Chapter 24: Banishment - 97 AG

[a year later]

In the capital of the Fire Nation, Azula stood on top of a platform, wearing the attire of a Fire Nation navy. Across her was a man two times older than her, yet all Azula could see from the face of the man was fear, his hands clenched tightly, his face sweating heavily.

"I-I'm sorry, p-princess." the man stuttered. "I-I never meant to dis-disrespect you. P-please…"

"Prepare yourself, soldier," Azula growled, herself getting into a stance. "This is an Agni Kai, either you fight to win, or you'll burn."

The despair on the man's face was something that Azula relished. with a frustrated face, the man also took a stance, his hands ready to spout flames. With his face turning from frustration to anger. With careless steps, he rushed forward, his hand punching the air in front of him, and a jet of fire shot through the area.

Seeing this, Azula ducked down, and spun on the ground, her legs spouting azure flames that slashed forward a couple of inches from the floor. The man jumped from Azula's attack, already feeling the heat of her flames, and in the air, the man flipped, also creating a slash of flames directed towards the princess from his legs.

Azula's face contorted once she saw this, and instead of dodging it, Azula simply used her arms to get rid of the flames, before shooting up a flare of blue flames toward the man, which he couldn't dodge in time, burning the front of his body, permanently charring him.

In between the screams of the man, Azula simply jumped down the platform while the soldiers that had been watching them all rushed towards the man to take care of him. Meanwhile, Azula just… left, with her servants following her in the back.

But, she realized that someone had been watching her all this time. It was… her father, standing far away from the platform and she could see him standing inside a window. Seeing this, Azula just bowed, but Ozai just turned away from her, continuing whatever he wanted to do.

Azula's face turned frustrated, but she quickly got rid of it, continuing to walk towards her next destination.

—

Inside her room, Azula was changing her attire from battle armor to a more normal attire for a princess. She was not alone of course, she was being helped by her servants to take off her armor and to take on her clothing. One was tying up her hair, one was tying off her armor, and the other just watched calmly, waiting for the servants to finish their duties.

Azula was standing in front of the mirror, looking at her face, her own amber eyes as the servants slowly took off her armor, and when they did, it revealed a lot of skin, including the skin of her two arms, one of which are… badly scarred.

The scar she had gotten a year back, from that damned… boy, her only failure in life. Now, the scar of lighting had marked her, a scar that couldn't disappear.

Seeing the scar, she just clenched her arm bicep, looking at it in frustration.

"Princess?" one of the servants asked.

Hearing the servant's words, Azula calmed down, removing her hand from her arm. "Just get on with it." she spat, and the servant continued her work, helping Azula to change into another clothing.

Once it was done, the servants bowed to her, and she quickly turned away from the mirror, towards the door. When she stepped out of the room, someone had already waited for her, someone she wholly despised.

"What are you doing here, uncle?" she said, her face contorting.

"Azula." her uncle, Iroh, smiled. "You look as beautiful as your mother in that attire."

Azula clenched her fist tightly. "Don't compare me to her," she growled.

Iroh chuckled. "I'm sorry. The duel is about to start, I came here to escort you there."

"I can go there by myself." she frowned, walking along, trying so hard to ignore Iroh. but of course, the old man followed her from behind, making her more frustrated.

"You should give your brother a few words of encouragement, a duel for honor is not a sure thing," Iroh advised. 

"And why should I do that?" Azula scoffed. "Zuzu brought it upon himself, I'm praying that he'll get burned instead of his opponent."

"You can't say that, Azula." Iroh shook his head. "He is your elder brother, your family, you should at least show some respect."

Azula scowled. "An incompetent boy like him doesn't deserve to be respected."

Hearing this, Iroh just sighed, looking down at the ground below as they both kept walking.

—

It was… a one-sided duel. When Fire Lord Ozai turns out to be Zuko's opponent, Azula's face contorted into happiness and pleasure, and to see her brother's face being burned in front of her was like a dream come true. When Ozai banished Zuko, It was a sign that even after all this time, her father still favored her over the boy, still favored her skill and ability over Zuko's birthright.

In the evening, when Zuko prepared for his banishment, Azula came to see him, her face boring a reserved smug expression. Inside Zuko's room were Iroh and the boy himself, with a lot of servants helping him to pack his things, when Azula arrived, she leaned against the door frame and stared at her brother.

"Nice look, Zuzu," Azula smirked.

Zuko only took a glance at her, before focusing back on his things. "Go away."

"Well, I came here to say goodbye." Azula continued shrugging. "Since it'll be a long time before we meet again. Let's face it, there's no way you're going to capture the avatar who hasn't been around in decades."

Zuko just clenched his fist, but he didn't say anything. Meanwhile, Iroh just sighed and turned to her. "Azula, do not provoke your brother like that. If you want to say goodbye, you should hug each other, not throw insults."

"Quiet, uncle." Azula scowled, and then she turned to Zuko again. "On second thought, maybe I should hug you since it'll be the last time I'll do so. You'll probably die out of hunger out there, and by that time, I'll be the crown—"

"I will succeed!" Zuko shouted, anger flared in his eyes. "I will return to father with that avatar, and I will restore my honor. At least I'm not you! at least I wasn't given a free pass to enter home again after banishment because you failed miserably!"

"Shut up!" Azula's anger also shot up, even the fire lantern around the room flared brightly. "You have no idea what I was facing, that man is… a monster!"

"Excuses." Zuko scoffed. "Tell that to father."

Azula clenched her fist so hard that her nails dug into her skin. "I will kill him. Whether it be this year or next year, I will kill him. I will probably kill him before you even capture the Avatar."

Zuko scowled. "And how are you going to get out? Father probably won't allow you anymore to avoid any more embarrassment—"

"Enough." Iroh cut both of them off. "You two are brother and sister, this is not the way you should fight. You both should help each other instead of—"

"You're right, uncle." Azula cut Iroh off. "This isn't the way we should fight. Perhaps an Agni Kai should do it. I can make a twin scar on the other side of Zuzu's face if—"

"Azula." Iroh glared at her. "Stop."

Azula scoffed at Iroh, and she just turned around, walking away from the room, anger still on her face.

—

In the middle of the night, as the moonlight passed through the window of Azula's room, she stared at herself in front of the mirror, rage could be seen in her eyes. She's currently wearing only minimal clothing, exposing the skin on her arm again, and the scar she had gained was clear to see.

"I will…" she muttered, hate in her voice. "I definitely will…"

Suddenly, she could see someone in the mirror, someone she wholly hated, even more than anyone else. it was her mother, smiling softly at her, looking at the scar.

"Who did this to you, Azula?" her mother murmured, Azula could see her caressing her scar, but she didn't feel anything. "You're only this young and already have a scar this bad…"

"Why do you care?" Azula pulled her arm away from her mother. "This is your… fault."

"I think you're confused. How can a mother bring harm to her daughter?" her mother whispered.

"No… you did this… you always think I'm a monster." Azula spat. "You always want Zuzu to be the heir, even though I was better! You somehow brought that…  boy there on that island so that he would get rid of me, I know it!"

"No, Azula… I told you, you're confused." the woman in the reflection sighed. "Your father's fear has seeped into you, and it's corrupting you, my love. That boy… she didn't want anything to do with you, and yet you attacked him to prove yourself that you are perfect. You are already perfect, sweetheart, you don't have to prove yourself again and again."

"Shut up!" Azula screamed. "Father's fear? What are you talking about, it is him that has given me attention, while you? You fear me! You fear me because of my power!"

"No, sweetheart, I don't fear you." her mother shook her head. "I love you."

With a flare of rage, Azula forcefully punched the mirror in front of her, shattering it into pieces. Now all she could see was the cracked reflection of her hateful face, with her hand bleeding profusely.

She was breathing heavily, with uncontrolled rage in her heart. She took a couple steps back, and looked at her bleeding hand, dripping blood constantly to the ground.

Soon enough, her breathing normalized, and she thought of something, turning her head to the window. She clenched her bloodied fist, and opened her drawer, gathering all she could, putting it in a bag, before jumping away from the window, and disappearing from the castle.