#so would azula change her course because her traitor failure brother got what he deserved? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sokkascroptop · 4 years ago

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traitor. (sokka x f! reader) pt 1

part 2 | part 3

Azula was good at that, doing and saying things that made you want to yell back. It was her favorite thing to do on purpose and had become like second nature by accident. Y/N, in response, had become very good at holding her tongue over the years, and very good at calming herself when she wanted to lash out. More than once when they were children Azula had lobbed a fireball in her direction that had singed the clothes or skin it was aimed at.

“Do you remember when we first met?” Azula asked. She was lounging on a chaise near the window cleaning her nails with a sharp blade. The sun was setting behind her basking her in a glowing, warm light. It made her gold eyes brighter, gold eyes that were staring intensely at her, waiting for an answer.

“Of course I do. I came to the palace for a party with my parents,” Y/N responded. She was a ways away on Azula’s bed lying on her stomach. She flipped over and hung her head off the bed letting the blood rush to her cheeks. Azula was smirking at her.

“No, at school. When I chose you.” Azula tossed the knife she was using and it thudded into the dark wood of her door frame. A door frame that was sliced with notches of where the girls–her, Azula, Ty Lee and Mai– would measure their heights when they were younger; or where Azula would stab her knife deep in the wood, for safekeeping, she would always say.

Chose. That was a word that Y/N was familiar with. It usually meant that you were special, but to her, to Azula and the girls and Y/N’s parents, it just meant she was lucky.

“Of course I do,” Y/N repeated.

Y/N started at the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Girls later than most. She was already nearly ten and had always had a slew of private tutors. But her father had been recently promoted to Commander and it was insisted that his daughter, his progeny, had the right type of upbringing–and apparently that meant not running through the forests of Ember Island barefoot.

She not-so-fondly remembered the heavy uniform they wore, so different than her thin cotton pants and tunic she was used to. The Capital City was in the same climate as Ember Island, so why did they wear silk? It was so hot. Y/N had hated moving back to the Capital City, and out of their summer home that had become her year round home the minute her mother decided it was much better to be away from the city.

“That first week was hellish. I’d never had to listen to authority before, or hang out with children my age and suddenly that’s all I had. You saved me.”

“Saved you,” Azula scoffed. “I do remember you being quite the little heathen.”

“Hey! I just meant from lashings from the teachers,” Y/N laughed and threw a decorative pillow at Azula’s head. She caught it quick as a cat-snake with one hand and brought it to her chest.

They sat in an easy silence, Y/N wondering why Azula had brought up the moment they met. The first words that she’d ever said to Y/N echoed in her mind. “We’re going to be great friends.”

Azula wasn’t wrong when she prophesied that they were going to be great friends. Azula wasn’t necessarily the ‘welcome with open arms’ type, but she did whatever was closest to that with Y/N. She became a part of them, almost instantly. They had class together, they ate lunch together, they went back to the palace and trained together. Everything, together. Ty Lee was the most friendly of them all, she often braided Y/N’s hair over and over, taking it out and braiding it back, just to have something to do with her hands. Mai was sweet once you got past her glum exterior. Azula was, well, Azula. She was cold one minute and hot the next, literally. Her emotions changed as quickly as the weather. She might throw a fireball at your head if she was mad. But the next moment she’d sweeten you up with fruit tarts she’d stolen from the kitchen and all would be forgotten.

Y/N kept thinking about Azula’s words as she trained with one of the palace guards later that evening. He wasn’t the best with a sword, but he was a fire bender, and that gave her a better workout.

Y/N was a non-bender, but masterful with a sword. It was her father’s favorite hand to hand weapon and he had insisted on her training with it even at a young age. By the time she started at the Royal Academy, she was able to beat her trainers regularly.

Becoming friends with Azula gave her access to some of the best fighters in the Fire Nation, and even that was becoming boring.

Y/N slashed at the guards neck. He threw a fireball at her that dissipated harmlessly where she once stood. She landed in a crouch and kicked her leg out at the back of the guards knee, it buckled and he fell. She bounced to her feet and pointed the tip of her sword at the back of his neck. She saw a swatch of pale skin there which dripped with sweat. A small part of her wanted to dig her sword in and draw bright red blood.

A slow clap echoed through the courtyard that awoke her from those dark thoughts. Y/N smiled at her friend and patted the guards shoulder. “See you later.”

She jogged to join Azula who was starting to walk away. “Come to watch and fawn over me for old times sake?” Y/N giggled and wiped the sweat off her brow. She sheathed her sword and felt the familiar weight bounce against her hip.

“You give yourself far too much credit.” Y/N could tell Azula was in a good mood. A better mood than she’d seen in a while. They reached Y/N’s room and she dropped her sword on the bed.

“Why are you so chipper, ‘zula?”

The left corner of her mouth tilted up in the ghost of a smile. “Father wants to speak to you.”

Y/N’s eyes widened. “Me?”

“I think I know what it’s about but I won’t ruin the surprise. Come on, we don't want to keep him waiting.”

Y/N’s stomach turned. She’d only stood in front of the Fire Lord a handful of times. The first being the first time she traveled to the palace when she was very young. At the time she didn’t know the weight of what she was doing, now she did and she was filled with terror. What in Agni’s name could he want with her? She was just a Commander’s daughter who had befriended his daughter.

The throne room was cold despite the summer heat outside and the fire burning around the Fire Lord. It was dark as well, the black marble floor and columns absorbed the only light from the flames licking upward to their Master. The only sound was the crackling fire and the click of Y/N’s boots; Azula was always so light footed she hardly made a sound.

A drop of sweat leftover from Y/N’s workout dripped down her spine and she shivered at the feeling. Ten yards away from the throne, Y/N dropped to one knee and bowed her head. Azula bowed slightly and stood behind Y/N’s right shoulder.

“Fire Lord, it is an honor to be in your presence,” Y/N said. She could feel the heat from the flames now that she was closer. Whether from nervousness or the warmth that filled her face, she began to sweat.

“You may stand.” The Fire Lord’s voice was higher than she remembered. It didn’t fit the aura he gave off and he sounded bored. Y/N stood with her hands behind her back at attention. She didn’t want to have any excuse for Azula to chastise her when they left. “Azula tells me that you are gifted at sword fighting.”

Y/N fought the urge to send a questioning look to her friend. Azula talked to the Fire Lord about her? She stared at the black outline of his tall figure seated in his enormous chair. “I’m adequate, sire.”

“Beating every single one of my palace guards is more than what I would call adequate,” the Fire Lord remarked.

“Your palace guards are extremely well trained in fire bending but not in sword fighting, sire.” Y/N grimaced and ducked her head, cursing internally at her mouth that was too quick for her brain.

Azula chuckled softly behind Y/N. Now she did turn around to stare at her friend. She whipped her head back not knowing how disrespectful it was to turn your back on the Fire Lord.

“Azula will be leaving tomorrow for the Earth Kingdom to capture my brother, General Iroh and the Fire Prince Zuko. I want you to go with her.”

Y/N paused for a beat. Capture them? The last she heard was that they were on a pointless mission to catch the Avatar. Iroh was disgraced and went with Zuko when he was banished because Iroh couldn’t face his brother when he abdicated the throne for his failure at Ba Sing Se. What could they have done searching for a dead Avatar that could get them into more trouble? Y/N could feel Azula’s sharp nails dig into her arm behind her back and she knew she had waited too long to speak.

“It would be an honor to accompany Fire Princess Azula on this mission, My Lord.” Y/N clasped a fist in her left hand and held it below her right palm and bowed deeply.

If the Fire Lord was pleased with her, his tone didn't show it. “Wonderful. You’re dismissed.”

Y/N couldn’t get out the room fast enough.

Azula was more excitable than ever on their walk back to their rooms. She grabbed Y/N’s arms and tugged like she was a small child. “This is going to be so amazing for me, Y/N! For us!”

Azula seemed to notice Y/N’s hesitation to agree with her. This earned her a sharp look. “Don’t you want the honor and recognition that bringing home two traitors would give you? You’d be promoted higher than your father. Agni knows you’d be more deserving of the title.”

Y/N gave Azula the smile she was waiting for. “Of course. I guess I’m still a little shell shocked at the Fire Lord giving me such an amazing opportunity.”

“Well you can thank me for that.”

Y/N stopped at the door to her room. “Thank you, Azula,” she said before she could snatch the words back. Azula rounded the corner to the stairs that would take her to her room and Y/N took a deep, calming breath, working hard to push away the anger the Azula had incited.

She slid down the wall inside her room. Did Y/N want the honor and glory that Azula talked about? She should, with how she was raised, but now that it was offered on a silver platter, Y/N wasn’t so sure that it was for her. Recently, it became all Azula wanted to talk about. Training and war meetings had become her life so suddenly. And if they were Azula’s life, they were Y/N’s life as well. Y/N wasn’t allowed to sit in on the war meetings but it didn’t matter because Azula always came back to relay what happened in them. ‘Relay’ was the wrong word, more like brag about them. Azula was anything but informative when she spoke. Y/N tried to find some interest in the things the Fire Nation was accomplishing but to Y/N it just turned her stomach. She’d never admit it to anyone, especially Azula but she was sickened by the war.

When did life become this way? All about war and capturing cities and cleansing the world? She wished things were back to simpler times when the girls ran the palace wild and teased Zuko and the maids. She knew that in the past three years since Zuko’s banishment, Fire Lord Ozai had been calling on Azula more and more frequently, upping her firebending training to half the day. But Y/N never thought it would come to this.

Y/N skipped out on dinner that night, just told the maids to take the tray of roast turtle-duck back to the kitchen. Her stomach had been in knots since leaving the throne room. Her and Azula were leaving. Sure, Y/N hadn’t lived with her parents in years; this would be her fifth year of calling the palace home, but for some reason, she didn’t feel like she was going to come back.

Y/N instead slid into a hot bath that she drew for herself for once and mulled in her thoughts. As if the steam in the room was steeping her memories like tea leaves she thought of what this mission was supposed to entail. Things that happened around the palace and behind closed doors were usually hidden from her unless she heard gossip from the servants or occasionally, Azula. But she didn’t seem like she was going to give up any information about it. What did Iroh do to betray the Fire Nation? He was one of the best General’s they’d ever had, even after his defeat at Ba Sing Se. And what did Zuko do that was even worse than his banishment?

None of that matters, she told herself. Her previous ideas about the kind of men they were didn’t matter anymore. If the Fire Lord said that Zuko and Iroh needed to be captured, then that’s what needed to be done.

A/N: uh oh, settle in for more inner angst as y/n tries to figure out where her heart lies. what is more important? honor? friendship? peace?

#atla #a:tla #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #sokka x reader #sokka x female reader #suki #katara #aang #zuko #azula #toph #toph beifong #ozai sucks #avatar resurgence #sokka x y/n #uncle iroh

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seyaryminamoto · 8 years ago

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Azula haters say that Azula wanted Zuko to come home because she needed a scapegoat: Azula shot Aang with lightning while he was in the Avatar state and she suspected that he might be alive. The Avatar state is a mysterious state that makes many things possible and so the Azula haters claim that she believed that Aang could survive her attack. What do you think?

Well, one thing I’ve always found curious, and I’ll admit it, is that Azula is 100% sure that the Avatar is dead but… does she know that killing the Avatar in the Avatar State means killing him for good? Did she know she was ending the cycle? Because this wasn’t shown to be common knowledge, Aang didn’t know it until Roku told him. So, did Azula read about this somewhere? Not impossible, of course, but I’ve certainly always wondered because of the air of finality with which she tells Zuko that “The Avatar is dead”. Always intrigued me.

Aaaaanyways, that’s not really the topic, just needed to put that out there xD

Azula haters have a tendency to defy all logic and to try to flatten her character and her complexities. Ergo, they like to think that Azula is somehow a fortuneteller who would know that Aang would survive the lighting blast, and that this is the only reason why she’d take Zuko home as a hero rather than a traitor.

As I explained in another of my rants, Zuko gets different treatment from his uncle because he’s not a traitor, he’s a failure. Iroh is considered too far gone to be redeemed in Ozai’s eyes, and Azula views him the same way.

But Zuko is a failure, and he gets two options: being dragged home where he’ll no longer embarrass Ozai, as said by Azula in Book 2, Episode 1, OR he could restore his own honor by joining forces with Azula, which would get him his “honor” back, again a summary of the things Azula tells him in Book 2, Episode 20. Long story short, he either gets to get locked in a basement to no longer embarrass dad, or to prove for once and for all that he’s not a failure.

The fact remains that Azula gave Zuko a chance to do the latter. And she didn’t do it because she thought she nedeed a scapegoat, how could she have known Aang might have survived until that conversation with her brother by the turtle-duck pond? Until then she’s absolutely convinced Aang is dead. She snaps at Zuko, until she finally asks if he thinks he might have miraculously survived. Zuko hesitates, then says no. Azula can tell something’s not right, and she says that in that case he has nothing to worry about. In that case. In that case.

Long story short, this is where she decides Zuko will be a scapegoat. This is when she thinks “Oh, well, if he’s going to lie to me I might as well set him up for failure. This is how he repays me after I got him back home with all sorts of glory and honors? Then he’d better be ready to take the fall in case he was lying just now”. If Zuko didn’t lie, he got to keep honors he didn’t deserve. Azula didn’t care that much about the glory of slaying the Avatar, seems like. So she puts Zuko in this awkward, awful position because she’s not about to become one of the failures her father looks down upon so much.

Was it a self-serving move in the end? That’s not even a question worth asking. Yes, she told Ozai that Zuko killed Aang through a pretty bad strategy (and I mean strategically bad, because just as it happened, Zuko could run to Ozai, tell him the truth and if Ozai freaked out about the Avatar being alive, the one who’d pay for it would be Azula, not Zuko, because she lied to him, and she also failed to kill Aang), and she did it expecting to save her own ass. But did she plan ahead because as Aang was collapsing she KNEW that Katara would have the right kind of spirit water that would bring him back from the sort-of-dead? Did she know from the start that Aang had survived despite she’s shown stating, quite strongly, that she believes he’s dead?

Whoever thinks she did probably needs to consider that Azula is not by any means omnipotent. She is not an omniscient writer, she’s not the public, she is a character and characters aren’t exposed to every last detail of th story as the audience is. She couldn’t have known about the spirit water, she shot Aang badly enough to keep him in a coma for a fairly long time even post spirit-water healing. Had there been no spirit-water he’d be dead simple as that. She had no way of knowing he wouldn’t be dead. She had no reason to expect that. Had she been expecting otherwise really means you’re accusing the Avatar writers of miswriting Azula, if you ask me. Because she does NOT know the same information Zuko does. She wouldn’t anticipate to Aang surviving, and what I will consider was her main motivation to give Zuko a chance is explained fairly clearly in the post I linked above.

Will people continue to claim Azula knew all about everything always? Well, sure, but all they prove is that they’re being pretty short-sighted by refusing to acknowledge that Azula might have been doing what she thought was right by her brother, for a change.

#anon #another late ask #I think this is it for tonight... sorry bout that to everyone else stil waiting @_@

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