry in Hope County, while also being the leader of a group called the Tumultites (with some connections to the criminal underworld) who wanted to live free and in some state of peace from a government and system that failed and abandoned them. The struggle was mostly with how the conflict between Eden’s Gate and the Tumultites could be more deeply personal beyond different ideals, similar yet different traumas and whatnot.

So one thing led to another and I ultimately decided that Baby Girl Seed in this continuity would become this Silva’s adopted daughter, Azriel.

How exactly does this happen? Well, my dear reader, join me on a ride of a lifetime.

First, imagine with me. Just for the moment. Back to that hospital room, where Joseph was left alone with his perfect and alive infant daughter, stuffed with tubes, but breathing. We all know the story. Of how Joseph was in awe at how, despite a tragic event occurring, he could see his baby daughter alive, and yet left with him. A nobody. From nowhere. With nothing. And uncertain how to proceed in the unknown, unplanned future. Or, at least, he thought it was...

Joseph would hear a voice. The Voice. That dreadful voice belonging to a self-serving, malicious and overall cruel entity that could care less about the lives of so many poor souls in need, looking for another sheep to blindly follow its deceiving words, wanting to play with its chosen victim till they break in satiating its spiteful and malevolent hunger. But Joseph does not view it at this. He mistakes this fraud’s voice for the voice of God. And maybe it is, but who can be for sure. Regardless, the Voice has caught its trusting and unaware prey with its vicious hooks, giving Joseph a mockery of a play disguised as a benevolent mission meant to “save” people. Telling Joseph he could have everything he’s ever wanted (his family, a world without needless suffering, a peaceful garden) and more... for a price.

Then comes the price.

Now Joseph only believes what he’s about to do, is for the best interest for his little girl. Believing that it’s for the best that she goes up to the heavens, with his late wife, amongst the angels. For really, where would a pure and new soul go but back to the loving Lord? That is a lie the Voice encourages and feeds into as Joseph goes to complete his “test”... to ultimately decide to become the Father instead of a father. Only the Voice knows that there was no choice in the first place. It chose Joseph, in this moment, because it knew that his loss, his grief, and his faith to “God” would give it the advantage. The edge in pushing Joseph to make a decision that will haunt him, and yet believe be resolute in. Until the day he realises. And on that day, it will cherish every tear that comes forth from the man.

And Joseph would pinch close one of the tubes, the ones that let her breathe, and watch as his infant daughter kicks her legs, squirms, and then still. A flatline. Indicating her ascension. Sent to a higher plane of existence. A better place.

The Voice would be satisfied by this generous donation and will speak to Joseph as he leaves the hospital, to become an infliction of pain and misery upon the mortal Earth, its playground, under the careful disguise as its shepherd, an instrument it will fiddle with until Joseph knows the meaning of suffering.

And so Joseph leaves that hospital, and the body of his infant daughter behind for the doctors to deal with. His past and the future of what could have been, dead.

Now imagine the room, the infant, abandoned in a cold, sterile, hospital. Father long gone. On his mission.

Almost lifeless.

Beep

Almost.

Beep

Do you hear the monitor? Do you see the flat line jump, then jump again, and once more, until it continuously goes at a steady pace.

Or perhaps the pinched tube fixing itself to the posture it once had been, opening to let the air pass.

Or do you see her leg kick. Once. Twice. Then a third time. Squirming. Then finally drawing breath, accepting the oxygen offered.

By sheer luck, through undoubtable chance, and unquestionable impossibility... She survived.

End imagination.

[MY LAPTOP DID NOT SAVE WHAT I HAD WRITTEN IN DETAIL SO I’M GONNA RUSH THROUGH THE BACKSTORY UNTIL WE GET TO THE GOOD PARTS]

Doctors later find Baby Girl Seed without her father and can’t get a hold of him, and since she’s breathing and making a good recovery, they tend to her health until she is given to the foster care system (something Joseph would likely feel guilt about if he ever found out).

For six years, Baby Girl Seed is now called Aria, and her stay in the foster homes since infancy has its moments of ups and downs, and gave her attachment and anxiety issues, poor social skills, probably bottled up depression and anger, however she did pick up skills on tinkering, keen observation and inventing. She’s adopted by the Rivers family, but only Mrs Rivers is really excited about it.

Aria makes a close connection with Mrs Rivers, but its short-lived, as Mrs Rivers passes away, and is left in the care of the neglectful Mr Rivers, the oldest River brother's malicious teasing, as well as the youngest River brother's ghost-like presence. Aria’s time at an all-girls school is filled with mocking words in regard to her status as the adopted Rivers child, unable to properly build connections with other girls in a deeply personal and empathetic level, as well as the fact her hobbies to tinker and invent aren’t “girly” and therefore not interesting to any of the girls.

Three years later, in 2007, at age 9, Aria’s never felt so lonely.

Then 26-year-old Silva and her fellow Tumultites kidnap Mr Rivers (the previous captain of the Enforcers in Omar’s Guard) to get whereabouts of Father Adam Omar and what he’s been doing, planning on letting him go afterwards.

However, Oscar Lapis, the new current captain, intercepts the Tumultites at a factory along with his patrol of Enforcers.

The Rivers' brothers make the stupid decision to rescue their father during a shootout, while Aria tries to help by taking advantage of the factory’s main functions and using one of her inventions to blow up the pressure built.

She gets blown out the window but survives so she’s not complaining and is rather cheery that her invention worked.

How about everyone else?

Well, Mr Rivers is dead, Oscar retreated with the remaining enforcers who hadn’t been obliterated in the explosion, Silva and her fellow Tumultites survived and are recovering, and oldest brother gets mad at Aria and leaves her behind in the rain as he takes an unconscious youngest brother to a hospital.

Long-story-short, this leads to Silva finding Aria alone, and the girl jumps into the older woman’s arms despite the scarring surrounding Silva’s deformed illuminating silver left eye, contrasting her healthy normal grey right eye, making her look quite intimidating. So Silva pretty much adopts Aria on the spot because she knows what its like to be abandoned to fend for herself.

And so, Silva and the Tumultites take Aria back home... to the Underworld.

[NOW ON TO THE GOOD PARTS!]

You see, this now goes into main story territory.

The next events to happen are in these stories (that are yet to come out I’m afraid).

First would be Of Mother And Daughters, which takes place in the eleven years 9-year-old Aria spends with Silva in the Underworld, fighting for control over the cesspool of a society to gain the power and resources necessary to build Tumult, a place where Silva’s people and the people of the Underworld can have stability again, away from the present society and Father Omar’s society as well. First arc Includes politics, murder, questionable morals, sabotage, mother-daughter bonding, Aria transitioning to her own identity as Azriel, and found family with tearjerkers and heart-warming moments mixed in between. As well as introductions to how characters met characters. There is a time skip at some point where Azriel is no longer 9 turning 10 years old and is 12 turning 13 in the second arc, where the Tumultites are gathering more people and transitioning a full presence over in Hope County. The third arc will have Azriel at age 15 (and over) as the Tumultites establish themselves in Hope County right until the arrest of Joseph happens, leading to the second story

Then comes the second story, that being the main story of Far Cry El Industrial’s Reign, which takes place during the events of Far Cry 5, except the Tumultites are major players as well, and trying to live honestly and build their dream city. Eden's Gate and Omar's Guard become a major problem to that goal though, especially with revelations between families.

The last story is the New Dawn post story, which as Persephone Omar act as Thomas Rush's Captain of Security. Tumult has been built and it thrives. At that point the story could either take a fluffy slice of life happy ending or a bittersweet goodbye for Azriel to move on to her own life, acknowledging her grief with help from what remains of her family.

Anyway, that's all folks.

[sentimentalscientia]

Ah, so Itsuki's species was one of those that could be made and didn't necessarily have to be born. That was one question answered.

Kelly shook his head. "Can't speak for others but Garou can't. Bad things happen if they do." He had no idea what would happen if a Garou were to mix with another type of creature but, having seen the results of people interfering with nature, he'd lay bets the results would be pure disaster.

"I'm sure she is," he said, neither confirming nor denying if he spoke from personal experience. "But that's not really what I meant. Learning how to fight is a given but if you're worried that aggression might become a capital-P Problem? Gotta be something beyond sparring." What the kid needed was an enemy to focus on.

Even if he'd tried to, Kelly wouldn't have been able to hide his shock this time. There was no need to hide the curiosity, because Itsuki so willingly volunteered the answers to any questions that might have been posed. The how of it all, the why. Although the why was... less than satisfactory.

"Why on earth would you give that up?" he heard himself ask softly, looking at Itsuki with a profound sadness and something akin to jealousy. "You were free. There was peace. How could you return to this?"

“Well that’s unfortunate I’d say. Pups develop in a certain way and can end up very strong. The one carrying them needs to be able to handle the damage they will accidentally inflict.” It was a very problematic thing considering how often pups would bruise or break their mother’s bones when testing out movement. He dreaded to think what might happen to one that didn’t hold such quick regeneration skills.

“Hmm. And just what do you think there would be beyond sparring?” The question was genuine. He’d noticed the sidestepping of his own question. Curious what was in the other’s mind.

The old wolf’s smile took on a different shape. Kind and gentle. A trace of sadness. But not for himself. “Because while life burdened me with nightmares I still occasionally fight against, it also blessed me with a strong purpose. With love.” His mind flittered from thought to thought. Trying to order them in a way that would make sense. “That caretaker gene you spoke of? I’m certainly in possession of it. It brings me such joy. But I understand it makes me beholden in a certain way. I’m trying to figure out how to properly convey this as I can see it makes no sense to you. I did give up a certain sense of peace and fulfillment. But to me…Well let me tell you a few things about my kind and see if it helps connect a few dots. My species has something called a blood rage. In books it’s written as blood madness. Complete ferality. For my kind, control is our most important resource. But sometimes things happen. Things that break us in such a way we lose ourselves. Then comes the blood rage. Our pain is so great the man side can’t endure. The beast side takes complete control. But the agony is so intense even that piece of us can’t handle it. It’s like being trapped in a dark pit with razors deeply stabbing, slowly peeling your skin. There is no chance of escape and the only thought, the only hope, is that maybe you can turn some of that pain outward. Lighten your burden by destroying all in your path. I experienced that when my mate died. That agony, that despair. I have never found the words to fully explain what that felt like. I slaughtered her killers and all their allies in the blink of an eye. Literally tore them apart. I was just about to stalk off deeper into the woods in search of more sacrificial lambs when something pierced through. A soft crying. It took a moment for my mind to properly register. But when it did….it was both like a pallet of bricks slamming into my chest and a weight being lifted off my shoulders. I recognized the sound. My little pup. So tiny at the time. Frightened and distressed. Crying for her parents to come help her. Crying for me, her protector, to do his job. It dragged me out of that pit. Knocked the sense right back into my head. And that’s exactly how I felt when that veil opened in the afterlife. She was grown. Having pups of her own. But that cry of distress. Of fear. It shook me to my core. Fully reminded me I had children that needed me. Needed a protector. A nurturer. Now I can’t say I don’t miss my mate or the pack on the other side. But I have a wonderful family now. Precious little grandpups that sit at my knees and beg for stories. A partner that is an oddly unexpected but perfect match. Pups that can count on me to watch over them once more. My pup has brought several more bundles of joy into this world since then. Each time she’s had that pain. But she’s never again had that fear because now she simply has to look the side and see me holding her hand and taking some of her pain. I have traveled as a lone wolf for stretches of years at a time. I have had to time and time again bury those I’ve grown to love. I am very well versed in just how tragic life can be. But what this life offers me now, it is well worth the cost of its burdens.”

[sheathsandknives]

THIS THIS THIS THIS!!! Aziraphale is so fascinating because of this!! Despite how much Crowley has influenced him throughout the years, how much he adores his demon-serpent-man-shaped-thing, Aziraphale still sees everything in black and white. He truly, whole-heartedly believes that heaven is good, and they are the "good guys" that Crowley belongs with heaven because Crowley *is* a good guy.

Obviously, just as a warning, my take isn't say all be all, but it's just how I've personally viewed these characters after watching the show twice (rookie numbers, huh?) and inhaling theories and takes like it's water. But, at least in my opinion, Crowley takes offense to that title. He doesn't want to be associated with the "good guys" or the "bad guys." As he repeats multiple times to Aziraphale and the audience throughout season one and two, he's on "our side." The right side. That's what makes season two's ending so damn DEVASTING, because Crowley thought Aziraphale understood this. But Aziraphale, in true abused-angel fashion, still sees everything white and black. So of course when Metatron offers a chance to make everything "good" with the "good guys", he's going to jump at it. It's why he mentions the angel deal with Crowley, because why would his demon want to be anywhere but with the good guys? The fact that this conditioned mindset is so baked in him and you can see it! It's right there, shown throughout season one and season two is just MUAH, CHEF KISS, BEAUTIFUL WRITING. My goodness, Mr Gaiman, you've outdone yourself. But, Aziraphale still truly believes that heaven is the best. Heaven is good, and good is the good, the end-all-be-all, the only thing people should want. Humanity and especially hell are under. I don't think Aziraphale as a character has fully realized that Crowley is against this idea. That you should pick a side, that you need to stay in your camp. That either side is bad and the only side you should be on is your own, doing the *right* thing. Aziraphale still believes, even with all it's flaws, heaven is doing the right thing. All he should want is heaven, why would he prefer Earth over it? And he thinks, which is why he mentioned the angel deal, that Crowley should think that way too. Because heaven is on top, heaven is the best, heaven are the good guys. And in that moment, in that final moment of season two, where Crowley realizes Aziraphale still thinks like this, he loses it for a moment. He slips and he tries his best to drag Aziraphale back to him, which unfortunately doesn't work. Crowley is so patient with his angel, we can see that throughout the show, he slowly shows a side an idea, whatever to Aziraphale so he can be slowly convinced to what Crowley is trying to show him. We can see it in season two, that whole-them-getting-drunk-scene? That was all Crowley slowly convincing Aziraphale that Eternity, Armageddon, and the War would not be all sunshine and rainbows. And it worked, of course, because Aziraphale is a stubborn old angel who is scared of change and anything breaking his fundamentals (books, cake and being "good). And all he needed was a slow walk to the point Crowley was showing him for him to not immediately hate the idea of going against heaven since he'd only be thwarting evil, so it isn't necessarily "bad." (I'm a million percent sure another lovely tumblr mentioned this, someone please tell me who so I can properly credit them because I was not smart enough to quite realize this!) Season two's ending was heartbreaking, terrible, and it shattered me to bits. But after putting the good ol' character analysis glasses on, I realized that Mr. Gaiman did a wonderful, beautiful job of conveying Aziraphale and Crowley's mentalities, especially Aziraphale's inner breakdown every time he goes against that conditioned "good" he's been taught, and that season two's ending was so very in character, that it hurts just thinking about it. As sad as it is, Aziraphale loves his demon-that-should-be-angel. But he also thinks that Heaven is still where the "good guys" lie. And all he *should* want is heaven. And Crowley's frustration in that moment made Aziraphale run away, as he usually does to new things that tend to scare him. Poor Crowley.

So, I feel like I’m losing my mind. I keep seeing metas about how Aziraphale wants Crowley to return to Heaven and be an angel again because he wants them to be on the same side/be good/change/etc., etc., etc. but I don’t see that at all. I actually see it as the very opposite.

Aziraphale loves Crowley just as he is. But there’s something more. Something huge.

Aziraphale loves Crowley and because he is an angel who is stuck in seeing things as black and white, he constantly praises Crowley for being nice. For being good. For being kind.

Aziraphale has watched Crowley on and off for 6,000 years. He watched him thwart the plans of Heaven and Hell because it was unjust. He spared the lives of innocents. He did small things that made Aziraphale happy just because (like making Hamlet successful and saving valuable books). And because Aziraphale sees things in black and white, he sees all the things Crowley has done as nice, as good, as kind.

Crowley vehemently attests he’s not nice or good or kind.

He’s not exactly wrong nor is he lying when he says this. When Crowley spares goats during a cruel bet over a righteous man and swallowing laudanum to prevent a suicide, when he prevents Armageddon by working with Aziraphale and stopping the Anti-Christ from being the Anti-Christ, he’s not doing the nice/good/kind thing.

He’s doing the right thing.

Crowley chooses to do the right thing without hesitation. He is better than all of Heaven and Hell who have callous and dispassionate view of all existence because he questions, because he makes choices. Crowley sees the world for all its messiness and he sees himself. He sees a place where he fits in. He sees the blurred edges.

And Aziraphale sees that, even if seeing the blurred edges is hard for him.

But here’s the thing that Aziraphale can’t voice.

It’s the reason why he told Crowley about being allowed to return to Heaven and become an angel again. He doesn’t want Crowley to change. He doesn’t think Crowley is flawed. Or not enough.

It’s something that is so monumental that it cannot be put into words. Because to put it into words would be more than blasphemy. It’s down right unthinkable for anyone in Heaven, Hell, or Earth to say what Aziraphale knows deep in his soul.

God was wrong to cast out Crowley.

Aziraphale believes Crowley can/should return to Heaven because he knows that Crowley should never have fallen in the first place. He wants him to be forgiven because when Crowley fell it was unjust. Aziraphale is trying to correct a mistake. He’s trying to do the right thing.

Yes, Crowley would never accept returning to Heaven. And Aziraphale was wrong to even suggest it (although that conversation is another can of worms to unpack).

Aziraphale loves Crowley. He loves him exactly as he is. He doesn’t want him to change. Aziraphale knows that Crowley the best of all of them. He wants to change Heaven because of it. Because God was wrong and Aziraphale knows it.

Aziraphale may have difficulty seeing beyond black and white, but when it comes to Crowley he sees everything crystal clear and in vivid color.

[seyaryminamoto]

Leap of Faith: Sokkla Saturdays 2022

Day Nine: "Blue looks good on you"

On FF.net//On AO3

A/N:

And once again, we reach the end of our Sokkla Saturdays.

The story I'll present this time won't be as lighthearted as many I've written for this event since its inception. The source of this darker storyline, however, comes from a train of interpretation, headcanon and belief that I've seen growing stronger in fandom as of late: the belief that Zuko shouldn't forgive his sister, shouldn't help her grow, shouldn't have any role in her potential redemption.

While I don't focus primarily on Azula and Zuko's relationship and its healing during my stories, such themes are typically implied or implicit in my work while I focus on the storylines I do want to explore. Nevertheless, the notion that Zuko, someone who benefited so much from forgiveness and who has outright stated to Ozai that the Fire Nation's new era should be about "peace and kindness", should in turn allow his sister no peace and offer her no kindness has been rather disturbing for me, to the point where I wondered how to convey my opinion on such beliefs...

This story has shaped up to be one of my best ways to do so: what would Azula's post-canon story look like if her brother chooses to follow the rather aggressive fandom take where he should imprison her and demand that Aang takes away her bending, basically declaring that she deserves the same level of punishment and mercilessness as his father does?

Evidently, this is but one possible way in which such a storyline would proceed, other people can just as well imagine it in different ways, goes without saying. This, simply, is my personal idea of how to go about it. And while the focus on this story is not on Zuko, I suspect it will be clear that his actions and refusal to forgive are the core reasons for why this story happens as it does.

The last thing I'd like to say is that I actually don't believe canon Zuko would act this way, no matter how conflictive and contentious my relationship with his character may be. This is not the way I'd want to write Zuko on any given day, and I frankly do not understand how anyone can advocate for Zuko to be so embittered and cruel while being his fans... though, it's also worth noting that it's probably just a very loud and very small minority of Zuko fans, since most the ones I've met and seen don't stand by this belief at all. Much like my past "dark Ursa AU", which is also a characterization for Ursa that is very distant from canon and from my personal interpretation of her character, this is simply an exploration of narrative possibilities and more of a criticism of that vocal and volatile faction in Zuko's fanbase than it is of Zuko himself. On the bright side, this dark headcanon that certain people in the fandom are wildly militant about has allowed me to build a story I'm actually quite proud of... and I really hope you guys will enjoy it, in its many ups and downs on its way towards providing a resolution for Azula.

Hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading my stories for this year of Sokkla Saturdays.

The ceremonial robes hung heavily and unpleasantly on her shoulders. It was far too much fabric, and she could swear they hadn't been washed properly after whoever had last worn them before her, going by how stiff they felt. If she so much as tried to firebend while wearing this ridiculous outfit, the blue garments would catch fire in a heartbeat, same as the white-and-cream cape over her shoulders. It didn't matter how she shifted the damn outfit, though, it just didn't fit right…

"How did I ever let you talk me into this?" she hissed at the man standing beside her in the dark atrium that would lead them into the ceremonial hall. It didn't surprise her at all that he would smirk deviously at her. "Quit looking at me like that. One would think you're enjoying seeing me in this ridiculous, old-fashioned outfit."

"Aw, and here I thought you'd be stoked about wearing matching clothes with your uncle…" he teased.

She scoffed, shooting him a dangerous glare… one that he fielded with a smirk once again. It was as if he weren't even slightly afraid that she might lash out at him… that she might slap him, punch him or set him on fire. It could have been nice to not be deeply feared for once… but he annoyed her deeply with his antics. If he weren't so irritating, she'd actually be much more appreciative of his reckless trust in her…

For that very trust was the sole reason why she could be here right now, staring at the closed door of that damnable ceremonial hall.

"Why did you do this?" she asked, letting out a deep sigh. He shrugged. "Don't just shrug, damn you: tell me the truth. You could have stood aside and done nothing. Everyone else did exactly that. So why not you? Why did you decide to interfere?"

"Interfere? Is that really the word you want to pick now?"

"It is. Answer the question. And tell me why, of all things, you decided this was the right fate for me instead."

He breathed deeply. His blue eyes met her golden ones. For a moment, she seemed helpless, lost, confused about her place in the world… just as she had been when he had found her anew, in the wilderness of distant Fire Nation islands. When he had convinced her to trust him… when he had brought her back home, expecting a far better outcome than the one she had been dealt.

She had told him she wouldn't return to the asylum under any circumstances… he had promised he wouldn't let that happen to her. When everyone stepped back as Zuko condemned his sister, though, Sokka stepped forward, honoring his vow to ensure her worst nightmare wouldn't come to pass: the only amendment to the sentence Zuko had allowed, then, was prison… as well as the removal of Azula's bending abilities.

Her horror at that notion had been palpable. Both Azula and Sokka had argued against that punishment too, only for everyone else present at the Fire Lord's court to echo it as the safest choice going forward. Even those who seemed uncomfortable, like Aang, like Ty Lee, had kept their mouths shut. There was no curtain of fire… but Sokka had the distinct feeling that Ozai's shadow had not left those halls in the slightest if this was how his son treated his enemies.

She had been dragged to a dungeon afterwards.

That night, Sokka broke her free.

He kept true to his promise and escaped with her, and he only had one plan in mind – a risky one, to be sure, but it was his only immediate solution for her troubles, the only way to ensure they'd escape Zuko's jurisdiction, as well as secure Azula's life and bending:

She would join the Order of the White Lotus.

"You're aware of the reasons. You're not dumb, so don't play dumb," Sokka said, bumping her hip lightly with his own. "A bunch of former Fire Nation soldiers, your uncle included, are part of this organization. They were remorseful, they were allowed to fight against the Fire Nation during the end of the war and they were forgiven for their past crimes because of that. I'm not saying you'll get the same treatment… but if they earned that much leniency, I can't see why you can't be given a chance."

"Well, apparently, my crimes against the world order are far steeper than theirs ever were. I'm sure you've heard everyone say as much, haven't you?" Azula said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Sokka said, glancing at her with unease. "A siege intent on starving a city and razing it to the ground sounds a lot darker than everything you ever did."

"Does it, now?" Azula said, dismissively.

"I'm just saying… we've all had blood on our hands in different ways. And I assumed Zuko, of all people, should know the value of forgiveness by now," Sokka said. "But nothing anyone says can sway that guy when he gets an idea in his head… and I suppose you and your crew of dangerous friends were a bit too much trouble for him."

"Hardly my fault that he can't keep up with me," Azula huffed.

"Well… you humiliated him in front of his entire nation. About five times."

"Serves him right."

"Not sure the White Lotus will appreciate that attitude," Sokka smirked. Azula raised her eyebrows.

"If that's the case, why are you smiling?"

He winced at her spot-on assessment, and it was Azula's turn to smirk at him after he reacted to her words. His cheeks flushed slightly, and he shook his head.

"To be honest? I just… have the feeling that my persistence at helping you has caused Zuko to want my head on a stake every bit as badly as he wants yours," Sokka said. "And it's kind of wild to think that he made the most of other people's willingness to forgive him, only to decide to be merciless with his own family, in turn. I mean… he did a lot of shitty things to us too, back in the day. I'm not saying the stuff you did wasn't harmful and dangerous, but… even when you went on that weird kidnapping spree, you didn't do anything to hurt any of the children irreparably. Though… why did you do that?"

"The kidnapping spree?"

"Yeah. I mean… I'm not sure what that accomplished, beyond taking one more step in making your brother believe you were unforgivable. But I mean… even if that's what you wanted? You probably could've gone about it way differently."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I mean… there had to be some way to get that done without having to take care of a preschool class, I mean."

Azula actually laughed at his words. She shook her head as Sokka smiled, and she shrugged carelessly – the White Lotus cape rose and fell when she did as much.

"So, your concern is not on a moralistic level… just in regards of practicality?" Azula asked. Sokka snorted.

"You're someone geared towards efficiency above all else. Don't act like that's not the case anymore," he said, poking her shoulder with one finger. "If you wanted to mess with Zuko, there were many ways to do it without putting in half as much effort to organize that whole situation."

"Maybe you're overestimating me, then," Azula said. Sokka scoffed and shook his head.

"Sure am, Miss 'I took over Ba Sing Se with the subtlest coup in known history'…"

"And that's a good thing now?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka shrugged.

"It's not as bloody as killing thousands of enemies and leaving them to drown in the middle of a considerable ecological disaster, so… I have to hand it to you, your approach to victory was disturbingly efficient and not as chaotic as my own."

Azula gritted her teeth, glancing at Sokka in perplexity. He bit his lip.

"A lot of us did terrible things in the war, and you can say they were for the right or the wrong reasons, depending on who it is… depending on who won. I've reached the conclusion that I don't regret doing everything I did to win the war and defeat your father… but sometimes I wish, anyway, that I'd done it differently. For a while, I disregarded Aang's moral code as a simple difference in culture… until I was the one with so much blood on my hands. The one waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweat because… because I'd keep thinking about all the soldiers and engineers and just regular people I killed with my actions. Maybe I didn't do it personally, maybe I didn't drive a knife through their hearts… but it doesn't change that I'm responsible for their deaths, too."

"Is that why you joined the White Lotus? To atone?" Azula asked. Sokka sighed.

"At first? Nah. I just wanted to stay active, to feel useful, to do things and work to fix more of the world as best as I could… but the more those thoughts plagued me, the more help I needed. I went to Aang, to my sword master, Piandao… their wisdom helped in some ways, but they both believed, too, that I had to find my own answers. And I'm still looking for them…"

"And somehow, that quest for answers convinced you to help me?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. "Or, well, what passes for help in your weird head. These clothes are still ridiculously unwieldy… it's like wearing a blanket."

"Bear with it for a few more hours, damn it," Sokka chuckled. "But… yeah. I couldn't have lived with myself if you'd been killed by bounty hunters. I couldn't have lived with myself if you had been forced into the asylum again after you told me you'd sooner die than go back there. And… I couldn't have lived with letting Aang take your bending by Zuko's demands solely because he's scared of you. I might be making a terrible mistake here, Azula… but I'd rather mess up by trying to do something that feels right, deep in my gut, rather than messing up by doing something that feels wrong while just hoping my choice will be validated eventually if you ever try to do something really mean to someone or another."

"So… it feels right to give me a chance to become a White Lotus agent?" Azula asked, still skeptical as she stared at the large door before her: the symbol of that White Lotus tile her uncle ever favored looked far more menacing there than on a simple board. "Do you have wild expectations about how I'll become a poster child for world peace just because I joined your gang of war veterans looking for a purpose in life? Because that's not very likely, if you must know…"

"Heh, guess that's not it… but I do hope you can find a purpose," Sokka said. "I want you to have the second chance all these guys got… that even Zuko got, no matter if he's unwilling to extend that opportunity to people he should care about. I mean, however fucked up your relationship may be… you're still his sister. I keep trying to imagine how I'd act if it were me and Katara, and I just… I don't think I'd ever have it in me to give that order. To say the things he said to you when he sentenced you. I'm not expecting him to become best friends with you… but that extent of mercilessness is not what I believed he would adhere to once he became Fire Lord. In fact… he always talked about becoming a Fire Lord of peace and kindness. How the hell is he planning on doing that by locking up his family members if they displease him?"

"Well, it's one way to go about it… a rather contradictory way," Azula said, with a weak smile. "You really don't owe me anything, though. You didn't have to go this far just to give me a chance to find a purpose. Most people wouldn't… as evidenced by the fact that no one else did."

"Maybe I want you to be the one who owes me," Sokka smirked deviously. Azula huffed. "Thought about that?"

"Now I see. I was about to get all mushy… but I suppose I understand what your game is now," she said, glaring at him sideways. Sokka chuckled, hands on his hips.

Sounds within the chamber gave away that the door would open soon. Sokka breathed deeply, nudging Azula gently again.

"Ready, then?"

"I don't think so, no," Azula said, gritting her teeth. "What does this ceremony entail, to begin with?"

"Hey, now, I can't give away their secrets…"

"Oh, you're such a pain," Azula hissed, and Sokka chuckled again before smiling fondly at her.

"I may be, but, for what it's worth?" he said. She raised an eyebrow, skeptically, in his direction. "Blue looks good on you."

Her lips parted, though she didn't say anything. Her cheeks flushed, and Sokka smiled at how curiously innocent the woman beside him looked in that very moment. When was the last time anyone had addressed a compliment to her? When was the last time she had heard kind words, altogether? When was the last time anyone had offered her a helping hand when she had needed it?

The torchlight within the room bathed them as the doors opened. Sokka jerked his head towards the doors… ushering her to join him inside the ceremony hall where, flustered and uncertain as she felt, Azula would officially become an agent of the Order of the White Lotus.

...

Even when coated in red, the black blade was unmistakable. Sokka wasn't alright, he realized, for he couldn't possibly be laughing about this if he were. He shouldn't be so amused after that brutal fight against a gang of deadly brigands, on a battlefield with countless wounded and only a few survivors…

But his hand wrapped around that handle, which he had crafted himself. His fingers tightened around it, and he threw his head back with the loudest cackle of laughter: he swung the sword to the side, and it slid cleanly across the air as the blood that clang to it splattered on the ground.

"Gotta… clean it properly. And hone the edge, I bet… but it's Space Sword. It's Space Sword, Azula!"

She let out a dismissive huff, glaring at her partner as she stood near the survivors of the bloodbath they'd been dragged into, survivors she had been restraining with sturdy chains: their latest mission had been dangerous and deadly. It hadn't taken her long to realize that being capable of terrible things wasn't merely an additional personality perk for agents of the White Lotus… but rather, it was a necessary one. Their harshness, their efficiency, was simply repurposed for whatever their leaders deemed to be the right causes.

Today, that cause had been a growing gang of organized crime in the northwestern Earth Kingdom. They had started by extorting travelers… by now, they had become a scourge upon the villages of the area, frequently pillaging farms and homesteads to steal whatever they cared to. At first, their quick rise had seemed incomprehensible, for the Earth King should have been able to send troops to deal with a threat like this one… then, reports that the leader was the wielder of a black blade explained why they hadn't been stopped for well over half a year.

Sokka had been looking for that sword since the end of the war – now, ten years after the last time he'd held his weapon, he nearly sobbed amid laughter as he gazed upon his Space Sword, finally returned to him.

"Will your sword be worth the existential crisis you'll get over today's massacre?" Azula asked, knowingly: it was hardly the first mission that had turned into a bloodbath since they'd begun working together, two years prior. In that time, she had gotten to know Sokka far more intimately than she had expected to… and she had even spoken with him a few times about his fears and dread whenever he had sudden panic attacks in the middle of the night.

"I… I hope so," Sokka said, glancing at her from over his shoulder.

Telling himself that violence had been the only way to stop their foes typically soothed him for around two hours, then he changed his mind and hated himself for it for four. It wouldn't be easy to cope with the numerous deaths they'd caused… but Sokka expected that his relief upon regaining his unique, extraordinary weapon wouldn't dwindle anytime soon.

"Well, whether you're right to hope so or not, we'd best get going. We both look like a mess," Azula said, shaking her head. "We have to turn over the survivors to the local authorities, don't we?"

"We do, we do. And we should probably bring the big boss's corpse to prove we're not talking out of our asses," Sokka agreed, sighing at the notion of carrying a dead man all the way to Garsai, the nearest city.

He stood up, and only then did Azula truly process that he was covered in blood. She flinched upon noticing that some appeared to spill from his breastplate, and she immediately feared that it might be his… but he moved smoothly, as though it weren't. They had taken a few scratches and bruises during the fight, but nothing should be a major injury…

But Sokka was still covered in blood. He had handled the worst of the battle and now, standing strong with the corpse fiercely clasped in one hand, the sword in the other, he appeared much more imposing than Azula had ever seen him as. She swallowed hard and nodded as he approached, firmly.

"Either way… we did our job, and you got your sword. All is well now, right?" Azula said. Sokka smiled and nodded. "Though… you really shouldn't smile that much when you're covered in blood. Doesn't suit your, uh, aesthetic."

"Oh. I'll make sure to look insolent and cranky, then," Sokka said, clearing his throat before staring Azula down with feigned coldness. Azula chuckled for it, despite herself. "And you shouldn't be laughing either… you're covered in blood as well."

"Most would say that this is my natural state, seeing as I'm supposed to be the deadliest, cruelest royal there ever was," Azula said, dramatically. Sokka smiled. "You, though? I suppose it's weird that red…"

"That… what?" Sokka blinked blankly. Azula bit her lip as she turned away from him.

"That red looks good on you," she mumbled so quietly her words were impossible for Sokka to infer or decipher.

"What? Hey! I didn't catch that!" Sokka squealed, marching alongside her towards the cluster of survivors from the criminal organization. "What did you say? Azula!"

"I said nothing important, now shut up and hug your sword again!" Azula huffed, cheeks tinged red – uttering that phrase had been a terrible mistake on her part: Sokka would likely ask her over and over again until something else distracted him, so she'd have to think of how to achieve her desired purpose…

But for now… for now, Sokka looked happier than he usually was. He gazed at her with grateful eyes, even if his gratitude over retrieving his sword was rather odd, considering what they'd had to do to obtain it.

Still… giving him a hand with this complicated mission had been okay.

In fact, giving him a hand in their previous missions had been fine, too.

She didn't know yet if he had succeeded at providing her with a purpose through their work… but she found herself making decisions she never had before. She had become his confidante much as he was hers… they could speak about their turbulent thoughts for hours on end at night, both in their own beds while they recovered their strength after hard days. During the first year, neither of them hadn't contacted anyone outside the Order, namely so Azula's presence among them would remain unknown to the Fire Nation and to anyone who wanted her dead… now, on the second year, Sokka had reconnected with his family briefly and confirmed that Azula's brother wasn't bound to have changed his mind about taking her in amicably again.

And so, they were each other's sole source of stability. They were partners, already so experienced at fighting alongside each other that they knew their tactics and techniques by heart. Their bond meant something, even if Azula didn't know what its meaning might be just yet. It wasn't a grand purpose, no… but finding out where this path would lead them was, at least, an entertaining distraction. One Azula would continue making the most of, in the hopes of finding the answer she was seeking through their adventures…

...

The isolated cabin in the depths of the Earth Kingdom mountains hardly seemed welcoming, but it was the sole choice of refuge they would find that day: Azula kicked the door open violently before pulling Sokka into the building.

"W-where is this…? What…?" Sokka mumbled, shivering as Azula wrapped her arms around him tightly, sharing her body heat with him.

That heat was the only reason why he had survived their latest, catastrophic mission: a firebending criminal had been on a murder spree in the Earth Kingdom. The White Lotus had described him as a serial killer, specifically drawn to attacking families – namely, to attacking the parents of any children he could get his hands on. The children usually went unharmed, some succeeding at finding help… others failing to do so, depending on how distant their home might be to the nearest villages. The White Lotus had determined an intervention was necessary, dire, even… and they had sent a team that now boasted of three years' worth of field experience, and with a talent for handling the more gruesome, unwanted missions that most other people didn't want to undertake.

The toll that such missions took on their souls was difficult to gauge most days. At times they handled their work swiftly, safely, and if their actions warranted it, they'd reflect on their choices later, sometimes together, sometimes by themselves. Their attempts to clean up their devastated world were exhausting, thankless: most their work was under tight wraps, and even Sokka's closest friends knew very little of what his duties as an agent demanded of him. Slowly and surely, Azula became his closest friend instead. They lived the same life… they stood together, back-to-back, against every threat in their path. They suffered together, they rejoiced together, they lived side by side…

And that also meant they had to fight against unsurmountable odds, with no manner of backup, to defeat dangerous threats such as the wretched serial killer whose corpse sank into the depths of the frozen lake. That was where Sokka had finally succeeded at slitting the bastard's throat, nearly decapitating him with Space Sword's sharp edge.

Azula hadn't been there on time: she had been the shield to the mother and son who had nearly become the next victims of the killer in question. Her firebending was superior to that of the enemy, but the man had the advantage of knowing the territory far better than they did: He even had traps prepared in the area that had slowed down and even split Azula from Sokka briefly.

She had urged the mother and the son to run to safety – the woman had taken a burn on her right arm right before their arrival, but she obeyed Azula's words and ran as fast as she could go with her terrified, crying son holding her unharmed hand. Sokka was then left to fight the killer alone for far too long, without Azula's help in fending off the flames: she didn't expect him to be unable to win without her, but, it would be that much easier for Sokka to end the man's reign of terror in these mountains if she muffled the enemy's fire…

She arrived just in time to see Sokka's best idea to defeat against the man's uncontrolled, dangerous firebending output, was to push him to walk on the surface of a frozen lake. Azula screamed for her partner just as Sokka slashed at the ice underneath his enemy: the firebender fell into the frigid waters, but he caught Sokka's ankle with a hand, dragging him underwater with him.

The amount of power Azula unleashed then, melting most the ice and warming the water, was unlike anything she'd done until then: within a minute since Sokka went under, she leapt into the water too… and a hand had clenched hers before long. Her attempts to light a fire in the water didn't pay off, of course, but flashes burst from her free hand nonetheless, allowing her to confirm that the hand gripping hers belonged to Sokka.

They had climbed out of the frigid lake, and Azula had swum them to safety. Sokka struggled to breathe, face pale, lips purple, and the cold air made matters worse for him. Azula had been affected by the cold water as well, but on a lesser degree thanks to her bending: she raised her temperature deliberately while holding him, and she continued to do so as she guided Sokka right to the humble cabin near the lake… she suspected it was the home of the mother and son, and she certainly hoped they wouldn't be all that upset about them taking refuge there after they'd saved their lives.

"Come here… come," Azula huffed, dragging Sokka to the empty fireplace: she dropped him there, tossing logs into the fire and casting her flames on them quickly. Sokka shivered as he sat on the floor… and he continued to do so as Azula grabbed his parka, forcing it off his body.

"A-Azula…"

"You're a lot more experienced in frigid weather than I am. Help me here, will you?" Azula hissed.

He swallowed hard as he raised his arms slightly, allowing Azula to yank his clothes off forcefully. Little by little, she removed his garments – his boots were soaked through, and she had no choice but to rub her warmed hands over his toes to ensure that frostbite wouldn't settle on him. Little by little, every clothing item was gone until he was down to his underwear… which was also soaked.

"Well, either you take that off or you let your dick freeze," Azula said, point-blank. Sokka winced. "Don't… don't tell me you're embarrassed in front of me, damn it. We're not trying out clothes after going shopping, Sokka, we're literally trying to save you after you nearly froze in a damn lake…"

"I-I'm… allowed to be shy about… about showing my half-frozen dick to a pretty girl, aren't I…?" Sokka chuckled, though his teeth chattered as he did. "Y-you sure…?"

"Fucking hell, Sokka, I'm not doing this to harass you: we're saving your life," Azula huffed: she reached for his hips and undid his fundoshi quickly, tossing it aside without looking at his groin. Instead, she kept her eyes set on his. "There. I saw nothing. Though… you should look, actually. You know, in case it already froze and fell off?"

"Uh…" Sokka swallowed hard, doing as he was told – Azula eyed him with a worried frown, raising her warm hands to his hair, where frost still clung to his half-undone wolf's tail. "Heh. Guess it's still there? N-no idea if it works, though…"

"Well, sit closer to the fire and hope it thaws completely soon," Azula said. Sokka actually smiled a little at that idea. "You really shouldn't have been so reckless…"

"I didn't… didn't know if you'd arrive any sooner. I'm sorry…"

"If I hadn't, you'd be dead by now," Azula said, point-blank. Sokka swallowed hard and nodded. "I can't have you dead, alright? I… I can't. So… if I have to choose between letting you freeze to death or holding your naked body to warm you up, I'm choosing the latter. It's nothing personal."

"Right, that doesn't sound personal at all," Sokka said, with a soft chuckle… though his eyes widened when he noticed Azula was stripping as well. "W-woah…"

"If you ogle me, I'll ogle you," Azula warned him. He chuckled, but he closed his eyes under her threat regardless.

"Fine, fine. Though… I might really warm up faster if I watch you doing that, heh," he said. Azula scoffed, pulling each garment off her body systematically – and reminding herself, through the process, not to look at Sokka anymore than he was looking at her.

Her bending had helped, for her humid clothes weren't as dangerously cold as Sokka's… but using her bending to aid him rather than to constantly combat the fabric's humidity would be a better way to spend her energies. So, once she had removed everything, Azula breathed deeply and closed her eyes. Her hand found his thigh… and to Sokka's utter surprise, she climbed over his legs so she could press her torso fully against his.

"Um…"

"Yes, yes. This is new territory for us," Azula said – she wasn't about to let him get funny ideas in his head… at least, not like the ones that had crossed hers already. This was a necessity, nothing more… "Where do you feel… well, colder? Or rather, it might be more important to ask if there's anything you're not feeling right now. Your legs, maybe? Your toes, still?"

"They came back after what you did before…" Sokka said, swallowing hard. Azula nodded, rubbing his back with warm hands next. "Hmm. You're too rough…"

"I'm not a masseuse. I'm allowed to be rough," Azula retorted. He laughed, dropping his head on her shoulder as she continued to work over his body with her bending. "Your fingers?"

"Stiff… but they're still there," Sokka said. Azula swallowed hard.

"Well, I will regret this, but… put them on my body. I'll warm them up further that way."

"Regret it… why?" Sokka chuckled, as he raised his hands to obey her last command. "Think I'm going to take advantage of that offer to touch something I shouldn't?"

"I know you will, rather. It's going to be… unpleasant to be touched by near-frozen hands, and I will wince, and you'll laugh about my reaction for years. So yes, I will regret it," Azula concluded. Sokka smiled sadly, even if she couldn't see it, as their eyes remained closed.

"What if I promise I'll behave…?"

"I won't believe you."

"Am I that unreliable?"

The question took her by surprise. She was tempted to look at him… but she settled for shaking her head as she tightened her grip around him. Sokka breathed deeply, whispering in her ear:

"Okay… I'll do it now. I'll be good, I promise."

Azula gritted her teeth, bracing herself for the cold… and it truly felt like being touched by solid ice when his hands fell upon her hips. She gasped, pressing her body into his, amping up her fire, strengthening her temperature… and Sokka responded by raising his head, pressing his brow to hers.

"You okay?" he asked, without a smidge of humor. Azula swallowed hard…

"It's… it's better now."

"Did it hurt?"

"Only when it started, but it's… better. It's…"

Both stopped on their tracks upon replaying their exchange in their heads for a moment. In unison, they opened their eyes to find each other's face closer than usual, closer than ever…

And then they laughed, brows still pressed together as Sokka's hands slowly leveled their temperature. Azula boosted her bending again, breathing out slowly against Sokka. His own breaths brushed against hers… and somehow, the moment of intimacy suited them just right. Perhaps it suited them far too well, Azula thought, for her body was reacting in ways it probably shouldn't have, considering they had been in mortal danger mere moments ago…

He twitched underneath her. Rather, his manhood did.

"U-uh, that…" Sokka said, grimacing as Azula raised a questioning eyebrow. "Look, give me a break here: you're naked and sitting on my dick. I'm just saying…"

"Imagine your luck… getting a woman to sit on you, naked, to save your life," Azula huffed. Sokka couldn't hold back a light smile… one that brought her attention to his lips. "You're feeling better?"

"I mean… there's a naked woman sitting atop me to save my life? Does it get any better than that?" Sokka asked, amused still. Azula huffed.

"I meant your temperature, fool," she whispered, taking his face delicately in her hands. "Your lips are still… kind of purple."

"Uh… well, they do feel a little cold, I guess, but…"

She silenced him with a finger… then with two. Sokka blinked blankly, staring at her questioningly at first… then lowering his gaze as best he could, watching as her fingertips trailed from one corner of his mouth to the other: warmth seeped from her fingers indeed, providing him with a source of welcome heat that was aiding him in his recovery, just as well.

"Better?" Azula asked: her voice was strangely softer now, far subtler than usual…

Perhaps even slightly affectionate.

Sokka's eyes rose towards hers: her golden gaze, ever so sharp and determined, so guarded and observant, had changed in nature slightly now as her other hand rose to his neck. The fingertips trailed still over his lips, over each soft ridge of his skin, smoothly warming him further…

He wanted to answer… but words failed him when he tried to part his lips. The very attempt to do so resulted in him brushing her fingers with his mouth…

Azula slowed, but she didn't withdraw her hand. They gazed into each other's eyes wistfully for a strange, confusing, intimate moment unlike any they had shared until then.

He did it again. This time, with much more intent than before.

His lips puckered out slightly, ever so slightly, pressing a kiss upon her fingertips.

She let out a slow breath – she didn't pull her hand back at all. He did it again, and again, and suddenly it wasn't her bending's doing that her body heat would rise. No… it was as though his choices were bending her own fire out of her control.

And she liked that sensation.

She lowered her fingers, trailing then over the stubble of his chin before replacing them with her own lips.

It was as though a dam had broken down, shattering under an onslaught of passion neither one had truly allowed themselves to be conscious of. A passion they had nursed and shared for three years, building it and strengthening it with every new day of working side by side to protect a world where she didn't belong… a world where he had found no true peace. The depth of understanding between them rushed across their bodies, paired with a primal urge where their lips found warmth through reckless, constant contact, as did their tongues once they dared take their initial exchange further. His hands rose to warmer parts of her body… and that same gasp, the same exclamation as before, took on an erotic meaning Sokka suspected hadn't been her intent at all.

But he touched her, kissed her, buried his face in her neck and chest, caressed her back, fondled her rear… just as she ran her hands over his chest and arms, trailing her lips down his collarbone, bucking her hips against his hardening shaft. His hand slid and dipped into her wet folds, and Azula moaned as she thrusted into it with abandon, providing him with even more heat… as he provided her, in turn, with tingles of pleasure that saw to the racing of her heartbeats.

All previous rules, either implicit or explicit, were gone now: they could gaze at each other if they cared to, and Azula warmed her hand before wrapping it around his shaft. Sokka groaned against her lips, and Azula kissed him again to ease him… failing to do so, of course, for he was further stirred and strengthened by every caress they shared.

He kissed her deeply anew: they swayed back at first, only for Azula to tilt him down next, pinning him down on the wooden floorboards. Sokka grunted for it, hands sliding down to palm her buttocks smoothly. Her lips trailed over his shoulder, down to his pecs, and she dared slip her tongue out to tease his nipples: they were terribly cold still, so she warmed them with her breath and lips, tickling them with her tongue as Sokka groaned in delight, still kneading her rear while the heat rose between them. Azula rose back to his lips after his nipples were warmer anew… but it was Sokka's turn, it seemed: he rolled them on the floor, and they landed even closer to the fire now as he dove upon her chest with far more energy than Azula had thought he had left in him. He sucked eagerly, tugging on her mounds and prompting them to bounce with momentum as he switched from one to the other – she trembled as her legs intertwined with his, hands smoothly touching as much of his body as she dared. No longer did she ask him about which of his body parts were still cold, which ones might need more attention… for their rational thoughts had been set aside for now. All reason had escaped as instinct and need, as emotion and lust, blended into one, unleashed in the form of a tryst they had never planned on…

All their barriers and boundaries had crumbled now, all limits they'd abided by in their professional relationship and personal friendship… and an unusual warmth was taking the place of the perpetual unease in the hearts of the two jaded warriors. It was relieving, comforting, exciting… it felt like coming to life, even if they'd only found that sensation after yet another dark, terrifyingly close brush with death.

Azula spread her legs, hooking them over his hips, conveying a powerful message Sokka obeyed at once: his manhood parted her folds slowly as it slid through her opening, and she gasped for breath across her moans, hands sliding through Sokka's moist hair. He kissed her heartily, his body as good as crushing hers as he slid deeper inside her…

"I'm not… s-still too cold, am I?" he whispered against her lips. Azula's chest heaved as it pressed against his, her fingers gripping his hair, undoing what was left of his wolf's tail. "B-because you feel…"

"Too… too hot for you?" Azula asked, with a slight smile. Sokka chuckled in response, closing his eyes as the warmth enveloped him smoothly.

"This is… it's the right way to chase away the cold. Definitely," he declared before leaning in to kiss her anew.

She didn't let him control their tryst for much longer: Sokka found himself underneath her before long, trapped between her body and the floor as she grinded atop him slow and delightfully. The sense of urgency had dwindled away, diminished into nothingness, for now she devoted herself to further boosting their shared heat. Their hands, their lips, the most intimate joining of their bodies… it was a natural outlet to so many things they had been holding in, for far too long. Instead of unleashing their frustrations against the world by fighting villains and miscreants hellbent on causing damage, instead of breaking their souls further by committing to a cause that further fractured their souls, no matter how painful it could be to live their lives by the philosophy of kill or be killed…

Instead of further spiraling into darkness, as they'd done for three years, suddenly their descent slowed that night. They were still enveloped by darkness in countless ways… but there was something beautiful within that darkness all the same. They had found something worth clinging to, something worth protecting not solely because of a professional partnership, or because of practicality… the bond between them had long outgrown such rational concepts.

Theirs was a bond of respect, mutual understanding and acceptance. Fights weren't beyond them, of course not – they had been arguing about countless things ever since Sokka had first found Azula and brought her to the Fire Nation, after all –, but with each new day spent together, it became that much easier to see the world through each other's eyes. A blinding fog had faded from view, letting them feel real if just for that unusual, extraordinarily intimate moment they shared. Excitement pulsed through their systems, as the aching need for each other was quenched smoothly through the rushing arousal that prepared to be unleashed…

Their cries were even more urgent as they reached their culmination – Azula trembled violently as her body struggled to grapple with the waves of pleasure she was utterly unused to. Sokka, as well, gasped for breath, eyes closed as he finished deep inside her… a worrisome choice, but one he would only ponder after their minds returned to reality. For now, all they would do was pant heavily, brows pressed together as the heat that rose between them finally eased up, evening out as they grappled with the reality of what they'd done.

"S-Sokka…" Azula whispered, breathlessly.

He responded with a quick kiss – all her attempts to reason with their choices crumbled after he did as much. She kissed him again and again, and they rolled on the floorboards anew, tangled together, finding it was exactly how they wished to remain.

They didn't bother finding anywhere safe to sleep – instead, they fell unconscious by the fire, holding each other tightly, more intimately than ever before. They would only wake up by morning, when the voices of the cabin's owners drifted in from a distance, and the two struggled to compose themselves, if only by putting on basic layers of clothing before rushing to the door that neither the mother nor the son wanted to cross, out of fear that the killer would be within their home.

Once the White Lotus agents stepped out into the open and explained matters, the grateful, wounded mother offered them fresh clothes to wear, the only thing she could do to pay them back for saving her life. Thus, Sokka ensured to head into town later, buying new clothes for both himself and Azula, and a large stash as well for the mother and her son. Saving them from a mad murderer was only the first step towards making life easier for people who lived as good as in the outskirts of society… and his job with Azula had become, whether intentionally or not, about protecting such vulnerable people.

They didn't bring up their heated night of passion at all through the day. Tension hung between them as they began their slow trek down the mountains… a trek they wouldn't be able to finish in one day. Another town, further away, provided them with lodging in an inn…

Sokka was startled when, upon entering their room, he found a double bed at its center, rather than the two individual beds they always asked for.

His heart started beating faster – Azula had been the one to request the room this time, not him, so this was her idea, her initiative and…

Her arms wrapped around his waist from behind, and she pressed her head to his back.

"Azula…" he called her, almost breathlessly.

"We don't have to if… if you'd rather not. I only… it's only… well, I…"

She didn't need to give him any explanations. He hadn't asked for them.

He turned in her arms, kissing her fiercely: her first moans of the night paid him back for his affection immediately. She hugged him with arms and legs alike once he lifted her from the floor, and they fell into bed together, tightly wound up around each other once more.

...

It had been a long time since he had last visited Ba Sing Se… it had been fifteen years since the war had ended. Somehow, it felt like longer still.

He knew he didn't look as dignified as he should have when marching up to the Earth King's Palace, and the guards had nearly turned him away at once – his specific request to speak with the Avatar and his sister, currently being hosted by the Earth King, was the only reason why they had given him a chance to be anywhere near the Palace. Katara had rushed to him at once, though, wrapping her arms tightly around him, and Sokka smiled as he pat her back gently.

"You're… oh, you're here, you're alive, and you're the worst! Why don't you write more often?!" Katara nearly screamed, as good as fisting his shirt before hugging him again. "Six months and we hadn't heard anything from you…!"

"Sorry, Katara… White Lotus missions are a little challenging," Sokka said, with a sad smile. He hugged her back, though he smiled at Aang when he approached as well.

"It's good to see you again, Sokka," Aang smiled kindly.

"Are the little rascals doing okay?" Sokka asked, marching into the Palace with them. "Kya not giving you too much trouble, is she?"

"Oh, not that much, no," Katara smiled, walking beside her brother. "You're way more stressful than either of our kids… and that's saying something, considering they're as wild as they care to be. Sokka, I get that you can't just reveal what's going on with you all the time, but at times I think…"

"You think… what?" Sokka raised his eyebrows. Katara huffed, shaking her head.

"It's just… sometimes I worry that she might do something to you."

Sokka's stern frown surprised Katara. She winced, unsure of why she felt like withdrawing her previous words… they weren't a lie, she was worried about her brother, she didn't trust Azula any more than anyone else did. He had been traveling with her for seven years by now… and while Sokka was still in good shape, he grew more isolated and spent less and less time with his friends than ever before. Was she wrong for worrying? Was she too protective of her brother? Whatever the case might be… she was worried anyway.

"You don't have to look at me that way, Sokka, I…"

"Don't. It's the same thing every time, and honestly, I'm tired of having this discussion, Katara…"

"I just don't like the fact that you keep vanishing for months and it almost feels like she's isolating you from everyone else somehow," Katara said, shaking her head and clutching Sokka's strong arm. "It's not fair that you have to live your life this way…"

"I chose this life, Katara," Sokka said, point-blank, staring at her sternly. Katara winced. "Whereas she barely had a choice on the matter, so if anything, I'm the one who's been unfair to her. Don't…"

"You know that's not what I mean…"

"The job entails what it entails. Simple as that, and honestly? That's why I'm here today, too: I'm not here to join the King's party," Sokka said, with a heavy huff as they stopped by the stairs that led into the main Palace building.

"You're not?" Aang frowned, stopping with one foot on the first step. "But Sokka…"

"I'm not invited, am I?" Sokka said, with a dry grin.

"Kuei would welcome you if you wanted to be part of this, Sokka. And I mean, since you're already here…" Katara said, but Sokka shook his head.

"I'm not here to join any parties… and frankly, neither should you," Sokka said. Aang frowned.

"It's not really a party, you know?" Aang said. "It's a diplomatic meeting, Sokka. We have to work on strategies to further strengthen and unify the Earth Kingdom…"

"And the biggest threat to that plan is literally under Kuei's own palace," Sokka said, bluntly. Aang frowned. "Look… the White Lotus has believable information that indicates Long Feng and the Dai Li will do something to sabotage these talks. Kuei can very well handle this elsewhere, or postpone the event… anything so long as he doesn't gather all the Earth Kingdom's leaders here just when his biggest foe could strike at any moment. So…"

"Believable information… how?" Aang asked, frowning. Sokka sighed.

"I'm not exactly at liberty to say, but…"

"Is it her? Any of her old Dai Li pals told her?" Katara asked. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"She has no contact with anyone from her past, so no, it's not her," Sokka huffed. "If I had to guess, they've got someone else infiltrating the Dai Li and they're feeding information to the Order. I don't know who it is, but I do know that you're better served warning Kuei against this threat."

"Well, we'll warn him… but Long Feng is under many layers of protection, Sokka," said Katara, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think he'll be able to get out and cause trouble anytime soon. So…"

"Just… warn them? Make sure they take proper security measures and all?" Sokka said, sighing and shaking his head. "I'll be on the lookout for any sketchy Dai Li members myself, but they're bound to attack two days from now, if the information I received was accurate. So… at least make sure they're ready by then. Okay?"

"Two days?" Katara said, with a grimace. "Well, full moon's tomorrow, but maybe I'll still have some of the effect of it in two days, if I need to fight at all?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Aang sighed, though he smiled at Sokka. "Thanks for warning–… uh, where are you going?"

He had already turned on his heels, and Katara's placid demeanor switched to alarm because of it.

"Sokka?" she called him. Her brother glanced at her over his shoulder.

"I'm not staying here, I said. Booked a room in the Lower Ring," Sokka said. Both Katara and Aang balked upon hearing that.

"Sokka, come on! We can talk to Kuei…!"

"You should stay! We have so many stories to tell you…!"

"I'm sure he's going to say it's fine…!"

"Bumi and Kya have barely seen you lately, come on…!"

"Hey!" Sokka raised his voice, prompting the other two to quiet down, if reproachfully. "I'll be back to check on you and the kids tomorrow. But all I really wanted to do right now was tell you guys about this problem. Tell Kuei, convince him that he can meet with me tomorrow… but I'm not going in there just like this. He'll probably want me ousted from the city as soon as possible anyway, happened the last time we had an assignment in Ba Sing Se…"

"And you got in anyhow this time?" Aang asked. Sokka huffed.

"Beats me why the White Lotus leadership decided we were the ones for the job this time. They secured our way in somehow," Sokka said, shaking his head.

"So… she's here too? In the city?" Katara asked, skeptical.

Sokka nodded: the steel in his eyes said she was not welcome to follow him, to not even think of so much as moving a finger in Azula's direction. Uncomfortable as that made her, Katara sighed and shrugged.

"Fine, then. We'll… we'll set up a meeting for you and the King tomorrow or something. Go," she said, shaking her head and going back up the stairs. Aang grimaced, recognizing his wife's mood quickly.

"Katara…" he sighed: Sokka felt a pang of guilt of his own at his sister's dejected response… and yet he didn't yield any more than she did.

"See you tomorrow, then," he said, curtly.

With that, Sokka marched out of the Palace anew. He didn't feel good about leaving things so badly with his sister… but he knew there would be no other outcome in that particular conflict. Telling Katara that Azula wasn't the girl she'd been in the past – and for that matter, he wasn't that boy anymore, either – was not enough. Telling her about how many people they'd helped, about how many times they'd faced deadly peril to fulfill missions, about how much work Azula had undertaken to restore peace… all of it meant nothing to her, for she always fixated on the wrong things. Maybe one day Katara would change her mind… but maybe she wouldn't. And at this point, Sokka had been through more than enough hardships to let himself waste away with worry over his sister's behavior. There would be time to fix things between them later.

The inn where they would stay wasn't too crowded – the owner was a member of the Order, too. Sokka greeted him curtly before rushing up the stairs, his heart already lightening as he approached their assigned room…

He pushed the door open to find a beautiful, dark-haired woman who pushed herself up from the bed on impulse, still groggy after taking a long nap while she waited for him to return.

"I'm up, I… I wasn't trying to be lazy. Done unpacking, so I just… napped," Azula said, excusing herself without any need to. Sokka couldn't hold back a fond smile as he closed the door behind himself.

"I feel like I could go for a nap myself," he said. "But someone's looking gorgeous so… I think I'll tire myself out with her some more first, if she's willing."

"Hmm? Gorgeous?" Azula asked, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand. "Found another girl in another room, maybe…?"

"I found my girl in my room, but she's being silly as usual," Sokka huffed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her up to a standing position. Azula smiled, shaking her head as she closed her eyes, dropping her head on his shoulder. "You're gorgeous. Accept that reality already."

"I don't feel gorgeous when I've just woken up from a three-hour nap… or however long it was," she said, rubbing her face against his shoulder. "What time is it?"

"Around seven, I think," Sokka said, rubbing her back reassuringly. Azula hummed, nuzzling his neck.

"How did it go?" she asked. Sokka sighed and shrugged.

"Same old, same old. Katara's still being a pain about you…"

"Heh. Despising me is an international pastime, didn't you know?" Azula said, caressing his chest gently. Sokka growled, raising her head and kissing her rashly. She chuckled at his reaction. "Sokka…"

"They better go on and play at that when I'm not around, then. I'm not listening to any slander about you, not now, not ever," Sokka hissed. Azula hummed playfully, letting him pin her down on the mattress as he climbed over her. "I'd rather flee from Ba Sing Se through its sewers ten more times than humor their bullshit."

"Even if that means I won't sleep with you until you stop reeking of sewer shit?" Azula smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You bathed around ten times across three days to get rid of the smell that time… you'd better do it a hundred times over if you really intend to stay true to that vow."

"How about I don't go through any sewers and I sleep with you anyhow?" Sokka smirked, burying his face in her neck. Azula laughed, closing her eyes and throwing her head back as Sokka delighted her with his mischief.

They had slid smoothly into the habit of intimacy. At this point, they never stayed in rooms with single beds anymore, not unless they were at the White Lotus headquarters for longer than usual – and even then, they would simply sneak into each other's rooms whenever they felt like it. The Order's leaders had to know of their relationship – at least, it was a certainty that they'd learn of it now that they were staying at an inn manned by a White Lotus member, too. If they had been subtle enough to keep it quiet during their visits to headquarters – though they rather doubted it –, that subtlety would be certain to end now…

But somehow, that hadn't worried Azula in the least when she had chosen this room earlier that day. Somehow, she hadn't betrayed even a smidge of concern about their relationship being discovered. Instead, she gave herself to him heartily that night, ever thrilled to hold him tightly as their sweaty bodies collided in passionate lovemaking, as they always did. If it didn't worry her, then it wouldn't worry him, either… at least, that's what Sokka thought after a couple of rounds of heated sex.

As passionate as she had been that night, there was some manner of stronger affection in her smiles this time. Instead of the wary distance she usually clung to, no matter how many times they had been intimate, today she seemed to have let go of all such reservations… to the point where, even as they lay on their sides, with Sokka hugging her gently from behind, Azula clasped his hand and led it up to her breasts, eliciting mischievous laughter from her clever lover.

"Someone's particularly indecent today," he said, kneading her mounds softly. Azula hummed, stretching her neck and providing him with a perfect opportunity to nibble on her pale skin.

"Someone's ready to humor my indecency, so… enjoy it, won't you?" she said, turning her head slightly to kiss his lips promptly. "You seemed to be in a dark mood, after all… I thought some fun at my expenses would ease your troubled mind."

"At your expenses?" Sokka smiled. "Almost sounds like you didn't enjoy it too."

"Oh, I certainly did, but… your peace of mind worries me more," she said, pressing her brow to his. "What happened at the Palace? You delivered the warning? Do you expect they'll heed it?"

"I hope so," Sokka said, sighing. "It looks like they'll set things up so the King will agree to meet me tomorrow. I'm not sure if Kuei's going to be receptive to anything I say, though… not sure anyone will be. It doesn't matter if everything we say is White Lotus information… they refuse to trust it simply because it's coming from us, of course."

"Simply because I'm involved in this, rather," Azula said, with a sigh. "If you were alone, this wouldn't be…"

"Don't talk like that. Don't say that. I'll never walk alone… not as long as I can walk beside you," Sokka whispered, pressing his brow to her shoulder.

"I know… I know. Not willingly, anyway," Azula said, with a slight smile. "Meaning I'll have to escape from you somehow, if I hope to help you be taken seriously by those fools, huh?"

"Don't even think about it," Sokka grunted: his hand squeezed her breast, and he tightened his other arm around her waist. Azula hummed appreciatively as he devoured her neck again.

"So possessive…" Azula smirked. Sokka growled threateningly before diving into her neck even more enthusiastically. "How ridiculous is it of me to find you even more appealing when you're being so unreasonable?"

"Very ridiculous, I'm sure," Sokka said, and she could feel him smiling against her skin. "Call me a clingy moron if you want, but… I need you. I don't know if you need me too, but… I know I need you. Nobody gets me the way you do. Nobody listens the way you do. Nobody inspires me as much… nobody gives me purpose the way you have. At this point… I'm sure I need you way more than you need me."

"Do you, now?" Azula whispered, turning around in his arms so she could face him directly. Sokka offered her a guilty smile. "Hmm. Maybe you do need me more than I need you. How very foolish of you to land yourself in such an unfavorable situation."

"It is, huh?" Sokka smiled sadly.

"And you put me in an awkward position as well," Azula sighed, running her fingers through his hair as she gazed into his eyes intently. "However shall I handle all this power you've granted me over you, Sokka?"

"Keep doing it the way you have over the past years and we'll be fine," Sokka smiled, pressing his lips to hers softly. "I… I love you."

It wasn't the first time he'd said the words – no, that had happened after another life-or-death mission where he had yanked her back to safety after she wound up dangling off a cliff by one arm, while the other dangled broken and limp on her side. It had taken her quite a few months to recover from that particular fight… as well as to process the confession that had shaken up their relationship deeply.

He said them sometimes, and he never seemed to expect to hear them back. Even if he hesitated before uttering them, he simply seemed to feel the need to utter that phrase. It soothed him, much as their lovemaking did. It felt right… and a part of Azula knew she'd feel the same way if she spoke them back to him. If she told him she felt the same way…

She hadn't done it before.

Maybe she could do so now.

Her fingers trailed over his face as she responded the way she always did: with a deep, heartfelt kiss. With gratitude and appreciation of his deepest emotions. With her cherishing of him, on every possible level…

"I love you too."

Maybe he should have known, then, that something wasn't quite right. Maybe he should have picked up on the signs, on the strange hints she had dropped for him earlier in their conversation, masqueraded behind dark jokes.

But his foolish heart, often so battered and broken by the hardships he had faced, came back to life with full strength, racing madly as he smiled at her. She returned the grin… and before she knew it, she was receiving him fully inside her as he made love to her anew, without relenting with his frenzy of kisses, rejoicing in the fact that she loved him. That she had finally said those words too, and that they were, yet again, equals within their circumstances… equals in their love.

Foolish thoughts pertaining marriage, retirement, who knew if even children, came to mind. They were hopes and dreams he hadn't let himself cling to, for he always thought he wasn't done atoning, wasn't done grieving and processing the most difficult choices he'd made, the darkest sacrifices, the cruelest kindness he had bestowed upon his countless enemies. But a world without enemies could be within reach in the future. She loved him… and that meant they could have a future together. They'd have a future…

Those thoughts accompanied him as he drifted into sleep peacefully in her arms.

He woke up alone on the next morning.

Her things were still in the room. She had dressed up and left at some point through the night… and in his placid relief about what had happened between them, Sokka hadn't noticed she was gone. He hadn't woken up with nightmares, with dark thoughts, with anxiety that wouldn't give him a moment's respite… all because of her. Because her words had appeased him, because he had clung to a hope, a belief that they could outgrow this period of their lives and build something truly beautiful from it…

He found her letter on his nightstand shortly after waking up. He rubbed his eyes violently, forcing them to focus on her handwriting, fear gripping him as he hoped it would be a simple note conveying she had gone shopping, or that she'd needed to sort out something menial with the innkeeper… but the length of it immediately revealed otherwise even before he started to read it.

Seven years of your life. You have given me that many, and that is far more than I expected to live at all after Zuko pronounced his sentence. For I did live… I lived in ways I never had before. I hope I helped you feel the same way.

But now I set you free. Your life is yours again. Rejoin your sister and the Avatar, all your friends… even my brother, if you so choose. You've done more than enough… more than anyone else ever had. You gave me purpose… and now I hope to return the favor by setting you free from all the expectations and demands of our professional partnership.

Thank you for the life you gave me. Thank you for loving me – no one else ever had. I'd never known what it felt like... what it would mean to be loved for real. Thanks to you, I understand it now. It was a feeble, fickle dream for one like me… but a dream I clung to all the same until you made it come true.

I fear that your love awoke my own. Believe it or not… I do this because of how I feel about you. Because of what I've learned by your side. Because this is the person I need to be now in order to save a world that will be as thankless to me as it ever has been to you.

Love is powerful, it seems… powerful enough to sacrifice everything for. So many have said that love is the true purpose of life… I disregarded those claims, failed to understand them, until I came upon you. Until I knew I never wanted to lose you. These feelings you've awoken in me… they will always belong to you. One day, perhaps when you're old and rusty, our spirits may find each other again, if there's such a thing as an afterlife. If there's not… then I suppose I will simply hope you live your life as best you can, and that my absence won't hurt you as deeply as to lead you to join me at once. Live… and when the time comes, rejoice in our common destiny. In knowing you'll be wherever I will be, oblivion or no.

I love you. Thank you for teaching me how to say those words. How to write them to you, too. I'd never done this before. I'd never loved anyone before.

Thank you.

I love you.

Goodbye.

...

She knew these catacombs. She knew this undercity. Her greatest achievement during the war had been attained there… so it seemed fitting, then, that the last piece of her atonement would bring her back to where so much had begun.

The truth about their mission had been a secret for Sokka. He hadn't known… she hadn't been allowed to share it. The leaders of the Order had conveyed far more information to her than they had to him… information that revealed the first stage of the Dai Li's plan would be set in motion that night, once all of Kuei's closest allies had arrived for his diplomatic meeting. Thus, the best way to stop it would be by striking well before they could make their move.

If only she hadn't taken so long with that letter, she might have been there earlier, before dawn… She sniffed, wiping the tears off her face as she progressed further, deeper into the catacombs: she was close now. She could hear the voices, the footsteps…

"… We have waited for this moment, Lord Long Feng. We apologize for our delay, but…"

"Apologize for your treachery. Throwing your lot with that wretched child Princess… it took too long for you to understand that only I would be able to rule this city. Only I am deserving of control and command over the Dai Li's forces."

"Yes, Lord Long Feng."

"All of you! As one!"

"Yes, Lord Long Feng!"

She breathed deeply as the former Grand Secretariat gave another self-congratulatory speech. The highest ranked among his minions revealed their strategic plans, which they would set in motion by sundown. Then, Long Feng took to rallying them yet again and the group of a hundred Dai Li, maybe less, answered Long Feng with firm voices when he expected them to do so, once the last of his speech was over…

And then a singular applause, slow and sarcastic, rang across the catacombs.

At once, the whole group turned towards the sound. She didn't step out into the open right away… electing to speak, instead.

"A most inspiring, eloquent speech. Have you rehearsed it many times in your prison cell? Even the inflections of your tone suggest you've practiced countless times to perfect your pretense, Long Feng."

"You…" Long Feng's brow furrowed: his hair was graying by now, especially after the long imprisonment he had been subjected to…

All of which Azula noticed as she stepped out into the open, with a satisfied smirk and a fireball of blue flames in her hand.

"Sad as it is… practice does not make perfect. Not where there's no potential worth perfecting, to begin with."

Long Feng would do it. He would waste his time and immolate his forces to destroy her… she could see it in his eyes. In the crazed, furious eyes that locked on her figure right before he raised a hand, pointing in her direction before bellowing his order for the Dai Li who had willfully returned to him:

"KILL PRINCESS AZULA, NOW!"

...

He had no time to waste. He had boarded the first train, rushed to the driver's cabin and threatened him, blatantly, to not stop at any stations and to take him to the Palace at once: a deadly black sword to the neck ensured his demands would be satisfied without question.

He arrived in a rush, racing past the guards who, this time, weren't as twitchy about letting him inside the Palace. He ran faster still across the stairs, rushing into the building…

A building that was trembling, a fact he only noticed once he slowed down to find his bearings and figure out where his sister and Aang might be.

"Fuck… fuck!" he roared. Whether the information the Order had given them was faulty or not… it had begun. Long Feng's forces were taking action.

He rushed into the Throne Room instinctively, and he nearly let relief wash over him upon finding that not only the king but his sister and her husband were within the room. The last two turned towards him: Aang had been about to use his seismic sense, judging by his position, but Sokka had interrupted him.

"Katara… Aang!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Sokka! Sokka, there's some sort of earthbending…!" Katara started. Sokka snarled as he turned towards Aang.

"Break the floor and let's make our way down! Now!" he said. Aang's eyes widened. "The Dai Li were coming, they were going to use the undercity to free Long Feng, they…!"

"What?! What manner of wild tales are these…?!" Kuei gasped, nervous on his feet. Aang raised a reassuring hand in the man's direction before stomping on the ground indeed…

He frowned… then his eyes widened.

"They're there. T-they're really underground," Aang said, meeting Sokka's eyes in horror.

"What?!" Kuei gasped.

"The vibrations are really earthbenders… they're fighting someone. Something. I…!"

"It's Azula!" Sokka exclaimed: Kuei's bad mood and utter shock only seemed to worsen then. "Aang, for everything you hold dear, every damn thing you owe me: split the ground open and help me save her!"

"T-that's not…!" Kuei started – of course he would argue against it, of course he'd let her sacrifice herself and save his own hide… for all that mattered was that he'd have the opportunity to gather his guards and put a stop to the Dai Li's schemes thanks to her sacrifice.

She had immolated herself by triggering the Dai Li, and Long Feng, into wasting their time fighting her, at first, rather than waiting to set their actual plan in motion and murdering the king.

"AANG!"

Sokka's harsh, cold urgency convinced the nervous Avatar to disregard the King's feelings: Kuei had nothing to do but yelp as Aang tore the floor apart, breaking a whole chunk of it… and letting it drop, heavily, atop a cluster of Dai Li forces, fighting harshly underground.

With that, the quaking stopped.

Dust rose everywhere in the Throne Room in the wake of the Palace's floor's heavy collapse: even if the broken floor hadn't been a wide area, it had crumbled in such a way that the earth and rocks had crushed numerous earthbenders beneath them. Aang gritted his teeth at the realization, immediately hoping they could be saved… but no such thoughts concerned Sokka as he jumped through the dust cloud, as he sortied past crushed and burnt corpses, frantically searching for one person, and one alone...

He found her through her cough: some of the debris of the collapsed tunnel had fallen near her, hiding her from view. He rushed in that direction, hacking away at any Dai Li agents who rose back to their feet, no doubt willing to fight still… and he refused to give them that chance. Not right now. Not when…

He finally came around the cluster of debris, and he found her huddled against it.

"Azula!"

His voice caused her to react at once. She raised her head… but her eyes seemed not to find him in the darkness of the catacombs, especially after the ceiling had collapsed upon the Dai Li in the middle of their fight.

"Can you hear me? Azula, can you…?" Sokka dropped heavily on his knees, sheathing his sword and cupping her cheeks carefully. "Azula?"

"S-Sokka…" she coughed again…

A trickle of red spilled down her lips.

He could barely see the magnitude of her wounds here. He couldn't grasp it properly right now, with such poor lighting… he snarled, tears of despair and anger burning in his eyes, in his throat…

He slid his arms underneath her body, hoisting her carefully against his chest. His sister and Aang had entered the tunnel as well, deeply confused, no doubt horrified by the severity of the conspiracy Sokka had warned them of, and that had struck before they were ready to defend against it…

"HELP!"

Sokka's voice brought both of them to glance at him in sheer panic: the broken woman in Sokka's arms bled from numerous wounds, and she seemed to have fallen unconscious by now. Tears streamed down his face as he rushed up to his friends, driven by an adrenaline, a need so much stronger than any he had known… a need to protect and save the woman he had wanted to spend his life with.

"Katara…!" Aang gasped: his wife was far from appreciative of Azula… but she didn't hesitate to uncork her waterskin, letting her glowing water bathe the fallen princess's wounds.

The light the water elicited shed even further light upon how damaged her body was: one of her legs appeared to be fractured. Her flank bled profusely. Her breathing was heavy, labored…

If they didn't do something, fast, she would die.

"Sokka, bring her here! Come!" Aang urged him, and the non-bender obeyed at once.

Katara continued to heal the wound on Azula's flank as best she could while Aang catapulted them upwards once more. They would urge Kuei to send his forces underground later… right now, Azula's life hung on the most dangerous thread of all.

Ba Sing Se was, thus, a pandemonium on that day. Numerous arrests were made, Long Feng was found crushed to death underneath the collapsed debris in the tunnel, guards rushed in and out of that hole, dragging all survivors out of the cavern while knowing, too, that several were likely to have escaped…

That would have surely bothered Azula, had she been aware of it.

Together, Aang, Katara and Sokka had taken to healing her as best they could. Sokka offered as much assistance as possible, mainly by slowing down the bleeding with a tourniquet in her leg, by applying pressure on her flank's wound, too, while Aang ensured to help Azula's breathing, keeping her body's system going even when it seemed moments away from giving out. Katara healed as much tissue as she could, and Sokka sought fresh water for her frequently, carrying more and more buckets for Katara to continue with the process of healing the firebender, removing whole shards of rock and debris that had been embedded in Azula's body throughout that battle.

But it wasn't enough. As exhausting as a whole day's worth of surgical procedures could be, there was no guarantee of success after all those hours of working to save Azula's life.

"It's too much damage," Katara told an anxious Sokka, who shook his head, rejecting her words. "I… I can't patch her up if she doesn't have enough chi to be patched. Her energy is basically… seeping out through her wounds, okay? Even with your efforts Sokka, some blood is still leaking and I can't…"

"Then stop the bleeding yourself," Sokka hissed. Katara scoffed.

"I've tried, but…!"

"Bloodbending!"

His declaration startled Katara: they had a few hours left before it was nighttime… but it would be a full moon that night. She had mentioned it yesterday… though not in connection to a skill she had never wanted to use again.

"Use it… to stop the bleeding! To help her!" Sokka pleaded. "Katara, please…!"

Katara snarled: she had never wanted to bloodbend again. It was one of the worst things she could do with her bending… but couldn't she kill people with ice or water, even with steam, just as well as she could with bloodbending? Couldn't she hurt others regardless of the bending power she used?

Just so… could she use bloodbending to save a life, rather than control it or take it?

"I… I'll try, but I don't know if it will work. It's still early, so…" Katara said: Sokka nodded, trembling as he gave Katara some space…

It didn't work for well over an hour. She resorted to some more waterbending healing instead, keeping Sokka pressing the severe, hemorrhaging wounds with cloths while she tested it again, until…

Until she finally found control, grip, within Azula's body. She gasped… and then she focused.

She mended the flank's wound, the more urgent one, first: it was clean now, so all they needed to do was stop the bleeding, heal the blood network underneath Azula's skin, bridge the tissue… and she did so with bloodbending. Once the damage was mostly amended, at least, as well as it could be, Sokka helped her stitch the wound. Then, she did the same with the leg – the ripped skin fell into place smoothly, so Sokka could proceed to stitch that, too. By then, exhausted and anguished, they still didn't know if she'd make it: Katara pumped Azula's heart through her bloodbending skills, offering it more strength than it likely had left while Aang still bent the air in and out of her lungs…

"We… have to stop doing it eventually. She has to be able to breathe and her heart has to beat without help," Katara said, looking at Sokka sternly. "Sokka…"

"I… I get it. I get it. You did… a lot of work. Thank you. Thank you," he said, gritting his teeth as he leaned close to Azula's limp, bloodied form.

He hovered by her ear, tears spilling down his cheek: deep dread nestled inside him as he spoke softly, as if expecting neither Aang nor Katara would hear him, even if they were, naturally, within earshot.

"That's about… about enough of scaring me shitless, you hear me?" he said. "That letter… that's no way to say goodbye, okay? It's not. So… come back to me. Come back… and say to my face that you don't want to be by my side, if that's how you feel. Say it and I'll let you go… I'll let you do anything you want. I won't… w-won't make you stay by my side anymore if you don't want me to, Azula, but just live. Just… just live. I can't… I can't lose you. I can't live on if you're gone, so don't even ask me to try… because I won't bother. So please… live. Live, my love, just live…"

He cried, and he pressed his lips to hers – he received nothing for an answer. He pressed his brow to hers… and his hand fell upon her left breast, where her heart had been beating so fiercely merely one day ago. Merely one night ago, when he had last given himself to her…

He sensed it when Katara started letting go. When Aang stopped pouring and withdrawing air from her lungs. Her breathing grew slower… her heartbeats fainter.

They didn't stop.

Her heart, weak, still beat when Katara stopped bending completely.

Her lungs still took in air, if less if it, when Aang stopped bending, too.

Sokka trembled as he gazed at her helplessly. He swallowed hard as tears of uncertainty now spilled down his face… as he pressed a soft kiss upon her shoulder.

And now, all he could do was wait.

...

"… hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here, I…! Katara! Katara, she's coming to, she's…! Oh, please, don't go, just stay with me…!"

...

"Azula? You… you hear me? Can you hear me? Azula…"

...

"… he can fuck himself."

"Sokka, he's the king, this is his palace, at least have enough sense not to insult him in his own home…"

"She's barely breathing and he wants to kick her out? He's a piece of shit, and I'll say it to his face just as I'll say it to you. She deserves better than this. She saved his pitiful hide, nearly died for him, and he's still throwing fits. Piece of shit…"

"Sokka… oh. Sokka, she's conscious."

"Azula? Azula…! Oh, spirits… stay with us, okay? Drink… drink some water. Katara, please…"

"On it, I'm on it…"

"You'll be okay. You'll be okay. I know this is weird and scary… but you'll be okay."

...

"Toph's made it. We can bring her over to Republic City safely now."

"Shit… thank you. Thank you. I… I know I've been unbearable for the past week, but… thank you."

...

The drift back into consciousness was gradual, interrupted, inconsistent. Sometimes she could stay awake for minutes… sometimes, she'd merely hear a few words before losing the battle against her exhaustion once more.

By the time she finally had a better grip on reality, the voices of children laughing rang somewhere in the place she was in. She opened her eyes with difficulty… to find herself in a wholly unknown location.

The only familiar thing in it was the man sitting by her bedside, hand holding hers.

He was unconscious, too. Pale, gaunt, dark bags under his eyes. In however long it had been since their last moments together, he seemed to have aged about ten years… she didn't want to imagine how much worse she looked, truth be told.

She tightened her grip on his hand. He snapped awake immediately.

"A… Azula. Azula…" he gasped, rubbing his eyes with his free hand before leaning closer to her… before smiling, and with that, the burden he seemed to carry lifted, if just slightly. "Oh, I missed your beautiful eyes. Azula…"

He kissed her, and she couldn't say a word before he stepped away from her, calling for his sister. The waterbender showed up shortly afterwards, healed Azula as best she could all over again, and tasked Sokka with feeding her and ensuring she remained hydrated. Her presence daunted Azula… even if she sensed little hostility from the woman as she treated her. Still…

Still, there was too much Azula had to answer for. Too much she hadn't told Sokka, and that he surely would be cross about once she did. She didn't feel strong enough to speak… but she also feared speaking at all, knowing there would be consequences once she did it, immediate ones, at that.

Consequences she had meant to escape in a cowardly manner, for she hadn't known what else to do. Not anymore, anyway.

She recovered steadily for a few weeks: in that time, she grew familiar with the voices of Bumi and Kya as they screamed and played all over Air Temple Island. In that time, she grew used to Aang's presence as he visited her, eager to help her recovery through spiritual meditation techniques he taught her… it helped, certainly, for she fell asleep without fail through most of them. She grew more comfortable with Katara's visits, too, as she provided Azula with healing sessions that served to diminish the worse of the pain – for it felt worse every day, no matter if she was supposed to be recovering. Her leg, stuck in a cast, was uncomfortable, stiff, and more than anything, painful. Her flank ached with every breath she took, and she had no idea how much blood she had lost, for it felt like it had been too much, going by her constant exhaustion…

The one thing she didn't need to get used to, of course, was Sokka: he was with her constantly, holding her hand, brushing her hair, speaking of anything and everything that crossed his mind. He had a knack, of course, for telling her she was beautiful – she showed her personality in spades to him whenever he did that, leveling a sharp glare in his direction for it and prompting him to chuckle as he kissed her brow. He also kissed her lips often, with no regard as to who else might be in the room… he didn't care if they found out, then. If anything, perhaps he was keen on reveling their relationship to everyone… a wrong choice on his part, she feared, and yet she was powerless to stop him. The affection in his behavior almost felt like that of a husband, Azula suspected, no matter if she had never experienced marriage before…

She didn't know how much time had passed since her fight against the Dai Li and Long Feng when she finally dared speak again. Her first words came in the wake of another of Sokka's kisses, one she reciprocated lightly.

"I have no idea if this will help you heal, but… Aang says love is the best medicine, apparently?" Sokka had said, playfully. "Still, if you want me to stop, just blink twice or so. I'm being an idiot and I just… I've always liked kissing you. But if you need me to stop…"

"Don't…"

Sokka's eyes widened. Azula swallowed dryly, with difficulty, before her raspy voice left her throat again.

"Don't stop."

Sokka's eyes, tearful, closed as he leaned in again and again, kissing her repeatedly, holding her affectionately – he was a strange balm against pain, for as long as his lips brushed hers, her wounds fell to the wayside. All thought of pain would be easier to ignore… as long as he continued to offer her his kindness this way, nothing else seemed to matter.

But unfortunately, something still did.

About a month since she first spoke, Sokka seemed to have enough of mysteries and of being in the dark about what had happened in Ba Sing Se. He sat by her bedside that evening, holding her hand as he always did… but a deeper, darker atmosphere hung between them, and not only because night was falling.

"They… gave you other orders, didn't they?" Sokka asked. Azula swallowed hard. "I'm sorry to bring this up now, but… it's been three months. They haven't reached out with new missions… haven't tried to contact me at all, even when it's plain and clear that I'm here, at my sister's place. If no one else, Iroh could've reached out to me… and he hasn't. You were reckless… but you could only afford to be because you knew something I didn't. Right?"

Azula breathed deeply: the pain in her ribs stung her for it, but she lowered her gaze in obvious guilt. Sokka stroked the back of her hand gently with his thumb.

"I'm not mad at you," Sokka whispered, cupping her face with his other hand. She shut her eyes tightly upon hearing those words. "I… I could never be. I just… I just want you safe. I need you safe, and… and whatever you decided to do that night, we could've done it together. We could've succeeded together… but that wasn't what they told you to do, was it?"

Azula swallowed hard again. Her grip on his hand tightened as she refused to meet his gaze, eyes still closed.

"I… am a liability," she said. Sokka frowned. "You'll say otherwise, you'll say you need me… but the world doesn't. Nothing I do is ever enough… nothing I dare do would ever be enough. You've given me chances on top of chances to help me prove myself, to change, to put my darkness to better use… but Zuko still wants me imprisoned. Kuei likely grieved when he learned of my survival, for I'm sure he would have rejoiced if I had died. My being here… it makes no sense either. Zuko's going to… to issue some demand to the Avatar so that I'm delivered to him, isn't he? And then everything we've avoided for the past seven years will happen anyway. I…"

"You were headed to your death," Sokka said, firmly. Azula gritted her teeth. "That letter you left me… it allowed no other interpretation. You… you were ready to die, Azula. But I'm… I'm not ready to let you do that. I don't think I ever will be. I… you're…"

"Sokka…" she said, finally opening her eyes to find him covering his mouth with a hand – his face was flushed as tears bloomed in his eyes at the very notion of losing her. "You could've had… a much brighter life than this if it weren't for me. You've given me seven years… the darkest and yet greatest seven years of my wretched existence. That's… that's seven more years than I ever thought I'd get. Seven more years of actual… actual life rather than imprisonment. I'm grateful for it… of course I am, Sokka, but I can't… I can't do this to you anymore. I can't… can't let you waste your potential when you could be living a better life if only I weren't…"

"I chose this life. I chose you myself," Sokka said, his voice strong, no matter if it was charged with tears. "I didn't know all along that it'd come to this… that I'd love you like this. But I chose you… because I don't care about becoming the poster child of politics in Republic City, or the next chief in line of the South Pole if I can only become those things by forsaking you."

"I… I'm not worth this much, Sokka," Azula said: tears were blooming in her eyes as well. "Anyone would tell you… anyone would know I'm not. I've done… heinous things. I just… I just…"

"You've done brilliant things too. I've seen many of them myself," Sokka said, firmly, cupping her cheek again. "You're worried that I won't live up to my potential? Well, I won't let you die without making sure you can live up to yours."

"This world… doesn't want me. I have no place here. I have no place anywhere," Azula said, shaking her head lightly. "I don't belong… anywhere. And I've dragged you into it for too long, and even if you say you chose me, Sokka, this isn't… it isn't right. It isn't fair. I… I love you too much to let you do this to yourself any longer, okay? Just… just stop. Stop fighting for me. I'm not worth it."

Sokka's frown nearly hid his eyes behind his heavy brows. He shook his head, disapprovingly, in utter disagreement with her words...

He released her hand and rose to his feet.

"You don't get to decide that," Sokka said, firmly. Azula swallowed hard as she gazed up at him. "Neither do the White Lotus, the Fire Lord, the King of Ba Sing Se or the King of Omashu…! None of them get to decide you're not worth it. Because as long as there's an idiot stubborn enough out there to see you for the incredible, inspiring, extraordinary woman you are… as long as that happens, it means you do have a place in this world. It means you have a place by my side. I've lost… I've lost enough as it is. I've broken my soul a million times over just to save a world that only keeps getting worse and worse. I'm… I'm tired. I'm done cleaning up everyone else's messes from the shadows. They, Azula... they're the ones who aren't worthy of us. Of everything we could do. Of everything we've offered them. I'm done being taken for granted. I'm done being the wall they rest on, the wall that gets shot full of arrows while everyone else sleeps soundly behind me. And if you have no place in this world… then neither do I. And that means we can go on and build one for ourselves, together."

She sat in silence, watching him with reluctance, with uncertainty. Sokka swallowed hard as he leaned over her again, pressing his lips to hers.

"I love you," he said, firmly. Her heart, so weak, tingled upon hearing those words, knowing them to be true. "There's something I have to do now. I'll be back as soon as it's done."

"Back? Sokka…" Azula trembled, raising a hand to clasp his shirt. "Don't. T-take me too, don't… don't leave me here. Don't…"

"You'll be okay. They'll look after you," Sokka said, kissing her brow. "I have to do this. For the both of us."

Azula gritted her teeth but didn't plead again. She clung to him with more strength than she knew she had left in her… she dragged him into her bed with her, and Sokka held her as she wept until she fell asleep.

On the next morning, it was Azula who woke up to find herself alone.

...

"Sokka… we can explain."

"Fuck your explanations: you sent me with my partner to Ba Sing Se without telling me your entire purpose was to have her killed?!"

The White Lotus's leadership had changed very little over the years – a new member had joined the group, though he was as good as a total stranger to Sokka. The familiar ones, Jeong Jeong, Piandao, Iroh and Pakku, gazed at him with remorse – it was stupid of Sokka to wonder if the old king Bumi would have, perhaps, agreed with him, were he still alive… but he wondered about that, nonetheless.

"The Princess… is a highly dangerous individual," said the newcomer, whose name always slipped Sokka's mind – and after this, Sokka was even more keen on making sure he'd never remember it.

"No fucking kidding: I've fought by her side for seven years, I know exactly how dangerous she can be," Sokka hissed – and that danger made her the greatest partner he could have asked for.

"It's not so simple," Jeong Jeong said, with a heavy sigh. "The Princess joined us to atone for her actions during the war. Most of that atonement has been handled in secrecy, with missions meant for stealth, to settle gruesome affairs that cannot be handled through more diplomatic means. The two of you have handled yourselves well… but try as we have to convince the Fire Lord and the Earth King of the value of the Princess's actions, they remain unmoved."

"Have you actually tried?" Sokka asked, glaring at Jeong Jeong. "Or is this an excuse to pretend that you guys have done far more work to help her than you actually did?"

"Sokka…" Iroh sighed. "I understand how difficult it is to accept this, but the truth is that the world leaders at large have pressured us for years to hand her over. The Water Tribes weren't impacted by her choices personally, no, but the leaders in Republic City wish to ensure she faces justice too, just as all war criminals have, and…"

"Oh, have they? Last I knew, Grand Lotus, you own a teashop in Ba Sing Se even when you led the siege that meant to starve a city and then raze it to the ground," Sokka snapped. "Piandao and Jeong Jeong? You two were part of the Fire Nation war machine as well, and nobody's asking for your heads on stakes anymore. Zuko had a change of heart in a matter of months… and everyone accepted him no matter how much harm his chase of me, my sister and the Avatar caused, not only to us, but to the rest of the world. I… I'm not pretending her actions were any less harmful than they were: but after fifteen years, seven of which she has spent giving her every effort to fulfilling your missions and proving she isn't as far gone as everyone pretends she is, she's still a menace that needs to be destroyed while the lot of you get away with a slap on the wrist? And then you push her to die to atone for her sins? That's how it works?"

The group fell silent. Sokka's chest heaved as he glared at each of them in turn… as Pakku swallowed hard.

"I fear the fallen Princess may not be more harmful than any of us are," the waterbender said. "But politics work this way, Sokka. It's gruesome, unpleasant… cruel in many ways. Fear… that's what guides King Kuei and Fire Lord Zuko to make the choices they have. We have made efforts to help… but they refuse to heed our counsel altogether. Azula's orders were different from yours… so that you'd be spared. She asked for that, personally. Without her, you'll be able to reclaim all the privileges you lost because of your association with Azula. All the opportunities that have been denied to you… they'll be back on the table now, Sokka. Zuko will be open to reconciliation with you if you only…"

"Who the hell told that bastard I wanted to reconcile with him in the first place?" Sokka hissed. Pakku sighed. "What makes him think I need him in my life at all? I don't. I'd choose her over him without question. What kind of brother makes it his purpose to destroy his sister's life? What kind of Fire Lord does he expect to be if this is what his attempts to 'reconnect to the goodness of his family' amount to? Fire Lord Ozai would be so fucking proud of him if he knew Zuko's making sure to let his resentment, jealousy and rage at Azula guide him… I bet he actually is proud. Sounds like the Fire Nation hasn't changed as much as it should have if that's the kind of guy who leads it."

"Sokka… Zuko is better than that," Iroh said, shaking his head. "He's complicated, yes, difficult when it comes to Azula, but that doesn't mean…"

"Shut up," Sokka hissed. Iroh frowned. "You… you're not blameless. And you're as biased as I am, if that's what you're going to say next. You've given your dear nephew every chance to live and thrive and make something of himself… while you sent your niece to die in Ba Sing Se to save the King's life. The very king who wanted her dead so badly that he still doesn't fucking realize that she's the only reason why his city didn't wind up in Long Feng's control all over again while his corpse was bled dry and made an example of in the gates of Ba Sing Se's Palace. So…"

"Sacrifices have to be made in order to keep the world safe. That is the crux of your role in the White Lotus, and it always has been."

Jeong Jeong's intervention startled even the other leaders of the White Lotus: his eyes were firm upon Sokka, unyielding… merciless.

Where Sokka was initially filled with cold dread upon hearing those words, a rush of wild anger took its place in a matter of instants.

"Is that so?" Sokka asked, trembling.

He pulled something out of his pocket, tossing it in the air. The White Lotus tile flipped multiple times as it rose higher, and it continued to spin as gravity reclaimed it.

Then, it split in half as Space Sword swung through it vertiginously quickly.

The two shards of the tile fell at either side of Sokka. His furious glare didn't leave the stunned Jeong Jeong, not even for a second.

"Keep them," Sokka said, gesturing at the shards with the tip of his sword. "Make sure they serve as a reminder of what pieces of shit you all are, the next time you decide someone else's life is worth sacrificing for the greater good of a world that's just as worthless as the whole lot of you are."

For a moment, no one moved. No one spoke. It seemed as though they expected that blade to slay them, next… but Sokka sheathed it, instead. He shook his head before offering them a curt bow of his head, so light it almost felt insignificant.

"I hereby resign from my post in the Order of the White Lotus… as does Azula."

"Sokka, wait," Piandao said, swallowing hard as he stepped forward. "I know this is a grave situation, but…"

"She will be helpless without us," growled Jeong Jeong. "The White Lotus's protection is the only thing keeping her alive and safe from the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation's demands…"

"Oh, rest assured: I'll be the one to protect her now. From everyone who means her harm," Sokka hissed, glaring at each of them in turn. "Whether from cowardly heads of state… or from cowardly old men who want everyone else to do their dirty work only to kill them whenever it suits them. We don't need the White Lotus… maybe we never did."

He didn't listen to any other pleas as he marched to the door, turning his back on the initiative he had devoted over ten years of his life to… the initiative through which he had, admittedly, found a way to save Azula from the devastating fate she was likely to face at first.

But not like this. No more. He had grievances, struggles, trauma he had barely even acknowledged after the countless criminals and threats he'd been forced to kill… he had given the Order far more than he ever should have. A world as rotten as theirs didn't deserve to take as much from him as it had… and he refused to let it steal the woman he loved. He had lost enough… he had lost enough.

He wouldn't lose Azula.

...

"How's it feeling?" Katara asked. Azula, tense and uneasy, didn't reject the waterbender's healing upon her flank's wound – it always helped smooth over the pain, which was finally starting to dwindle.

"It's… it's better. Slightly," Azula said, curtly. Katara sighed.

"It was a lot of damage. That we kept you alive is… is nothing short of a miracle," Katara said. Azula gritted her teeth.

"Why did you?" Azula asked. "You… could've let me die. Should've, if you ask the world leaders, so…"

"I… I don't turn my back on people who need me. Even if it's people I'm not fond of," Katara said, swallowing hard. "I suppose I… I really could have told Sokka I wouldn't help you. I could have refused, and… and I wouldn't have a brother anymore, I suppose. He would have never had anything to do with me again… and he would have been right to feel that way."

"Would he?" Azula said. "Aren't I just… more trouble than I'm worth?"

"I would've thought so before this," Katara said. "Though if I said that to Sokka, he probably would have never spoken to me again. I told him to give up on your jobs for the White Lotus many times. He's been weighed down by it for even longer than he's been with you, you know? I have no idea what the hell they've tasked the two of you to do… but I do know it's taken a toll on him, a really bad one. And I just… I wanted him to be okay. To be happy, to have a better life, and I thought his strange sense of responsibility towards you was stopping him. I guess… you thought so too? As far as I've understood… you just went on this mission on your own, expecting to die? Thinking… that you might set him free if you did?"

Azula breathed deeply and shrugged slightly. Katara gritted her teeth.

"Nobody needs me. He thinks he does, but… he's wrong," Azula whispered. "He's… in love with me. Hell knows why someone would do such a thing as falling in love with me, but… he is. He cares. He cares too much for his own good. He could have anyone else. Someone who wouldn't cause him to get exiled by proxy from virtually all nations…"

"He cares too much, then… and do you?" Katara asked. Azula winced. "Do you love him too?"

Azula's lips trembled as she tried to hold back the tears. She covered her mouth with a hand, as her throat seemed to thicken…

"You do, don't you?" Katara said: her eyes widened as Azula covered her face fully with her hands.

"He… he's too good for me. He deserves better than me… he should know that. He should accept that, but…" Azula said, trembling violently.

"He… he deserves better than everything he's had to face in life," Katara said, softly, gritting her teeth. "He's become so… ruthless. So cold. For a long time, we've pretended it's your fault, that you're the one having so much influence on him, hurting him, and he's too stubborn to admit it. But… I guess we had it wrong. You weren't the one who was breaking him, but… but the one keeping him together. The one giving his life meaning when he lost sight of it. You say he doesn't need you, but… after everything that's happened lately, I don't want to know who my brother would be without you."

"Sokka… Sokka would be okay without me. It would hurt, but he would…" Azula said. Katara shrugged.

"I would've thought so too… because he was fine after Yue. He was fine after mom died. He was fine after… after everything, felt like," Katara said, shaking her head: Azula eyed her warily, and Katara breathed deeply. "But he wasn't, was he? He just… bottled everything up. And I was too blind to see it. He was my brother, so… I just took for granted that he'd be okay. His heart was strong, I never questioned that… but maybe I assumed it was stronger than it was. Just… just as everyone assumed you were stronger than you were, too. Is that why you two… why you came to understand each other this way? Why you worked together for so long? Because, somehow, you're the same? You've been sidelined in the same way?"

"I… I don't know. And honestly… you don't need to pity me or compare me to him, I… I'm not like him," Azula said, swallowing hard. "If I were… I would've made something better of myself. I drag him down, doesn't matter if he can't see it. I'm… stunting him. I'm keeping him stuck in a place where he shouldn't be, all because he decided I deserved a second chance while the rest of the world is sure I don't. It… it convinced me that I don't, too, so… why waste away trying to save me? Tell him… convince him. Tell him to stop. I'm not worth it. I'm not…"

"You sacrificed yourself in such a way that you nearly died to save the city you once conquered," Katara said, frowning. "Zuko… he sacrificed himself to save me from your lightning that time, remember? It was like… like he was making up for all the times he had been the one to attack us, to chase us, to hound us: what you did was fundamentally no different. So… I don't know, Azula. Maybe…"

"Maybe I've changed?" Azula scoffed, glaring at her. "I… I haven't. Not nearly as much as you could think I…"

"No… maybe you haven't," Katara said, gritting her teeth. "But maybe it's the first time I'm looking at you for who you are, and not for who I've been led to believe you to be."

Azula froze: she stared at Katara's eyes… eyes that were kinder than before. Not as kind as Sokka's, no… but they were strikingly similar to his, nonetheless.

"Don't… don't you start too. Bad enough that Sokka thinks I… that he somehow convinced himself I'm a better person than I am, you can't…" Azula said, shaking her head. Katara sighed, shaking hers too.

"Don't worry, I am second-guessing myself about that too, every bit as much as you are," Katara said, with a weak smile. "Look… it's just not fair to you that we've never let you prove yourself at all. We were always ready for you to turn on us, to hurt us, to be a hazard somehow. I guess… maybe Zuko worried us less because he wasn't as smart as you."

"Huh… and now you compliment me."

"I suppose," Katara laughed softly. "He was a dangerous firebender, yeah… but the rest of us were growing stronger, too. If he'd done anything out of line, we would have stopped him. With you, though… I guess we felt like you'd be able to defeat us all. And if you say you could have…"

"I… might have, before."

"Oh, shut up," Katara huffed. Azula smiled slightly. "The point is… maybe we've seen you and treated you as a threat for too long. Maybe… maybe it's time to see you for who you really are. To let you make your own choices. And if you fuck up… well, you'll face the consequences. But if you don't… maybe the rest of the world will finally see what Sokka saw. Because… he did give you a chance. And he doesn't regret it."

"He… he should," Azula said, gritting her teeth. "He should. He could do better…"

"Maybe… but he's in love with you, and he definitely disagrees on that front," Katara said, with a sad smile. "I'm sorry if we've caused you more anguish than you should've felt… I know I've been harsh with Sokka about you, and… I never really tried to see your side. If my behavior had anything to do with your choice to die in the hopes that you might redeem yourself by it, and to set Sokka free from being your partner, too? Well… I'm really sorry. I don't know if it did, but…"

"Not as much as you might think," Azula said. "My orders were… they were clear. I agreed with them."

"Well… then I hope I can help Sokka out by convincing you that they weren't worth agreeing with," Katara said, swallowing hard. "I mean… it'll be weird, having you for a sister. But it might be fun… right until you and Sokka start plotting and scheming to prank me with one thing or another, of course. You'd think I have plenty of practice because of Toph, but honestly…? You're never ready for that sort of thing."

"And you're telling me this so that I can start plotting as much already?" Azula asked. Katara smiled slightly. "You're terribly masochistic, if so."

"I… I guess I'm just feeling weird about all this," Katara said, biting her lip. "Thinking that… that even if indirectly, I might have led someone to think they were better off dead? That all of us might have…? We're just… demanding that you redeem yourself, with no clue of how you've gone about it, how many other people you've saved the way you saved Kuei. At this point… aren't we the ones who should do better by you? Redeem ourselves, in your eyes?"

"I doubt that," Azula said, frowning. "You're not not to blame for this. Whatever I've done, whoever I've become, your opinion on the matter… it has nothing to do with my choices. Redeeming yourself…? You don't… you don't owe me anything. Nobody does."

Katara smiled. She raised a hand to clasp Azula's, gently, as the other retained the glowing water over Azula's healing wound.

"If that's truly how you feel… then I'm afraid you're already a way better person than I thought you were. So thanks for proving me wrong," she said. Azula raised her eyebrows.

"Huh… was that some sort of test, then?" she asked. Katara chuckled, shrugging enigmatically. "To find out what kind of person I really was? Heh. And then you think I'm the one who schemes and connives…"

"Well, I never said I didn't do it sometimes, too," Katara pointed out, smirking. Azula scoffed… though she smiled slightly, too.

She couldn't remember the last time she had genuinely smiled at anyone other than Sokka.

...

"How is she? Has she made any progress?" Sokka asked Aang anxiously: the Avatar had surprised him by picking him up at the shores of Republic City once he arrived, and Appa sped away towards Air Temple Island now. "Her wounds…"

"They're healing. And she's doing a little better, yeah," Aang smiled reassuringly. "You'll see it for yourself in just a bit."

"I… thank you. I know I've been… kind of a dick this whole time," Sokka said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry for that, Aang, I just…"

"You don't have to apologize. You were doing your best to save a life," Aang smiled, glancing at him from over his shoulder. "And I think… maybe doing that has saved you too, more than working for the White Lotus ever did."

Sokka frowned at the remark: he had certainly done his best to help Azula… and only then had his work with the White Lotus started to gain true meaning, in all its darkness. Only then, when he had a partner who lived and fought alongside him, had he found the purpose he had long failed to understand…

Appa groaned as they came closer to the island: the temple was still small, built with architecture meant to honor the Air Nomads. The natural courtyards were pristine, peaceful, even when two kids liked to run across them wildly… but right now, those kids ran past two grown women who were taking in some fresh air, too.

Sokka's breath caught: Katara was pushing a wheelchair through a courtyard, while telling Bumi and Kya to not run so recklessly, it seemed. And the one sitting on that wheelchair…

He could barely breathe as they landed: he leapt off Appa's saddle and rushed to that wheelchair: Azula's eyes widened once she saw him, a burst of relief in her golden gaze… as well as some apprehension, knowing he had meant to do something he might regret in time.

But he regretted nothing: his hands cupped her cheeks as he reached her, dropping on his knees before her as he laughed in tearful relief. He pressed a few brisk kisses upon her lips, without so much as saying a word… and Azula clutched at his arms once he embraced her, hoping to keep him with her.

"It's done…" Sokka whispered. Azula swallowed hard. "It's over. We're… we're not agents anymore. We're not theirs to control anymore."

"But…" Azula gritted her teeth as Sokka pulled back, with a gentle smile. "What now? W-what will we do now? Sokka… I can't go back to the Fire Nation. Zuko will go to war with the United Republic, w-with your sister, with the Avatar, if I stay here…"

"There's one place that will take you. One place where you'll be safe," Sokka smiled, his brow pressed to hers. "Once you've healed… that's where we'll go."

She didn't ask where. She didn't need to, not solely because she already suspected what Sokka's intent would be… but because wherever he would lead, she would follow. Wherever he wished to go, she'd make sure to be with him. Whether she had a place in this world or not, she didn't know yet… but he meant to build a place for her by his side, and that was enough for Azula.

...

"I know this is crazy. I know you might think I'm rushing in on things that I shouldn't be reckless with… but I've made my choice, Dad. I just… I hope you can accept it."

Hakoda frowned. His son knelt across him in the sitting room of the largest government building of the South Pole, his home. Sokka hadn't visited it often since he had joined the White Lotus, and he knew coming back this way was hardly the best way of going about things… but he hoped his father would understand, regardless.

"There's… a bounty on her head," Hakoda said. Sokka flinched. "One in the Earth Kingdom, dead or alive… another in the Fire Nation, which seems to prefer her alive. Republic City harbored her for… six months, you say? And now it's in the middle of a political turmoil because of it. So… you've turned to me. And you hope that I'll help you sort this out… but I'm not sure that I have the power, no matter how much stronger the Southern Water Tribe may be compared to what it was during the times of the war, to withstand the combined might of the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation's rage."

"I'm aware of that," Sokka said, breathing deeply.

"And you're still hoping that we'll harbor her safely here, regardless," Hakoda said.

"I'm hoping… that you'll welcome the woman I intend to marry."

Hakoda frowned. Sokka shuddered, raising his gaze nervously towards his father.

"Zuko's claim on her is staked firmly on her belonging to the Fire Nation. I know she feels her connection to her nation has been destroyed, made worse by Zuko's behavior and rejection. She may be a Fire Nation citizen, technically… but she finds no true belonging there, not when her own brother seems to want her locked down without her bending and forsaken for good. The Earth Kingdom has failed to capture her simply because the White Lotus protected her, which means… the White Lotus had some power over the circumstances as a neutral party. The Water Tribe would be a neutral party, just as well. When I ask her… if she says she'll marry me, Dad, it means she'll be Water Tribe by marriage. She will be my wife. I… I know how difficult this is to accept, I know why you'd feel apprehensive about it, but I swear to you… I love her. I love her madly. I never thought I could need someone the way I need her. Life here won't be easy…? Well, it wasn't while we were on the road either. So… we can adjust, we can help, we can…"

"Sokka…"

"Please. Please. I… I beg you. Not just as your son… but as a member of this Tribe. Please… let her build a home here. Let us build a home here. W-we'll help with whatever you need… we'll protect this place. If Zuko fucking tries to reach into the Tribe to find her, I'll chase him away myself. But please…"

It was likely unnecessary to as good as grovel on the ground before his father. To beg and plead… when his father wasn't bound to show him as much mercilessness as Zuko and Kuei would. But he was his only choice… for, without Hakoda's help, Sokka and Azula would have nowhere to go. Nowhere to run, nowhere to live… nothing left but each other. They had certainly lived that way long enough… but it would be far more difficult, far more dangerous, without the White Lotus's support. Sokka knew that leaving had been the right choice, for their protection had been a matter of convenience… withdrawn as soon as protecting Azula had grown to be more difficult than letting her die.

So this was their only choice… their only hope.

"Sokka… sit up, please," Hakoda said, his voice deep and serene. Sokka obeyed, gazing at his father helplessly. "You… you have been through too much in your years of serving the White Lotus, I can see that. There's… a pain, a vacancy in your eyes that wasn't there, not even after fighting in the war. My son… you have a place here, and you always will. You can heal here… you can find safety in our home. I will be with you, and I will protect you… and I will extend that protection to the woman you wish to marry, should she agree to your proposal."

Sokka's heart jolted in his chest. Tears of relief spilled down his face as he smiled… and so did Hakoda, reaching over to take his son's hand in his.

"I will accept your offer to help us… for we will need help fending off the Earth King and the Fire Lord's likely outbursts once they learn she is here," Hakoda said. "Even if you're the one pleading for her acceptance, and for her to become part of the Tribe… we're certain to have trouble once they assume she's using us as a shield. Do you have plans on how to handle this problem?"

"I… I don't," Sokka admitted. Hakoda breathed deeply and sighed.

"I saw her just now, with Bumi and Kya," he said – the sounds of their voices drifted from the lower level of the building, as well as the voices of Katara and Aang, who had traveled here with them. "I may be wrong… but she doesn't feel like a dangerous killer to me."

"She… she is one every bit as much as I am," Sokka said, gritting his teeth. "The only difference is no one wants me dead… and that I was born in a better place than she was."

"Fortunately, we live in a world where your place of birth doesn't have to be your place of death… but is she alright with never going back to the Fire Nation? With never going home?" Hakoda asked. Sokka bit his lip.

"I don't know… I really don't know," he said. "Though… she no longer calls it her home. Hasn't for a while now."

"Well… I hope she'll feel differently about the Water Tribe," Hakoda said, with a gentle smile. "But if she doesn't… we'll still arrange matters to free her from their demands. I can't guarantee that there will ever be a pardon… but I do believe there's hope yet that Zuko might see sense."

"I don't know about that…" Sokka said, but Hakoda smiled at him.

"Zuko's adamant about not giving Azula another chance… so don't be as stubborn as him, son, and give him one yourself," he said. Sokka winced. "If we play our cards right… he might finally come around."

"And if he doesn't?" Sokka asked.

"Then we'll still keep her safe here, provided that it's where she wants to be," Hakoda said. Sokka gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Thank you… thank you, Dad. I… I know I can count on you, but the last years have been…"

"Don't worry about it anymore, son," Hakoda said, smiling as he closed the distance between himself and his son with a tight hug. "We're family, you and I… and if she is your family too, then she has a place here and always will. I promise."

Sokka wept in relief in his father's arms, letting himself be vulnerable for a good, long moment of relying on someone else for strength. If his father agreed… then the hardest part was over. They'd have a home… a place to live in, as long as Azula wanted it too.

He found her downstairs shortly afterwards, and she seemed wary at once when she noticed he'd been crying. He held her, hugging her, reassuring her that everything would be alright, while Hakoda took to setting up the next meal, aided by Aang, Katara and their children.

Sokka took Azula out into the icy streets anew while the others worked. His hand held hers as he guided her to the frozen shores: what had once been a small village was a thriving city these days. Azula's nervousness upon being anywhere public, without hiding her identity, was palpable and understandable, too. Sokka smiled kindly at her, squeezing her hand and leading her to a beautiful cliff, from where they could see the sunset in the horizon… a sunset that would last multiple days, of course, the way it was in the South Pole, right until daylight fled entirely for the next six months.

"I know it won't be easy for you to live without sunlight," Sokka said. Azula breathed out slowly, the air white and foggy before her lips. "And it's really cold down here, but…"

"We've done well fighting off the cold in the past," she said. Sokka smiled and nodded. "Maybe we can do it again."

"Maybe," Sokka whispered, his mitten tightening around Azula's hand. "You really want to stay here, then? For the foreseeable future, at least?"

"Would you wish to stay here from now on, too?" Azula asked, puzzled. Sokka swallowed hard and nodded.

"I believe so," he said. "I never thought I'd come back permanently like this, but… I think I need this. I need to be here for some time. It feels… safer, I suppose. I just figured that you might feel the same way about the Fire Nation. So, if you do…"

"I don't."

Sokka's words faltered as he gazed at Azula. She turned towards him, eyes heartfelt and honest.

"The Fire Nation never… never made me feel the way I have while I've traveled with you. We were homeless… sometimes aimless. But we had each other, and that was enough. It was all I needed, even if I didn't realize it right away. I thought I… I thought I cared for my country, for my people, but after everything that's happened, I feel like I've been estranged from them for too long to feel like that bond still exists…"

"Azula…"

"So… I don't need the Fire Nation. And if you do need the Water Tribe… if they're better to you than the Fire Nation has been to me, then all the better, Sokka," Azula whispered, gazing at him earnestly. "I… I will stay with you, for as long as you want me."

"I want you forever," Sokka said. Azula's eyebrows rose: it wasn't as though he had ever said anything to imply otherwise, but his earnest words surprised her all the same. "I know I always will. You're my partner… my companion, so dear to me I can't even fathom a life without you. That… that you made me fathom it at all with what you did in Ba Sing Se was…"

"I'm sorry for that, Sokka, I… I didn't want to hurt you, I wanted what was best for you, but…"

"You are. I don't care if other people disagree… you are what's best for me," he whispered, brushing her hair from her face gently. "You remember the day I found you? When you were deep in that forest, when we fought…"

"I… I nearly set your hair on fire," Azula said. Sokka smiled and nodded.

"And I ripped your fancy cloak…"

"It wasn't fancy, it was already tattered…"

"And I stepped on you."

"You did. You certainly did. And then I screamed and slapped you across the face for it."

"Admittedly, the scream was so loud it hurt more than the slap, and that hurt too," Sokka chuckled. Azula smiled, biting her lip. "After we'd fought… after you were too tired to keep going, I realized you hadn't eaten in days."

"And you shared your jerky," Azula remembered. Sokka smiled. "It… wasn't that bad."

"You said you hated it, though…"

"And then I ate most of it, so what does that tell you?"

"That you were desperate for food?" Sokka asked. Azula grimaced but shrugged. "We talked properly for the first time that night. You told me why you wouldn't go home… why you couldn't go back. You said you feared you'd lost the right to even call it that… and I blindly promised you that your brother would take you in, since he'd been forgiven for his mistakes in the past. You… you told me you'd accept any fate other than the asylum. I promised I'd ensure that wouldn't happen… because I believed, plainly, that Zuko wouldn't do that. But then… he tried. And then he went and found a worse alternative, too. An alternative that implied you were… that you were as bad as your father. As unforgivable as him, in his eyes. If any of us had thought the same of him, the Fire Nation wouldn't have a Fire Lord. And believe me… he gave us plenty of cause to think so. I had my grievances with him… but I decided to withhold them for the sake of our common goal, at first. So I was blinded by idealism, by hope…

"And then he threw all that hope in my face," Sokka said, shaking his head. "I… I could've done nothing. I could've said nothing. I could've cowered away from the wrath of a man I thought was my ally… my friend. But…"

"But you broke me out of prison instead. And then ran off with me," Azula whispered. "I… I really feared you'd double-crossed me at first. Then, I heard you swear you'd help as they dragged me away. I wondered if… if you'd be truthful, and you were. I… I think you're the only person who hasn't lied to me, Sokka."

"And I'll gladly be the only person who never does," Sokka whispered, pressing his brow to hers. Azula swallowed hard and nodded. "On that day… I broke you free from the world's cruelty as best as I could. I meant to protect you, to shield you, to stand by you, come what may. And now… now I offer you the same thing, but in a different land, in a different world. This time… I offer it to you in the Water Tribe. I offer you safe harbor… a place where I'm sure you'll be protected. No disloyal leeches will use you and toss you away once they decide you're spent. No fearful heads of state will turn you into some bogeyman for them to project their fears and horror. You'll be safe… you'll be free. And if… if you wish to spend that freedom with me? Then…"

He breathed deeply, taking her hands in his, raising them to his lips. He pressed a gentle kiss upon her mittens, upon her fingers, and Azula's heart pounded as his heartfelt eyes gazed deeply into hers.

"Would you be my wife?"

Azula gasped. Sokka smiled kindly, brushing her hair away from her face as he held her closely now. Tears burned in her eyes as she gazed at him with gratitude… though still, with a smidge of fear.

"Is… is that what this was about?" she asked, with a slight smile. "Once I marry you, I… I will become part of the Water Tribe? This is how you'll save me now? After… after having saved me as many times as you have…"

"You've saved me just as many times, if not more," Sokka said, earnestly. Azula let out a soft laugh… though she shook her head and gazed at him meaningfully.

"But… but why did you?" she asked. "It… it would've been so easy to give up, to forsake me. Anyone else would have… everyone else did. You didn't have to save me as many times as you did, Sokka… you don't even have to offer me what you're offering. I… I wouldn't be so unreasonable as to ask this of you. So… why?"

"Why?" Sokka swallowed hard. "I suppose… it's because I took a leap of faith."

Azula's eyes widened. He smiled, caressing her face gently anew.

"I thought… there was more to you than what everyone thought there was. That night, when I found you… we had that chance to talk, and I could feel it. I could sense it then, that… that you weren't simply the backstabbing manipulator everyone had led me to think you were, that I had convinced myself you were until then. I knew it was a gamble… I knew you might abandon me and go your own way if you felt like it. But I wanted to believe in you… believe that, with a better purpose, you could take all those things that made you a terrifying foe and become an extraordinary ally, instead. I… I wanted you on my team. I wanted you on my side. I didn't want to fight you anymore… and I hoped neither did you."

Azula swallowed and nodded. Sokka kissed her brow softly.

"And… time proved me right. There was so much more to you than any of us knew… so much more than I could tell, even on that night. So… it's like you saved your best for me. And now? Now I hope everyone else will see your best, too. Some already started to. So… how about we show them some more of what we're made of? How about we continue to be a team, just… a married one, now?"

Azula smiled, clasping his hand in hers. She leaned up, pressing her lips to his quickly.

"A married team, then…" she said. Sokka bit his lip. "Sounds… sounds about right."

"It does, doesn't it?" Sokka chuckled, cupping her face delicately. Azula's eyes flooded with tears again, something that appeared to happen far too often as of late…

"Are you sure about this? About taking the risk in your hometown, keeping me here even when Zuko and Kuei might still cause trouble?" she asked. "Would it be safer if we just lived elsewhere, or…?"

"My dad says he'll stand by us no matter what," Sokka whispered. Azula's breath hitched. "You have a place here… and you'll fit in easily in no time, too. Besides... blue looks good on you, remember?"

He smiled warmly upon saying those words – his first blatant attempt to flirt with her. Azula's heartfelt smile matched his as she laughed softly over that memory… over how he had repurposed it now. Her resolve was even more easily built as she gazed at him, as she let herself think back on their journey together…

She breathed deeply, heart soaring as she finally gave him her answer:

"I… I want to be your wife. I want you to be my husband. I… I'll marry you. You're crazy… I love you. And I'll marry you," Azula said, between tearful laughter.

Sokka chuckled too: his tears spilled down his cheeks as well as he held her tightly, as he hugged her as strongly as he could while the orange sun sank slowly, beautifully, in the horizon of a world that suddenly seemed a lot less merciless than it had been after a hundred and sixteen years…

...

He hadn't visited the South Pole in a long time, and it looked profoundly different from the old village it had been back when he had last left those shores. It was a city now, perhaps small, but a city all the same: Zuko breathed out slowly as he marched across the icy streets, eyes set on the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.

"Chief Hakoda," he said, bowing and offering the older man a proper reverence. Hakoda bowed his head, offering Zuko a light smile that waned once Zuko got to the point immediately. "Where is she?"

"Oh… are you in a rush?" Hakoda asked. "I was in the middle of something when I heard your ship was arriving… can you wait about thirty minutes, perhaps?"

"I… if I must," Zuko said, apprehensive. "You're certain she's secure? That she has no means of escape? Prison hasn't contained her in the past…"

"I assure you, she's being watched right now," Hakoda said, nodding promptly in Zuko's direction. "There's no need for you to worry. She has been weakened by the dark period, so her bending has been limited by the circumstances. She has also been recovering from severe wounds, so…"

"Severe wounds?" Zuko asked, frowning. "The ones she sustained in Ba Sing Se, is it? Hasn't she recovered from that yet?"

"Not fully, I fear," Hakoda said, with a deep sigh. "At any rate… half an hour and I'll be ready to handle your business, Fire Lord Zuko. I assure you, it won't take me much longer than that."

"Fine. I'll wait," Zuko said, frowning. Hakoda smiled.

"Please do. I'll be back shortly."

With that, Hakoda took off… and Zuko was left to stand, alone, in a street of an icy pole.

He was uncomfortable immediately – his visits to the poles had never ended well. But that discomfort increased when, after around five minutes since Hakoda's departure, Zuko heard cheering and applause drifting from the direction the Chief had left. He scowled, at first determined to stay put… but soon, his curiosity got the better of him.

He followed the direction in which he'd heard the noise, though it had fallen silent for now. After navigating a few smooth streets, he came across what he realized was a large gathering at what might be the very center of the town…

It was a joyful gathering. Everyone in attendance smiled… and Hakoda presided whatever this meeting was, grinning kindly as well. From this angle, Zuko couldn't really see the two people near Hakoda properly. Judging by the feeling of the place, the words he was hearing…

It was a wedding.

He frowned as he heard a familiar voice: the man of the couple was speaking his vows. The woman had her back to Zuko, so identifying her would be impossible, but him…

"… I'd say I've changed, but honestly? I feel like I'm far more authentic to who I truly am than I ever was before I met you. You've challenged me since the first day, and I know you'll do it until the last… all I hope is that this last day is so far away that we barely need to think about it at all, going forward. Because, as hard as our journeys have been, I want to continue charting my course with you. I want to enjoy my every adventure with you. And I really don't know what this new adventure is going to entail… but that's part of the fun, isn't it? So… I vow to make sure our days are bright, no matter how dark the sky might be. I vow to give you reasons to smile, no matter if the world tries its best to break us. I vow to take care of you, to provide for you, to offer you my shoulder if you need support, my ear if you need someone to talk to. I offer you everything I am… because I know you'll cherish me for it. You already have, on every day I've spent with you. I love you… and I always will."

The serious words could have been out of place for the man speaking them… but that man wasn't the casual goofball Zuko had befriended long ago. His jaw dropped as he understood what he had nearly interrupted, what he had dragged Hakoda away from…

Hakoda was officiating Sokka's wedding.

But… who was Sokka's bride?

His eyes shifted towards the woman: clad in traditional attire for the Water Tribe, with an ornate, beautiful cape, she had long dark hair and a slender physique. She sat across Sokka, her back to Zuko… but her bearing was familiar, somehow. His lips parted, his eyes widened…

"Well… you're keen on making me cry, I suppose," she said, and the public laughed at her words…

Zuko was floored where he stood.

He couldn't process those words. Couldn't process any of those words as an aversion, a fear, an irrational rejection pulsated through his body…

It was her. It was Azula… and she was marrying Sokka.

How could she…? How could he be so stupid? She was going to kill him as soon as he lowered his guard, she would backstab him, destroy this town, ruin every bit of progress the Water Tribe had made over the last decades…!

"There's so much I could say. So much I should say. But if you don't mind… I'll start by saying thank you."

Those words, spoken in his sister's voice, felt wrong. Zuko's rampaging thoughts stopped as he scowled, immediately distrustful of them…

"Where the world turned its back on me… you were the only one who refused to give up on me. The only… the only person out there who believed I deserved a second chance."

"Not true," Sokka responded, with a gentle smile and a caress of her cheek. "It wasn't a second chance… because no one had ever given you the first one, to begin with. So… this is still your first chance, in fact. Rejoice in that, love."

Azula laughed at Sokka's interjection, as did most of the crowd: her hand clasped Sokka's, and Zuko felt that urge of panic again… that need to intervene, to warn Sokka away from her, she'd burn him…!

But she didn't burn him.

She leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

"Fine… a first chance," Azula agreed, with a light chuckle. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I first let you drag me halfway across the world, multiple times, in a matter of weeks. But you found a broken woman with no hope left… and you helped her piece herself together again. You stood by her, you supported her, and you taught her what love is, for no one else had done it before you dared. Through your actions, through every single choice you made… through all of them, I found peace and clarity where none had been possible before. You gave me every opportunity to become whoever I wanted to be… and that's what I'm doing today: I want to be your wife. I want to belong with you forever. And I want you to belong with me just as much. I… I'm sure I have a long way to go… I still have to adjust better to the Water Tribe, I do, but… but I actually like it here. I found a place here… belonging I'd never felt anywhere else. I will continue to do better in the future… I will keep fighting to become the person you believed I could be. Because, say what you will… I can still be better. I can still do better. One day, I hope, I'll feel fully worthy of the affection and kindness you've given me. I firmly believe that."

"And I firmly believe you already are," Sokka said. Azula smiled.

"You're too biased… and that's wonderful about you, for sure," she said. "I never imagined someone would believe in the best of me as much as you do… and so, I will believe in the best of you as well. I will protect you, fight for you, care for you and offer you a heart that… a heart that never had known love until I found it in you. You've given me so many new beginnings… and I can't wait to see where this one will bring us. I know… I know it will be someplace beautiful."

At that point, Zuko couldn't keep listening. He backed out before Azula continued, deliberately forcing himself not to focus on her words, putting as much distance as he could so he wouldn't have to hear them…

She was marrying Sokka. Hakoda had called him here, summoned him on that day, to show him this. It had been deliberate, of course… Azula would be safe now. She would be protected from being held accountable for her crimes by the Fire Lord, whose primary claim over her was due to her belonging to the Fire Nation. But if she turned her back on the Fire Nation and became Water Tribe…

That Azula might find a loophole was no real surprise. Of course she would. This was all a scheme, there was nothing more to it, she was using Sokka and…

The scene he had witnessed played in his head again. The words his sister had spoken…

She had never spoken that way before. He wanted to think she was lying… but it didn't really sound like a lie. As difficult as it was to accept that, it didn't…

"Zuko?"

He turned abruptly when he heard that voice calling his name: his eyes widened when they fell upon the cloaked, bald and tall Avatar.

"Aang…" Zuko said, frowning. "You… of course. Y-you're part of this too, of course, you… I guess you're just going to say I should stop, huh? Same as you did when you harbored a… a Fire Nation fugitive in your home. You…"

"Zuko…" Aang sighed, shaking his head. "What are you even trying to do?"

"At this point?" Zuko said, glaring at Aang. "I… I want to tell you, and everyone else, to watch your backs. To stop giving her chances because she'll take your trust and twist it into cruelty. She's going to destroy you… she's going to…"

"She's had around six months to do that in the South Pole," Aang pointed out: Zuko winced. "And Katara and I hosted her in Air Temple Island for six months before that, as you know…"

"Behind my back," Zuko growled.

"She's great with Kya and Bumi," Aang said, with a gentle smile: Zuko's eyes widened. "And she'll be their real aunt starting today. The kids are stoked about it."

"W-what are you talking about? Aang…!"

"I'm talking about your sister."

The word struck him deep, hard, in a place he hadn't realized he still had in him. He couldn't interpret that low blow yet, not easily… but Aang made it that much easier:

"You don't have to get over it," Aang said. "To overcome your resentment, your rage… you can let it consume you for as long as you live, if you want it to. You don't deserve to suffer over your family, no… but you're allowing your fears to cloud your judgment, Zuko. The woman marrying Sokka today… she's not the person you've convinced yourself she is."

"How do you know that? How do you know she's not just going to wake up and kill him as soon as…"

"They've been together for around eight years, they spent many of those on the road. She would've had every chance, every tool, to do it then," Aang said, bluntly. Zuko frowned. "She didn't, though."

"So… what, her kindness amounts to not doing the wrong thing one time?" Zuko huffed. Aang grimaced.

"Not just the one time, clearly… but what you've said is the same line of reasoning why Sokka and Katara didn't want me to forgive you all those years ago, you know?"

Zuko froze in place. He wanted to say it was different… to reject Aang's words. But the Avatar's dark eyes deterred him from doing so as they gazed at him with remorseful kindness…

"Don't forgive her if you're not ready. No one is expecting you to do so," Aang whispered. "But… don't get in the way of her peace, would you? For as long as she's here, the Fire Nation won't have to worry about her. I don't ask you to forgive her… just to let her be happy, now that she's actually found happiness and love when she had thought none of that would be in the cards for her."

"She…" Zuko nearly sounded like a drowning man as he stared at Aang in disbelief. "Happiness? Love? She…"

"She's done better for herself. She has made amends for so much, even if some people don't like to admit it," Aang said. "She sacrificed herself to save Kuei's life, did you know that?"

"I… that's not the way I heard it."

"Then I'll have to tell you the story," Aang said. "That one… and a few others they told me, too. Brace yourself…"

As much as he interrupted at times, Zuko slowly drifted into silence as Aang explained as much as he could about Azula and Sokka's work as White Lotus agents. After a while, he said nothing more. Shortly afterwards, a celebratory cheer rushed through the town, and Aang grimaced as he glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the celebration.

"Damn it… guess I missed the ending," he said, with a sad smile.

"Go, then… congratulate them, I guess," Zuko said, rubbing his brow with his fingertips. "I… I need time to think."

"Well… take it. But Zuko… please, make a decision that you'll be able to live with," Aang said, raising his eyebrows. "You've been Fire Lord for half your life now. You've done pretty well at it, too. No one's going to take that away from you… she'll be here, with her new family. You don't have to be part of it if you don't want to be… but I really hope you'll understand how much this means to them. Please… think on that."

Aang gazed at him meaningfully before walking away. Zuko shivered, and not because of how ungodly cold it was. His eyes followed Aang all the way to the celebration area…

Happiness? Peace? Had Azula truly found those things?

It was stupid of him, he knew, to feel jealous over that. He had no reason to be, he was Fire Lord! That was what she'd wanted all her life, that was all she had chased, and…

And she had spent the last sixteen years without a crown, without a title, losing all privileges and even the bonds she had clung to. Sokka, somehow, had taken a chance on her… and this was the outcome for it, apparently. She was happy… she was safe with him. She avoided capture…

Much like he had avoided being trialed by Earth Kingdom authorities once he became Fire Lord. And before that, he'd lived as a refugee among them, and they'd never known who he was.

His fists clenched as he felt himself shatter under the weight of a dark awakening: he had seen her sitting there, with Sokka, speaking words he had thought her utterly incapable of… but she had spoken them anyway. There had been no smidge of dishonesty in them. He always had thought she lied about everything, and he wanted to think she was lying now, too…

But why did he want to think that?

Why did he want her to scheme and plot? Why did he want her to show her true colors… when maybe her true colors were the ones she'd shown tonight?

He hadn't spoken to his sister in over six years. He had no idea she and Sokka were in love… at first, he thought that explained matters, but he didn't know, not for sure, if Sokka had been motivated by a romantic interest in Azula all along. Maybe not… maybe he simply cared.

He cared for Azula… where no one else ever had. The way Iroh, Ursa and Mai had cared for him when he thought he had nothing left in life.

But… this wasn't about him. It was Azula's story, Azula's struggles, Azula's pains and joys and...

And it wasn't about him at all.

Her happiness… didn't include him.

A sudden rush of loneliness struck him then. He should have felt free… he didn't have to help Azula pick up the pieces of her life and find a way to start over. He should have been grateful… but he wasn't. Why? Why did it bother him? Why did it feel unfair when he'd had a good life for years, when he had become an accepted, respected world leader, when he had so many good things going for him…?

Why, then, would he suddenly feel cheated? Why would it feel like Azula had taken everything she once had claimed Zuko had taken from her?

His friends were hers now, to a point where she had even married one of them. She found a home in a place she had never been meant to belong in… Zuko had never found a way to truly belong anywhere while he had been on the run. She had found happiness, and…

And was Zuko truly happy now?

His chest tightened. His head spun. His heart sank…

"Ah, do excuse me! It took me some time to wrap that up… but it's done now," Hakoda's voice reached Zuko, and he turned towards him with a mournful, if slightly accusatory stare. "Now, then, where were we?"

"Don't… don't play dumb. I… I get what you were doing now. I see. Well… well played," Zuko said, his voice unstable. Hakoda raised his eyebrows. "You… you wanted me to see them, didn't you? To realize… that I have no right to interfere. That if this is what they want to do with their lives… you'll protect them and make sure they can do so?"

Hakoda's easygoing demeanor shifted slowly into complete seriousness. He nodded slowly, and Zuko stared at him in chagrin.

"How… how can you trust her? Are you sure this is the right call?" Zuko asked. Hakoda shrugged.

"I am. I've grown to know her better across the past months… and I really am, Zuko. Whoever Azula once was, I cannot say for sure… but right now, she's my daughter-in-law. She's a member of this tribe."

"She's my sister," Zuko said, frowning.

"Is she?" Hakoda asked. "And what does that mean for you?"

"It means…" Zuko started… but he faltered upon hearing the question.

He didn't know how to answer that. He truly didn't know how to answer that.

Hakoda smile sympathetically, clasping Zuko's shoulder firmly.

"Fire Lord Zuko… I appreciate your visit. I can offer you a drink, even some food if you'd like, but ultimately… I'll never let you take one of my people if they don't want to go with you. It's that simple."

"Not even if it's… her?" Zuko asked. Hakoda shook his head.

"She's part of this tribe. She's my daughter-in-law," Hakoda repeated. "Her past does not determine her future… no more than yours did."

Zuko gritted his teeth, lowering his head. By then, more footsteps were heard… and this time, he had the feeling he'd be better off leaving. This was a battle he could never win…

But it was only a battle because he had made it so, wasn't it?

"Zuko? Dad…!"

Sokka's voice struck Zuko painfully. He raised his gaze… to find the man who had once been one of his closest friends was flabbergasted by his presence. Moreover… the dark-haired woman with him stared at him as if she'd seen a ghost: neither one had known Hakoda had planned this.

"Uh… surprise, I suppose," Hakoda said, with a weak smile. "Zuko had no idea you were getting married today…"

"And I had no idea you'd invited him," Sokka said, frowning.

"He didn't… invite me for that," Zuko said, gritting his teeth as he lowered his gaze. "I…"

Sokka was wary. He stood in front of Azula… as though shielding her from her own brother.

One time, long ago, he had protected Sokka's sister from Azula, when the firebending prodigy had been at her worst. He had jumped in front of a bolt of lightning meant for Katara… and he had survived the blow while Azula, ultimately, took a fall from grace, one from which she hadn't recovered for more years than Zuko knew.

Was that what Sokka had been doing over the past eight years? In breaking Azula out of prison, in helping her avoid capture, in bringing her with him to the Water Tribe and finding a loophole to keep her safe from Zuko's wrath… had Zuko been the merciless one this time, leveling lightning at his own sister, while Sokka shielded her from it as best he could?

How had things grown so complicated, chaotic and muddled? How had he become the problem, when he was supposed to embody a solution? Was this what the light and darkness of his own lineage entailed?

He didn't want to be that brother anymore. He couldn't find any reason to be scared of her… not now, when he felt like he'd looked at her for the first time in ages. Her eyes met his as she stepped to the side, apprehensive and wary…

She feared him. She dreaded that he'd act out… that he'd ruin her big day.

His fists tightened, and he turned towards her.

"Are you… happy?"

His question wasn't sardonic, skeptical or cruel. Azula hadn't noticed, until that moment, that she always expected Zuko to only speak to her to mock her rudely, or to be as confrontational and hostile as could be. This was a welcome change… if a little confusing. Still… she nodded. He seemed to wince upon seeing it.

"Happier than I thought I'd ever be," she admitted. "If you really must know. Zuko…"

"Great, then. That's… that's good. Make sure to… to cherish it. Congratulations," he said: his words weren't insincere, just as they weren't as honest as they should have been. The turbulence in his heart continued to hurt him deeply, to shake him and muddle his feelings…

"Zuko," Sokka called him, and Zuko frowned warily at him. "What were you hoping to achieve here?"

"I…" Zuko started, but his words faltered: he was here to capture someone… someone who was no longer harming anyone. Someone who had countless people on her side, somehow… someone in whose life he had no right to interfere. Maybe he never had that right, to begin with.

So he made up his mind, in a heartbeat. Perhaps he'd regret it soon… but he hoped not.

"I'll end the manhunt for you," he said, glancing at Azula, whose heart tightened upon hearing those words. "I… I have no power over you now, so… it makes sense. I'll try to… to convince Kuei too. Might fail, but…"

"You don't have to do that," Azula said. Zuko shook his head.

"I… I should. I want to. I will," he decided, glancing at her with unease. "I… I'm sorry. I have a lot to think about, but… I'm sorry, Azula."

He didn't go in-depth about that apology, but he bowed his head in her direction before turning on her heels. Sokka frowned as he walked away… Azula clenched her fists, and while fearing she might regret this, she still stepped forward.

"You can come again, once… once you feel like it," Azula called for him. Zuko slowed on his footsteps until he reached a halt. "If you feel like it, rather. I just… just thought I'd let you know."

"Thanks," Zuko said, curtly at first… then he glanced over his shoulder, meaningfully. "Is it… is it alright if I bring Izumi one day?"

Azula's eyes widened. Izumi… the new Crown Princess, Zuko's heir. She swallowed hard and nodded.

"If you want to. If you feel like it," she said, simply.

"Then… I'll think on it," Zuko said, offering her a weak, halfhearted smile. "Goodbye, Azula."

Maybe he wouldn't do as he said he would. Maybe he would never come back. But if this was the last time she'd see her brother… at the very least it hadn't ended with a shouting match, with violence, with threats of executions or imprisonment. Azula could only be grateful for that as her brother faded from view.

"And now… explain what made you think this was a good idea, Dad," Sokka grumbled, wrapping an arm protectively around his wife's shoulders. Hakoda smiled and shrugged.

"I hoped Zuko would learn better than to keep hounding your wife forever," he said. "It's long overdue, after all."

"I guess, but still… that's one hell of a risk you took there," Sokka sighed, turning towards Azula and cupping her face. "You okay?"

"I'm… fine. Better than fine, I suppose," she said, smiling at him with unabashed satisfaction. "It's… over, feels like. No more running away from Zuko… it feels surreal to realize that's actually over."

"Well, when you look at it that way, it is a pretty good wedding present, I can't lie," Sokka said, with a weak smile.

"I don't think he'd ever apologized to me about… anything, before. I don't really know what the apology was for, to be honest, but…" Azula said, shrugging and turning towards Sokka. "But it feels like I'm finally free for good, huh?"

"As you should be, my beloved, beautiful, clever wife," Sokka grinned, wrapping his arms around her waist and hoisting her gently in his embrace.

He pressed a quick kiss to her lips, their brows pressed together as Hakoda, beside them, chuckled and marched back to the celebration area.

"I hope she's also a good dancer, along with all those things…" Hakoda teased them: Sokka gasped happily, and Azula's eyes widened.

"I don't think I am," she said. "You know that's not very common in the Fire Nation…"

"But we're not in the Fire Nation, are we?" Sokka smirked. Azula snorted. "Come on, I'll teach you to dance! It'll be grand!"

"I should've already been taught how to dance before we got married… why didn't you explain this before? We could have practiced together…"

"Oh, no need for practice! You'll get it right just fine, you'll see…!"

"If I end up humiliating myself for your amusement during our wedding, I'm definitely going to hold that against you forever, you dangerous husband, you…"

Sokka laughed as he and Azula followed Hakoda indeed, trading quick kisses just as they would once they joined the dancing groups that were reveling and rejoicing in their love. Aang and Katara had taken to dancing too, though with their children rather than with each other for now. The loud, fun music had an infectious rhythm that Sokka teased Azula for, pulling her in for a joyful dance unlike anything she had experienced before.

Whether their moves were always right or not, she couldn't tell: all she knew was that they kept up with each other constantly, laughing together as they learned their way around this new challenge, small as it might be. As push and pull might, they would sway to the music's beat between laughter and gratitude, for their journey together would continue, safe and soundly, after today's ceremony, after Azula had joined the Tribe… for the two of them had built a new home in the Southern Water Tribe, a home they meant to cherish forevermore.

A/N:

Thank you again for reading! I really hope you enjoyed the many stories that were part of this year's Sokkla Saturdays!

[thedoubteriswise]

okay so. I am a smart adult with many important responsibilities. I have good taste and care about things that matter. for this reason, I’ve been trying to identify where in cql canon wangxian manage to fuck.

because they definitely do; I like a good post-canon getting together fic as much as the next guy, but it’s just not realistic.

allow them. it’s already been so long.

(just like this goddamn post turned out to be, let’s do a cut)

right. so initially it looks like you could place this right after the time skip in episode 33, because it shows us that wwx is with lwj in cloud recesses. we know that he spent the night in the jingshi because he wakes up there the next morning before he goes for a nostalgic tour of his old school.

and also visits the cold spring, where lwj is mostly naked. nice.

but wait! wwx is surprised by the scars on his back and chest. that seems like something he would have known about if they’d already been naked together the night before, so I’m going to say they did not fuck immediately upon wwx’s return to cloud recesses. okay, fine, they’re taking things slow, that’s cool.

maybe they could work it into the next night, then. oh wait, lqr is injured and... staying in the jingshi? for reasons?

I don’t know why. he must have his own house in cloud recesses, and it’s probably at least as comfortable as lwj’s, but here he is. he lives to stop his nephew from getting laid, I guess.

the next day they do some Q&A with the kids and determine that they need to head to qinghe to figure out what’s going on with this sword thing. great! we love a romantic road trip, plenty of alone time. but they also have to do their jobs, and then jin ling needs to get rescued from a wall of dirt, and jc is unfortunately there being himself, and then they have to grill nhs about his tomb full of angry sabers, etc. etc.

with all that going on, their next obvious chance is at the inn immediately after interviewing nhs. this evening has already included:

wwx gazing lovingly at lwj from afar

lwj carrying wwx on his back

lwj pawing at wwx’s robes trying to deal with his cursed leg

lwj helping wwx up the stairs, serving him wine, fixing his flute, and generally being at his beck and call

a very sexy and homoerotic duet

and now they’re alone and drooling over each other as usual. this seems like a plausible spot, right?

it does! but no. after they go back to the nie basement o’ swords and hear the backstory on nmj’s death, we see them walking in yueyang and lwj asks wwx how the curse mark on his leg is doing. wwx says it’s almost healed, which may or may not be a lie, but his inner monologue says:

he’s more concerned about the wound on his arm from the sacrificing curse, which lwj doesn’t know about, because wwx won’t tell him and they still haven’t been naked together.

also, this silly teenage shit doesn’t make much sense unless they’re still dancing around each other.

you guys love the sound of opportunities as they go flying past, don’t you?

right after this, lwj gets drunk. I’m aware that Stuff Happens in the novel scene that inspired this bit, and they do incorporate some of that into the show by having lwj commit petty larceny and admit that he “likes rabbits” as part of the softest and most loving conversation in human history oh my god

but lwj goes to sleep right on time, and the next morning, wwx is laughing and reassuring him that nothing happened.

after this, it’s time to go on a fucked up field trip with the kids in yi city, so they don’t really have any time alone for a few episodes until they’ve finished that and everyone is back at yet another inn. I wonder if they learned something about wasted chances and poor communication from this miserable songxiao story?

maybe! look, they’re being cute and domestic. there are currently no material barriers preventing them from having sex, nor will there be any specific evidence later on proving that they didn’t.

but they’re still firmly in mystery-solving mode and the juniors and lxc are floating around. the vibe isn’t quite there. if I were to pick the most solid reason why I think they’re saving room for jesus at this point, it would be the tension that happens when wwx again asks how lwj recognized him. lwj asks why his memory is so bad, and wwx replies that he wishes he had a bad memory. even though they’re comfortable and happy being together, there’s still some fundamental distance remaining. there’s no sense of romantic resolution. that was actually a point against all their previous opportunities as well; they’re all very sweet, but none of these feel like the place in a story where the romantic leads Officially Get Together.

okay, off to koi tower! shit is getting extremely real. everyone’s busy insinuating that they recognize wwx, but no one is saying it explicitly. wwx isn’t supposed to be here. the guy he’s pretending to be also isn’t supposed to be here. he and his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s brother are trying to figure out if his boyfriend’s brother’s boyfriend is a murderer. no one is comfortable and the political intrigue leaves no time for fucking in front of anyone’s salad.

I guess there’s plenty of time to make dozens of armed guards and like half the people they know wait while they have a romantic moment, though.

could they be more in love? And that sure feels like a romantic resolution that might be followed by narratively-earned sex.

ah. no, unfortunately wwx gets stabbed again. this certainly sucks, but it does have the helpful consequence of making lwj take him back to cloud recesses, where they are mostly alone and as safe as they can be in the circumstances. now there’s even more tenderness and also some plot-justified touching and skin exposure. plus, lwj just made a very public declaration of love.

too bad wwx has probably been unconscious since he started coughing up blood in the forest near lanling. he’s also still visibly in pain. fresh abdominal wounds tend to kill the mood.

but hey, the injuries on this show are only as serious as they need to be to move the plot forward and facilitate gentle h/c scenes, so by evening he’s looking perfectly healthy and walking around under his own steam like nothing’s wrong. I guess that problem can be ignored moving forward.

lxc then offers the the most devastating highlights of lwj’s backstory, like, all at once. it’s nice that he includes a flute solo to give wwx a second to process this mountain of terrible information. what the fuck.

there he is! the most devoted man in the whole world! turns out they can actually be more in love after all.

and then the following scene... look, I’m lazy and I don’t know how to make gifs, but screenshots cannot properly convey how good it is. you all know. the hesitant way wwx approaches, the slow and gentle piano version of wangxian, the two of them watching the snow together, it’s. ugh.

remember how I was talking about how the last scene with no material barriers was an unlikely candidate because of the lack of romantic resolution?

well, here’s wwx still being cagey at the beginning of this conversation.

and here they are in the middle of this conversation, having some epiphanies about the course of wwx’s life - I love this shot for a lot of reasons, but I extra love it because it shows wwx out in the snow, with lwj as the safety and warmth waiting behind him, god this show goes hard, holy shit

they both recall their vow to live with a clean conscience and internally say some very corny things about each other because they are both So Much, and then,

ah, what the hell. he can say it out loud after all. romantic resolution accomplished.

and then the camera slowly pulls away as wuji plays.

a slow zoom out? swelling music? listen, I am a connoisseur, I know a tasteful fade-to-black indicating a sex scene that won’t happen on camera when I see one. at last, we have a winner!

now you may think this post is finally over, but I actually have one more piece of evidence for you - the next scene shows the two of them the morning after, meditating behind a screen in the hanshi while lxc is waiting for jgy to show up.

before wwx got de-cored, he was a pretty powerful cultivator, right? the chances that he’s just bad at meditating or that he can’t stay focused on this task seem slim to me. so why does he keep falling asleep?

well. he had kind of a late night.

[redrobin-detective]

because I could not stop for death

because I could not stop for death / he kindly stopped for me / the carriage held but just ourselves / and immortality ~ Emily Dickinson

Danny Fenton was dying, properly this time.

Somehow, in the back of his head and in his worst nightmares, he knew it would end this way: bleeding on the floor of his parents’ lab where it had all began. He was so hot he felt like his skin was on fire, blood and ectoplasm were dripping all over him and his lungs and heart were working overtime to try in vain to keep him alive a moment longer. He’d imagined at the time that there would be more screaming but death, in the end, was turning out to be a quiet little affair. A lonely table set for one.

“Danny, Danny come on, you-you gotta slow down your breathing, just relax, for me, please,” Sam moaned, more than making up for his lack of noise. She was shaking and touching him all over, his chest, his face, his hair. Normally she jumped right into action but she had to know, deep down, that there was nothing she could do. All that was left was to watch her panic and cry, it wasn’t his favorite image. 

“Vlad!” He heard Tucker scream cry into the phone, “please it’s Tucker, Danny’s dying I think. The Fentons had some new invention, something about his core, please we don’t know what to do!” 

Ugh Vlad, he was probably going to be so happy Danny was on his way out. He wasn’t looking much forward to his last images being his archenemy gloating. Tucker hung up and reached down to grasp Danny’s hand so hard it hurt. “Don’t worry dude, Vlad’s coming. He knows so much about you half ghosts that you’ll be fixed up on no time.” Right, Danny was already dead. If calling Vlad, feeling like he did something, helped Tucker move on then he’d deal with it.

Danny tilted his head to the side where Sam’s fingernails were carding through his hair. It was getting harder to see with the blood pouring out of his eyes but he looked at her, and tried to memorize her face. He’d never been able to tell her how much he loved her, that any day spent with her was a blessing. Tucker too, his best bro and a part of his soul. His best friends in the whole wide world, through thick and thin. God, he was going to miss them.

“Glurk,” he said, trying to convey those feeling but the fluids in his mouth and airway made it impossible. “Blerh.”

“Shh shh shh,” Sam soothed, “it’s okay, don’t try to talk.”

“Daniel!” He heard Vlad’s voice shriek as he materialized in front of the portal. Sam and Tucker were violently pushed out the way. Danny wanted to be angry at his loved ones being taken away in his final moments but anger was for the living, he barely had the energy to breathe. This death was too long and too short all at once. He made eye contact with Vlad who all at once lost the frantic edge to his tone and and instead knelt on the floor. “Oh my dear boy. What did they do to you?”

“What is going on?” Sam demanded, shoving her way back in. Danny was glad, he could see again like this. “Why aren’t you doing something!”

“There’s nothing to be done,” Vlad said in a flat, monotone, he picked up one of Danny’s hands and patted it gently. “His core is dying, it’s like a ghost’s heart. It contains their very essence, it is from which everything they are comes from. If Jack and Maddie somehow disrupted it then there’s nothing anyone can do to save him.”

“But he’s human too,” Tucker defended, grabbing Danny’s other hand. His human warm skin burned but the contact felt so good, he twitched his fingers closer to his friend’s. “He-he doesn’t need a core, he’s already got a heart. So, so he doesn’t have powers, we can do normal again.”

“You-” Vlad hissed before taking a calming breath. “The accident that made Daniel like this irreparably altered him. His core was as much a part of keeping him alive as his other organs, without it, his body is shutting down.” Vlad turned down to look Danny in the eye and saw true, genuine grief in those hateful red eyes. 

“I cannot imagine the agony you are going through, I’m so sorry. I’d say it will be over soon but,” a hitch that sounded almost like a sob if it was coming from anyone other than Vlad. “But you’ve hovered on the edge of death for years, son, and you’ve always been such a fighter. You have minutes at most but those minutes are an eternity when you’re suffering.”

Sam and Tucker’s sobbing blended together in the background, Vlad was saying something with a miserable, stunned expression. The swirling of the portal in the background seemed louder than anything, louder than his heart beat pounding and pounding as it ran it’s last race. 

“Daniel, Danny,” he focused his eyes back on Vlad who had a stubborn, unhappy set to his brow. “Do you want me to make the pain stop? An ectoblast to your chest will end your life instantly.”

“Don’t you dare touch him,” Sam shrieked, coming back into view and looking like she was trying to fight Vlad off. “You do anything to him and I’ll kill you!” Tucker just sat and stared at him, like he too was trying memorize Danny’s face.

“It’s a mercy, Samantha or do you want his last moments on earth to be drowning on the blood in his lungs.”

“Sam, he has a point. I don’t- I don’t think we can fix this.”

“No! No we always fix things, I’ll do it myself if I have to!”

Danny’s vision was starting to go, more black than anything else. He closed his eyes and readied himself for the inevitable. 

“Time Out,” Danny opened his eyes and found he was no longer in pain. He was standing up and apart from where he’d previously been lying. Sam had her hands in Vlad’s face and the older hybrid was snarling something at her. Tucker was midmotion trying to stand up, presumably to get Sam but the three of them were frozen in the moment. Danny turned and found Clockwork floating, looking very out of place in his parents lab. “Good evening, Danny.”

“You that short on cash that you work part time as a grim reaper?” Danny quipped out of habit. He looked down at his body and grimaced a bit, that wasn’t a pretty sight. No doubt traumatizing for Tucker and Sam. God how were they going to explain this to his parents? “Gonna ferry me across the River Styx? I don’t have two pennies but I think I have a bloodied $10 on me.”

“You’re core is dying and you have 17 seconds left in this world before all your organs give out and finish the process you began when you turned on your parent’s ghost portal,” Clockwork explained as he changed into child form. 

“O-okay,” Danny said shakily, trying to be brave even when he was so, so scared. He was going out whether he wanted it or not but he refused to leave crying. “Nice of you to come say goodbye then but, uh but unless you have something to say then you should let me go back. No one knows better than me that you can’t outrun death. Thanks but I’m uh I’m ready.”

Clockwork stared at him for a bit, not sure how long, time was weird like this but he changed forms a few times. “You’re quite the remarkable young man, Danny Fenton.”

“Uh thanks,” Danny added, once more looking at his body which had, according to Clockwork, a 17 second expiration date. “What’s going to happen? Am I going to become a ghost? Does heaven or hell exist for someone like me?”

“I don’t get to decide what happens, I merely see options,” Clockwork stated easily, taking his time. “If you die naturally you’ll become ghost, a mere shadow of who you are now and one who would fade fairly quickly. You don’t have strong enough anger or regrets to tie you in the real world for long.” Not great but okay he supposed, hell for his friends and family though. “You could let Plasmius deliver his mercy kill, destroying what’s left of your ghost core and ensuring you do not come back.” Better, probably won’t help the Fruitloop’s instability but he can’t save everyone.

“That one comes with it’s own caveat but I’ll get to that in a moment,” Clockwork explained. “There is a third option where you get up off the floor and walk away.” Danny blinked then looked back at his body which certainly wasn’t walking anywhere but into a plush casket. Clockwork opened his hands and the Ghost King’s Crown materialized in his hands. “If you accept your claim to the King’s Cown, it will revitalize your core and your life would be saved.”

Danny blinked.

“By sealing Pariah Dark, you won by proxy and established a legitimate claim to the throne. The Zone has been without a king for millennia, most have forgotten the old rules. Those who remembered were not too keen on a half-ghost child assuming leadership and kept you in the dark. If Plasmius ends your life then your claim transfers over to him, which he is aware of. It had been his plan all along to trick you into defeating Pariah so he could steal the Crown from you at a later date, a much easier opponent.”

Danny’s mind was overloaded with information, he didn’t know what to focus on first. He stared at his 17 seconds from death face and tried to process it all. Crown? Claim? Vlad?

“Of course,” Clockwork tutted, “he didn’t plan on your dying and in such a gruesome fashion. If he kills you and takes your claim, he would spend his remaining years ruling the Ghost Zone in a just, controlled fashion for your memory. He destroys all the stable portals and keeps the ghost and human worlds separate.” Clockwork became and old man and titled his head, “it’s not a bad timeline, all things considered.”

“And if I take it?” Danny asked quietly.

“You’re compassionate, brave and motivated, you have all the makings of a revolutionary king,” Clockwork smiled. “The Zone would experience and unprecedented era of peace, there would be positive interactions between human and ghosts for the first time since life and death split into two. Your name would spoken with reverence for the rest of time.”

“But I don’t want to be king,” Danny frowned.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Clockwork stated. “Which is why I am giving you the choice. If you pass peacefully there will be no one to claim the Crown and life will continue on, ghost attacks and all. If Plasmius kills you, he becomes an effective but unmemorable king. If you take the Crown, you can get the chance to tell Sam and Tucker how much you love them.”

Danny rubbed at his face, he didn’t want to die but he’d be sealing away his entire future with a move like this. He didn’t even know if the Crown would let him go with death, maybe he’d die and be stuck as the Ghost King until his core finally gave out lord in who knows how long. Eternity was an awful long time to carry such a responsibility. He couldn’t bring himself to ask, too afraid of the answer.

“Is there ever a timeline I became an astronaut?” He asked instead. Clockwork hummed, seemingly unsurprised by Danny’s non-sequitur. 

“Yes, in one of the few universes where you never walked into the portal. You never go into space what with human politics putting a halt on the programs but you work for NASA. You leave Amity Park at 17 and don’t come back save for your parents’ dual funeral.” He paused and Danny felt read down to his very bones, “from the moment you became half ghost you were always heading for this moment. The circumstances varied but it always came down to you and the Crown. Time is straining to continue, to see how this drama plays out. Will you accept it and all the joy and grief that comes with it?”

Danny looked over at Vlad, still mid-sneer but there was a scared desperation in his face. He and Vlad sniped at each other all the time but Danny didn’t really hate him and he didn’t think Vlad did either. Leaving him alone, plus making him be king was a heavy burden to put on his enemy. 

Sam and Tuck probably wouldn’t recover from this, he’d put them through so much already but he just knew that they’d never be the same. Could he do that to them? Take the easy way out and leave them to suffer? Mom and Dad didn’t deserve to come home to a dead son, the truth would come out and they’d never forgive themselves. Jazz certainly wouldn’t, she was 2 states over at University but he could already hear her angry, grief-stricken screams. 

Death, death was quiet. It was quiet and merciful and sad, but it was also easy. And Danny Fenton had never once taken the easy route. He reached out and took and the crown before shakily placing it on his head. He gasped, throwing his head back as his core swelled, taking up residence once more right next to his heart. Clockwork smiled, looking like the cat who ate the canary. 

“The Crown of Fire, pardon me the Crown changes with each core, the Crown of Ice is now yours as is the Zone. Your reign begins now but so too does the rest of your life. People are waiting for you. Time in.” Danny slammed back into awareness on the floor of his parents’ lab, the floor he’d almost died on twice. 

He sat up as cold radiated off his body, causing frost to crawl down his arms and along the floor. Sam, Tucker and Vlad, who’d been frozen up until now, jumped back to life. There was a new, familiar weight on his head that he didn’t dare acknowledge. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and said a silent goodbye to a quiet, normal life. It wouldn’t be all bad, he could be happy like this but the Crown still felt like a iron manacle around his neck. But he got used to the ghost powers, he could get used to this too. Maybe one day he won’t look at the stars and say ‘what if?’

“Danny!” Sam shouted, throwing herself into his arms soon followed by Tucker. Their warm weight, their relieved sobs, their shaky breaths in his air, now this was something worth living for. He squeezed them tightly.

“But how dude, you were at death’s door!” Tucker asked, still not letting go.

“You accepted the Crown,” Vlad said evenly, “I wasn’t aware you even knew about your claim. Who told you?”

“You don’t know everything, Vlad,” Danny sighed, sitting himself upright. Ugh his shirt was covered in blood and ectoplasm. He needed to trash these clothes before his parents freaked. And find a way to hide the floating ice crown on his head. 

“Even an old man can be surprised every now and again,” Vlad said wearily. He stood up to his full height before startling Danny by dipping down to one knee. “Then allow me to be the first to welcome my new king and wish him well.”

“I thought you wanted this,” Danny questioned.

“I do, I did,” Vlad said, unusually off balance. “To be quite honest, I’m not sure how to feel about it but, right now, I’m just immeasurably happy you’re alive, little badger. Now I best be off, enjoy your kingdom, my liege, I’ll be sure to come bother you some time soon.” Vlad disappeared in a swirl of pink leaving just him, Sam and Tucker still clinging to him.

Danny may have a kingdom, a job he didn’t want and his whole life decided in a spur of the moment choice, but he also had something very important. He squeezed his friends tightly.

“I love you guys, thank you for being my friends even though I have the worst ideas for activities. Dying? On a Sunday night? How lame is that?” Sam laughed, a bit hysterical but it was real and it made Danny feel weightless. 

“Don’t do that again, buddy,” Tucker breathed into his shoulder. “So you gonna explain what just happened and why you’re apparently the Ghost King or something?”

“Yeah, yeah I will but let’s get changed first. Mom and Dad will be home soon and I think I’m going to need to have a conversation with them about my new job.” 

[bibbykins]

Vulnerable in The Dead of Night (M)

I wrote this QUICK, so if it’s bad, I’m so sorry, but I just wanted to get this out ASAP, so I hope you like it! Also, pls feel free to give me your thoughts or ask any questions, I love to answer them!

NOTE: This is part of The Household’s Bunny series, which I recommend you read before this bc otherwise, it may not make sense.

Summary: Taehyung finds himself consumed with self-loathing and crushing loneliness. You find Taehyung standing alone in the kitchen late at night, happy to see him again for the first time in weeks. The usually playful and flirty man is left with his feelings when faced with you in the dead of night.

Genre: Soft Yandere! Taehyung x Chubby! Reader

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: 18+, soft yandere tendencies, obsessive/possessive thoughts, crying, loneliness, self-loathing, abandonment issue, adopted person feeling unworthy of love, kissing, hickeys, cunnilingus, precum, blowjob, swallowing, dom/sub dynamics, dirty talk, this is a yandere fic so unhealthy relationships are throughout this series

Taehyung felt like he was losing his mind, and maybe he was. What could he be doing wrong? How can you not know how he feels? How can Jimin get his point across better than him? 

Do you not like him?

His pacing in the kitchen ceased at this thought. 

No.

Surely, no. You liked him, right? You told him you did.

Although, that was before he and Namjoon had basically disappeared from your life these last two weeks. Is he that replaceable? 

The nagging insecurity of his childhood crept up. Flashes of tears, isolation, and craving for love tugged at his mind. He shook his head. He wasn't a 6 year old watching his father leave him. He wasn't a 14 year old in a foster home. He just wasn't that 17 year old in a new home, trying to adapt. That wasn't him anymore. Taehyung was loved now, by many. So why not by you? 

He blew out a shaky breath before finishing his glass of room temperature water. He was still dressed in his suit, having just gotten home from the final session of the blasted weeks-long project that kept him from you. His tie was more suffocating than ever but could not find a reason he deserved to undo it.

Too enraptured in his own thoughts, he didn't hear the soft pad of slippers downstairs or the tiny pants of regaining your breath from the nine flights you just went down in the dead of night, "Tae?" Your breathy voice sliced through the chaos in his mind and he let out a breathy chuckle, thinking he was going insane, hallucinating your voice.

Truly, he felt useless. He felt sub-human. He felt every piece of shit adult who turned his back on him must be justified if this was the best he could do. If a smokescreen of lovability with no love was his peak. If being alone with only hallucinations was the closest he could get to companionship-

He nearly choked on his water when he felt arms wrap tightly around his midsection, "Tae, you're home!" Your voice cleared the cloud of self-loathing and he looked down to see your half manicured nails, most of the polish chipped off. He slowly placed his hands on yours and was relieved to find you weren't a hallucination, "I missed you." He could feel your mouth moving against his suit jacket as you squeezed him a bit harder.

He let his eyes close as he relished in the feeling of you nuzzling into him, missing him. 

Worried when he said nothing, you moved to detach yourself but he held your hands firmly, "Tae?" You questioned only for him to hum lightly.

"I missed you so much, little lamb." His voice was soft, the softest you'd ever heard it as his thumb stroked your palm, "I didn't know you missed me." His voice held a fondness you had never heard from him before. Usually, his tone was light and playful but now, he was almost melancholic.

Did he genuinely feel that way? The panic of one of the men you found yourself falling for each day thinking you didn't like him as much as you did take over and you moved for you both to face each other. Tae merely blinked before you were in front of him, hands holding his face, not searching in his eyes but looking to express something with yours, "Of course I missed you." You pouted, "You all mean the world to me." 

He searched for any sign of a lie. He'd seen it time and time again from people in the entertainment industry, but with you, it was nothing but pure honesty, "Little lamb." He commanded your attention even though he already had it as you let your hands settle on each of his shoulders, "You mean that?" 

"I would never lie to you." You didn't miss a beat before looking at him further, realizing he is not acting like he usually does, "Are you okay?" You asked lightly, eyes traveling over his form, hands working to undo his tie as you've done before when he asked you to help him, "Oh gosh, that must feel so suffocating this late at night." You mumbled and undid two of his top buttons. He grabbed your hands as you worked at the second button, making you look up.

"Do you wanna know how I feel, baby?" He asked, eyes a little darker now as he drank in your form, wearing a mere long shirt that reached the middle of your thighs with no shorts in sight. You nodded and his grip on you tightened but wasn't painful, "Jealous." He rasped and you looked up, confused, "Jealous that you don't cum for me or crave me like you do everyone else." His voice was strained despite neglecting Namjoon's own lack of experience with you.

You blinked, "I mean if you want sex, that's okay." He let go of your hands, one of his hands moving to grip your hip as the other cupped your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb, "But you know that sex is just that, I mean, I like closeness and it makes me feel good, so I do it. But I also know that being sexually attracted to me doesn't mean you want me as your partner- oh!" He cut you off by pressing you roughly against the wall, his hand now cradling the back of your head to prevent you from getting hurt.

His gaze burned into you and you averted your eyes but the hand behind your head went to grip your chin, forcing your gaze to meet his own, and what a fierce gaze it was, "Who made you think that?" He snapped and continued when you struggled to respond, "Who convinced you that you're not just as worthy of pleasure as you are intimacy? Love? Companionship?" 

You were dumbstruck. Part of you wanted to ask how long he had because you had a list. You remembered every person who made you feel that way whereas they surely forgot you moments after you either did or didn't succumb to their desires. Instead, your eyes began to water, "Why are you…?" You forced out, blinking back your tears, "I don't...I don't understand." You shook your head.

"I don't want to fuck you so bad just because you're the sexiest woman I've ever seen." Your breath hitched and your mind couldn't properly process his words, "I crave you." He breathed, leaning down, "I've been agonizing over how to come to terms with the fact that I feel so fucking strongly for someone who has no obligation to feel the same." Before you could even respond, he placed his mouth on yours in a bruising kiss.

You responded immediately, trying your best to convey your feelings in this sloppy kiss, tongues intertwined as you needily moaned when his hand wrapped your leg around him, but he didn't grind into you, he just pulled your closer. The kissing lessened in urgency and increased in passion as he gripped you with a near bruising force, "Tae…" You groaned into his mouth and found yourself nearly crying. You held him closer and he squeezed you to him.

"Yes, baby?" He moved to kiss lightly at the corner of your mouth, mouth moving to. kiss at your tears. He didn't need to ask you why you were crying. He knew. He felt it too. He felt the relief that came with being held close, being kissed, and is wanted as much as another wants you.

"Do you mean it?" You asked, crying more now, "You…"

"I feel so strongly for you." He affirmed and you shook your head, having a hard time believing him, "And that's so frightening because you could just leave and I..." He breathed shakily, head tucked into your neck, "I don't know how everyone else is holding it together when I know they feel the same-"

"I do too." You had to say it before you wouldn't, "All of you, I do." You sniffled, "But I can't find a reason why you guys would feel anything for me too." Your voice was breaking and he just crushed you to him further, "And I don't know if they feel that way, and-" You cried further, "I-I need to go to bed, I need to-" You tried to pull away from his crushing embrace to no avail. 

You whined a bit at this. Your mind was scattered, and you didn't know what to do. There was so much going on yet nothing going on at all. You received a confession and so did he and yet, everything felt so complicated. The doubt of anyone wanting to be with you strangled your very being and made you want to stay in your room and never think about it again. Live alone in mediocrity and loneliness.

"Promise me you're not scared." His words were demanding but his tone was pleading, "I...I know it's a lot and I know I never act like this, but just, don't avoid it, don't avoid me." He sniffled and you relaxed, "The fact of the matter is, we feel the same about each other, the rest will come in time." He was regaining his composure and slowly you began to calm down. He was right. It was just you and him. Everyone else is at bay, they will get their time. You don't have to wake everyone up to know their feelings. You have time, "I know Jimin said his piece to you too, and we're not going anywhere, so please, don't go." His voice was stable again as he tucked in the scared and lonely little boy that haunts him sometimes and set his mind straight.

You nodded against him, honest and understanding of his words. You were nervous, sure, but only time would tell. If you run, you break your heart. But if you stay, you could either get your heart broken or get everything you want. It's a risk that you don't know how to calculate, but it's a risk you're willing to take. Maybe Taehyung is right and everyone feels the same about you in a way you could only dream. Just maybe.

He lets you go and you look at him, flawless as ever. His face was minorly red, tears minuscule and long gone by now, "We should go to bed." You murmured as Taehyung reached up to wipe away the stray tears on your cheeks and he nodded. 

He held your hand as he pressed the elevator button, lightly scolding you for taking nine flights of stairs in slippers with no traction, "Wow, you tell me you tell me you like me and now I'm getting chewed out." You giggled, the feeling of someone fussing over your safety was quite refreshing.

He looked at you incredulously, "If you fell or hurt yourself, all hell would break loose." He chided and you hummed.

You broke out into a goofy smile, "You like me." You giggled and the man next to you gave you a side-eyed glare before giving up on containing his own smile.

"Yeah well," He paused for a moment, smiling to himself, "You like me back." He chuckled and you felt your face heat up. 

He squeezed your hand and you watched the floors tick up to your own, "Tae?"

"Yes?" He asked, noticing your voice got quieter, more unsure. 

"Do you have anything to do tomorrow or do you want to stay with me tonight?" You forced out, nervous he would say no. 

Little did you see, he broke out into a cheerful smile and thanked his lucky stars before responding coolly, "I'd be honored to stay with you tonight." 

The elevator dinged just in time and you held his hand all the way to your bedroom before finally standing to face him. You studied his face for the nth time tonight. He was still beautiful each time and the moonlight only further deified his beauty further, "You're all so beautiful." You mused, reaching up to place a soft kiss on his lips.

"And all yours." He breathed.

You scoffed, "Sounds impossible." 

"Start believing, my darling." His voice was as smooth and deep as ever and you looked into his eyes and found an emotion you'd never seen before. 

Maybe you could do this. Maybe Taehyung was right and all 7 of them felt the same. Maybe you were deserving of sex and love.

And quite possibly it was your own resignation of maybe of the whole situation that made you reach up and push his suit jacket off of his shoulders. Confused, he still shrugged off the jacket, letting it fall to the floor. You reached up and began undoing the third button on his shirt. With more of his chest exposed you reached your hands up and feel the exposed skin of his chest softly, "Baby, what are you- fuck!" You cut him off, leaning up to suck onto his neck harshly before licking the spot. Your breath hit his neck, "You have got to be careful or I may not be able to control myself." You merely smiled before licking a stripe along the column of his throat and you could feel the vibration of his groan against your tongue before kissing along his jaw, "I don't want you to think I just confessed to you so I could come up here and-" He cut himself off with a strangled growl as you shifted your leg up for your thigh to brush against his erection.

"I like how cumming feels knowing you're still going to like me the next day." You spoke honestly and Taehyung wanted to find every person who didn't make you feel that way, "Unless you don't want to do anything, which is fine." You nuzzled into his neck, "I just, want to be close to you in more ways than one." 

He pulled back to look at you properly and found no doubt in your eyes. With Jimin, sexual acts had been a show of emotions. Now that you thought about it, even what happened with Yoongi and Jin felt like something different than what you were used to. In each sexual encounter, there was a level of care, making it feel so alien. Even with Jungkook and Hoseok, there was something there that you didn't know, intimacy. And yet, it felt so good.

Nevertheless, he asked, "Are you sure?" You nodded and he smiled, head dipping down to kiss you deeply. You continued your work on the buttons of his shirt while your tongues felt each other. Your hands went to his belt, undoing the Italian leather before you pulled away from his mouth and began kissing down his neck and his hands intertwined with your hair, "Baby, you don't have to make me cum." He breathed and you sucked at his neck to protest.

"I want to feel you in my mouth." You whined, hand reaching into the pants you unbuttoned to grip his dick over his briefs, "Please?" 

He nodded, eyes heavy, unsure how he could ever say no to you in the first place, "On the bed though, I don’t want you to hurt your knees." His voice was soft and you giggled at his wholesome request but nodded anyway.

You sat on the bed as he rid himself of his mostly taken-off clothing. You both tangled into each other as he kissed while he laid over you on your bed. You lightly pushed him to flip over so you were on top of him, legs straddling his hips. His hands glided over your thighs, squishing the skin gleefully as you continued peppering kissing down his chest, pressing your core into his bare erection, making you let out a needy moan, “You’re so hard.” You whispered, mouth sliding down his body.

Before you knew it, you reached his dick and of course, it was pretty. You wrapped your hands around the base and he sucked in a breath through his teeth before you licked at the precum at the tip before taking as much of him as you could in your mouth and he let out the most delicious grunt,” So good to me, my little lamb.” He praised you in a gravelly voice and you felt yourself get wetter as his hands curled into your hair, “Fuck, just like that.” He groaned as you hollowed your cheeks and sucked him further. The dark room was filled with sounds of you drooling all over his erection as he praised you and was very vocal with his pleasure. The praise made you moan against his dick in delight, “My little lamb likes to be praised, huh?” He cooed, voice strained and breath heavy as you nodded, never letting his length escape your lips, “So perfect for me, aren’t you?” You hummed in delight as he threw his head back, fingers tensing in your hair as he did his best to not pull it or push your head down. However, determined to please, you guided his hand to push you further, nodding to let him know it was okay. He was gentle as he guided your head, his other hand intertwining with yours as a sweet gesture. You bobbed rhythmically and you could hear his noises becoming less and less controlled, “Fuck, I’m getting close.” He warned and you responded with a strong suck that made his hips lift off the bed, “Where do you want me to cum?” He asked urgently and you answered by looking up at him through your lashes with a look way too innocent for someone about to drink down his cum. It was that look that sent him over the edge and you felt him cum in your mouth. You drank him dry before letting his dick go with a resounding pop.

“Did I do well?” You asked and, his hand still in your hair, pulled you to him as he nodded before planting a sweet kiss on your lips.

“Perfect, baby, perfect.” He was breathless but still intent on kissing you deeply as he sat up, hands going to your thighs to grip the hem of your shirt, “Can I taste you, little lamb?” He asked and you nodded.

“Please.” You whined as he kissed your throat, going over the hickeys you had from the other me in the house, all of them mostly faded except for the one Jimin gave you. He lifted the shirt, only detaching from marking you to strip you of your clothing. He laid you down as he slipped your panties off, groaning at how you were glistening.

“You this wet for me, sweetheart?” He spoke huskily and you hummed desperately as his finger slid from your clit to your drenched hole slowly, “I really wanted to go slow, but fuck,” His finger slid in with little resistance much to his delight, “You’re just so ready for me, aren’t you?” You nodded, panting as his finger fucked slowly into you and he raised a brow, expecting you to be verbal.

“Yes, yes, I’m ready Sir, please.” You gasped out, fighting the urge to wiggle your hips as you confirmed with the honorific you trusted him enough to give yourself fully.

“Just because you’ve been so sweet to me,” He leaned down, breath fanning over your drenched core, “I won’t make you beg this time.” He kissed your clit, making you twitch before his tongue licked a stripe from your clenching hole to your clit, making you gasp, “You taste so fucking good, no wonder Jin and Yoongi were so smug for days.” He rasped and felt you clench around him further, “Oh?” He chuckled darkly as his tongue flicked your clit, “You like when I talk about the others? You wish they were here watching you squirm around my finger?” You writhed in delight as he slid another finger in, “You wish they were here helping me get you off so pretty, holding you down so you’ll be still like a good girl?” He teased you and it only soaked his fingers and tongue further as he slurped you intently. Taehyung had been waiting what felt like his whole life to have you come apart in his clutch and feel your sweet cum on his tongue.

He tasted you intently, fucking into you a little quicker as he let you squirm around him. He would be lenient and kind this time around, because of both of your desperations and tearful confessions. There was so much to feel and so much to taste, and he just wanted to have you crumble in his clutch. You were well on your way to be his, theirs, and he would be yours in return. He wanted to channel his hunger for you as he moaned into your pussy. You were already getting off by making him cum and now, you were unsure how long you would last if he kept flexing his tongue and running it over your clit as he curled his fingers in your cunt, hitting a particularly sensitive spot that made your back arch off the bed.

He murmured dirty and sweet nothings into your pussy as you clutched the sheets with a death grip, doing your best to not push his head into your core. You wanted him to have total control over your body and pleasure in this moment, “You’re getting close.” He cooed teasingly and you nodded, spurring him to take his fingers out.

You cried out as he chuckled, sucking your juices from the two fingers, “Please, I wanna cum, please, please!” You whimpered, pushing your hips up as he let his fingers go from his mouth.

“Shit, you’re so fucking cute.” He groaned, hands pinning your hips to the bed as you squirmed, “I’ll make you cum, baby, don’t worry.” He kissed at your clit, eliciting a desperate cry, “You just have to be really good for me and cum while I fuck you with my tongue.” He licked at your hole as you nodded eagerly, “Can you be good for me and do that?” His voice was dripping with lust.

“Yes, Sir, I can, I will, please!” You babbled, having been so close to cumming just moments ago.

You calling him Sir made his teasing nature disappear as he slid his tongue into you with a groan on his end and with you nearly screaming as he fucked into you. He moved inside of you as your walls fluttered, slowly clenching more and more as you could feel your high coming. It was when his hand went to rub quick circles onto your clit that you came with a strangled moan.

His tongue fucked you through your high and he only pulled away when your back settled back onto the bed and you were trying to catch your breath. He kissed your stomach before going to put on his briefs as he slid your panties back on. He hovered over you, placing a quick kiss on your mouth as you wrapped your arms around him, humming in bliss, “You’re such a good girl.” You keened at his praise as he placed a kiss on your cheek before rolling over to pull you in his arms, holding you tight.

“Now you get to be smug.”You giggled tiredly, eyes closing as you listened to his heartbeat.  

He chuckled, equally tired as he kissed the crown of your head, “I already am.” He mused, “Goodnight, little lamb.” His voice was soft and sweet as you could only muster another blissful hum.

Now, you were starting to understand what was so different about all of your sexual, or near-sexual, interactions with almost everyone. It was the emotion in it. 

You’ve had people say they liked you, get what they want, and then never see you again. However, the guys, barring Tae and Jimin, hadn’t said they liked you, but they tried to communicate it. They held you close, they stayed to cuddle with you after. There was care in the way they touched your body and it was liberating. It was frightening, the idea of getting used to something that could just go away one day, but nevertheless, you let your consciousness fade, knowing he would be there tomorrow morning.

Tip Jar

[mismess]

Is there anywhere I can learn more about Your Normal Boss? Or can I get an info dump on it? I’m very invested in Norman and I need to know every part of the lore /hj

Ok I've tried to reblog all previous posts I could quickly find from this blog to @yournormalboss for easier locating. At the moment the blog is just for sorting and everything will still be posted here as normal.

BUT I ALWAYS HAVE MORE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT NORMAN <3

The story itself is not tremendously developed, but it would follow Dolby Connection, a rather lonely and slightly socially awkward person who's luck kinda just keeps running out, as they take their new job as the technician at Norman's company. Sadly, they never really get to properly do that job as they quickly realize the day is just repeating over and over groundhog day style. The only other person here who isn't resetting like everyone else is their boss, Norman, however Norman is much different from when he hired them the other day, a lot weirder, a lot less co-operative and a little more homicidal. Which makes figuring out what happened and how to fix it a lot harder.

Norman, an eccentric and a little murderous man with a happy-go-lucky persona overlaying his intense nihilism, has no memory of hiring Dolby and has no idea how they got here, as he's been stuck in this time loop for years and it's very hard to hire anyone when nothing you do is permanent. He tried to act normal when Dolby showed up, but once he realized Dolby's appearance did NOT mean the end of the time loop, he quickly resorted back to his old ways.

Normans murderous tendencies mostly stemmed from frustration and desperate attempts to stop the time loop, over time however he grew desensitized and death now means nothing and holds no weight to him, as it all goes back to normal when the loop resets. He genuinely no longer thinks the occasional murder is that big of a deal, nothing has mattered for years so he can't really fathom it mattering now.

The day resets, they wake up in the office once again.

The thing about this story however is I can't figure out actually what's going on here and tend to focus more on the character growth and healing or funny scenarios instead of actual plot so I don't. Have ANY explanation about what happens between this point and potentially getting out of the time loop. I also have so much Norman growth in my brain but idk how to convey it to you guys lmao.

[skipps-writes-for-gojo-satoru]

I'm not sure Gojo has ever even shown an interest to any girls.

He calls Utahime weak and teases her by making fun of her, essentially- which she hates. Mei Mei is incredibly strong and beautiful, and Gojo acknowledges her skill but that's it. I also noticed that in the anime (the manga doesn't have honorifics, so please correct me if I'm wrong) but he calls her Mei-san rather than Mei Mei. Therefore, I don't think he ever tried to get much closer to her than the interactions we've seen. When she asks him if he'd comfort her if she cried, he tells her that's she strong- she wouldn't cry. I thought it was interesting that while Mei Mei's question was slightly flirty, Gojo answered so simply, without any teasing.

He calls Shoko by her first name, which is understandable since they spend more time together being in the same grade. He realizes that her ability is rare and useful, but like with Utahime and Mei Mei he doesn't go any further than that. He mostly speaks to her about work related things and doesn't flirt or tease much at all.

Honestly, I think Gojo actually respects his female colleagues and mostly pokes fun at Utahime because she's so uptight and strict. Shoko and Mei Mei are more relaxed and self-assured, and Gojo recognizes their skills and compliments them for it rather than teasing them. I doubt Gojo really thinks Utahime is truly weak more than he just loves riling her up. Other than that, Gojo's pretty respectful.

Also, in the Hidden Inventory arc, Gojo was bombarded with screaming from all the girls excited to see him. Other than pulling his shades down so they could see his face- after they asked him to, btw- he didn't really do much else. He didn't even react much to the teacher giving him her phone number. His only comment was "what a fun school," and it's interesting to see that while lots of girls do appreciate his looks, he acts only mildly amused.

Other than that one model as his wallpaper, we don't really see Gojo flirt or show interest with anyone. He only really teases Utahime to piss her off- I suspect he hates how much she follows the rules like Nanami does, who he teases often as well. He likely just enjoys annoying people so stern because rules just don't sit well with him (especially because of what those "rules" had done to Geto).

It's just a possibility, but he could be one of those guys who's more interested in work than pleasure- I know, he's handsome, but not all handsome people are players and cheaters. I think that's a horrible stigma and a lot of attractive people irl are judged and criticized solely for their looks. People make too many assumptions on someone just based on their genes, and I think it's pretty shallow to think Gojo's a womanizer just because he's attractive. And he knows he's attractive- but when did being confident in yourself make you a philanderer? Gojo has never used his looks manipulatively at all.

It's definitely a possibility that he would be a womanizer, but I'd say it's unlikely based in what we've seen. To sum it all up, Gojo doesn't show interest in anyone. He teases Utahime often, likely for the same reason be teases Nanami- they're too uptight. Shoko and Mei Mei are both incredibly skilled and beautiful sorcerers, and he does acknowledge and compliment them for it, but he doesn't tease or flirt with them. He's respectful, and he works with them as his colleagues. He didn't get distracted by the teen girls fawning over him either, or suddenly get overtly cocky or show off, only sliding his glasses down so they could see his face, and even then he acted only mildly amused. Also, when Miwa asked him for a picture, he didn't even stay and chat with her or anything (I know she's a minor, but if he truly was a womanizer, he would have at least stayed to hear her compliment him or anything to feed his ego) Maybe ask her "Oh, you want a picture with me? The strongest? How cute~" A flirty comment, a joke, something to fuel his own ego, but he doesn't do that. He doesn't act in a way that conveys he openly pursues attention from women. He just takes the picture with her and walks off casually.

Therefore, other than the fact that he's handsome- and I know many people who would assume things about someone based on their attractiveness, which is a terrible stereotype- Gojo doesn't show much interest in flirting at all. He could be the type of guy who works more than plays- and there's plenty of guys who are handsome but aren't super interested in playing around. Being handsome doesn't automatically mean he's the type to sneak around and have affairs here and there. It's completely realistic for a handsome man to be uninterested in any kind of relationships- not all men are sex crazed, and being a tease to his friends doesn't make Gojo a flirt either. Teasing your friends is perfectly normal.

Therefore, Gojo being a 28 year old virgin is totally possible- not everyone's a sex crazed teen who only thinks about what's between their legs, and basing it on what normal Japanese teens do is unfair. Neither Gojo or his lifestyle is exactly normal, and there's definitely barriers when it comes to experiencing normal youth activities for Gojo's generation- especially Gojo's generation. Yuji's generation definitely has more freedom to do fun things because of what Gojo has done to give the youth more freedom- things he hasn't been able to experience himself in his youth, like playing baseball during the exchange event. That was the first time they ever did something different to tradition, and that was only because of Gojo's consideration.

Gojo's youth was filled with blood, exorcising, and choosing between life and death. The deaths Yuji and co. witnessed were what Gojo experienced as well, if not worse. Gojo's task in his youth was to protect the weak, and he found that burdensome. At least, until Geto betrayed them, and Gojo realized the new burden he had to bear in changing the Jujutsu world because of what it had done to his only best friend.

There are definitely more important things in Gojo's mind than just losing his virginity, like saving people and choosing who to save, whether he should kill or not kill.

Gojo is the strongest, but he also bears the biggest burden- and that burden is something he chose to bear, and being the strongest is something he chose to be. Because before Geto left, it was "We are the Strongest." Now, Gojo worked tirelessly so that he could say "I am the Strongest."

And that's not something you can do while sleeping around. I think a lot of people fail to recognize just how hard Gojo works for himself and others. They just think, oh he's the strongest, so it should be easy for him. But it's really, really not that simple, is it? Especially when you have to do it on your own, and even then Gojo realizes that his strength alone isn't enough to save people. He can't save everyone by himself- It's not enough for just him to be the Strongest, so he works diligently to build and inspire his students to stand with him.

He's actually a very deep and emotional man who cares about his students and especially, even now, his best friend. Everything he does is for their sake- he sacrifices the normal life he could have lived, like Nanami had done, for their sake. And he fights with the higher ups, takes the brunt of their ire, and laughs it off, acting as if he fine, like a dad pretending he's superman for his kid's sake. But Gojo is burdened, and he's tired, and he hardly sleeps, and he has the most missions- he's the Strongest, which means everyone needs him, and he bears it.

Sorry for ranting again tho. I think I went into two different topics lol oops- 🤔

OUR SAVIOR 🤔 EDUCATING PEOPLE pay attention ya'll another thing I've noticed in the latest episode is that in his phone contacts he actually writes Utahime's name properly like formally no emojis or teasing shit he actually sees them as his colleagues people he can rely on his field of work and yes about the whole thing when he bursted into riko's class man was absolutely clueless just silent as a teacher tries to give him his number. I'm pretty sure as a child Gojo wasn't allowed to attend public schools due him being in danger or putting others in danger so he doesn't know much about public schools or normal people in general since he spends all his time with people from the jujutsu society.

That is definitely true just because someone is good looking that doesnt mean he's some cheap womanizer. I see a lot of people shipping him and Utahime together which is understandable ship who you like but I don't think Gojo as any ulterior motives like wooing Utahime by teasing her he just is plainly teasing ya know like friends do but in this case Utahime hates his guts and he doesnt know. I mean it takes some amount of hate to try to throw hot tea at someone 😂

While certainly I agree Gojo's teen like wasn't the best it was like he literally had a full time job at that age but who's to stay he didn't go messing around one time? I'm sure during his teen days he wanted to experience things he didnt get to to but now could because he lives on his own now. But maybe he didnt at all who knows? Which also raises another question, I wonder if he has any romantic experiences? And this was all before what happened in the hidden inventory arc after that I can see him more becoming invested in his duty and with what happened with geto as well would of definitely had a huge impact on him to try harder even though hes the strongest so that the next generation wouldn't have to experience the things he went through.

It's really sad if you really think about it what hes been through and what he has to shoulder all while keeping the facade that he's okay, I bet there were times he cursed his powers and his life....but he bears with it anyways because everyone is counting on him....

And don't be sorry at all! I am actually really learning alot about Gojo from you. Please continue to tell us your thoughts and feelings. I don't mind at all ❤ and thank you for taking the time to write 💕