Post by Sheogorath on Apr 21, 2008 2:59:53 GMT -5
I got this idea in my head while looking at pictures of Azula on deviantART, and I gotta tell ya, she's getting really popular there. I have one part done, and another part in the works, with the possibility of more to follow, of a story titled, if the thread title hadn't made it obvious enough, Azula, Queen of Darkness. I'm going to give this one a PG-13 rating. It's got revenge fantasies, bloodshed, and some other scary moments, but none particularly bad in description. The bulk of the story takes place after the events of the series, but there are some references to Season 2. Now, as is my way, I give it one rating, but some may feel it over harsh, but either way, I did state my intention, and I am holding back.
Azula, Queen of Darkness, by Nerull
He'll pay. Oh, he'll pay dearly! Azula hadn't been the same since he narrowly escaped the Avatar's wrath. Her father, Fire Lord Ozai, and her henchwomen, Ty Lee and Mai, all died when Avatar Aang, thought completely unable to enter the Avatar State after she shot him in the back with a bolt of lightning in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se several months ago, did just that. And the bending. That horrifying display of Earthbending. Great spears of stone leapt up from the floor, impaling Mai and Ty Lee, while a hole in the floor the exact dimensions of a grave swallowed Ozai whole. If she hadn't been fighting with that Waterbender, she'd have met the same fate. The Avatar will pay! The Fire Nation should be mine! But not just him, no. My halfwit brother, and that Waterbender girl, too. Yes, they'll pay, too. But not just them. No, they're not the only ones who deserve it. The entire Fire Nation deserves to be punished!
That's all she could think for the past month. Revenge was all Azula cared about. She'd kill the Avatar, just as he killed her father and the only people she ever deigned to consider her friends, and her brother, who never could do anything right, and the Waterbender who prevented her from stopping the Avatar in the first place. Then she'd take her rightful place as the ruler of the Fire Nation, then, the entire world. But despite her all consuming need for revenge, Azula was not stupid. She knew she'd need to trap the Avatar somehow, separate him from his friends. "But how?" she found herself saying aloud, speaking for the first time in a week, or so she determined.
She had to keep a low profile as she traveled, no telling who might decide to turn her over to the Avatar. She wasn't ready to face him, not just yet. She kept moving, staying in a town for no longer than a week. She didn't so much mind the constantly moving, or keeping her identity a secret, but for someone as talented as her to live like a common traveler was just unbearable. How she wanted to reveal her true identity to those ignorant fools in every town she'd visited since she made her strategic withdrawal, but the Avatar had people keeping an eye on thing all over the Fire Nation, so she just couldn't risk being caught. Not yet.
She left the town shortly after dawn, as she usually had, but there was something odd in the air today, something unsettling. Perhaps she should have stayed in that town for another day or two, but she had already stayed there longer than she should have, she told herself, and had to be going.
If only she had listened to her reservations about leaving. She'd never have taken this desolate path. The trees were all dead or dying, and the few animals in the area to graze on the blackening grass all seemed to glare at her hungrily. It didn't bother her as much as it would have lesser people, she was a Firebending prodigy, after all. But being a Firebending podigy couldn't prepare her for the ghastly sight she happened upon quite suddenly.
A large, humanoid form, stood over a dead armadillo-bear, occasionally lifting chunks of the soft flesh that existed beneath the dead beast's durable hide to the hood of it's cloak, and said flesh would then disappear in the sickening sound of teeth gnashing, tearing flesh apart. Eating a dead armadillo-bear.
Azula wanted to get away from there, to go back to the village and forget ever seeing such a sight, but something kept her there, some horrid fascination with the whole macabre scene. She stood there, transfixed, almost hypnotized by what she saw. Staying was perhaps the biggest mistake of her life, for she exhaled the breath she held since she arrived on this disgusting scene, and the eating thing looked up, startled to find it was being observed, revealing a very shocking sight. The eating thing had nothing but a skull for a face, teeth bloody red from it's meal.
She wanted to scream, but couldn't. She wanted to run, but couldn't. All she could do was shake as the thing, a full seven feet tall, began stalking toward her. She was paralyzed with fear, a emotion new to her. People were afraid of her, not the other way around. Why was she acting like this? What about this thing did this to her? She couldn't possibly come upon an answer, for before she was even aware of it, the thing was now very close.
It spoke to her, it's voice deep and barely above a whisper, yet carried an almost deadly chill about it. "You who once stood in line to the throne of the Fire Nation, I am the physical embodiment of the Darkness Spirit. Why do you trespass in my domain?"
It took Azula all of a half a minute to find her voice again. Something told her that she shouldn't take too long answering it's questions, lest she would wind up it's next meal. Despite her horror, she spoke calmly, "I am Azula, former Princess of the Fire Nation. I had no intent to intrude. As you may know, I was recently driven from my home and have been forced to live the life of a traveler."
The Spirit stared at her through it's empty eye sockets. "And you just happened to wind up here," it finished for her. "I have not the powers in this world I would were I in the Spirit World, however, I am still capable of killing you, or worse. I give you this one opportunity to leave and never return."
The way it looked, Azula believed its words, however, couldn't help but blurt, "What fate could possibly be worse than death?" A very big mistake, for the Spirit simply said, "You will see."
The last thing Azula remembered was the Darkness Spirit lifting a bony hand and placing it's index finger on her forehead.
When she awoke, she was in the remnants of the town in which she had previously stayed. Most of the buildings had been completely destroyed, and the few that remained standing burned with black fire. People remained, and those who dared cross her path were immediately attacked. She watched as her own left arm lifted itself as if to send a fireball with her bending, but what came instead was an intense black flame.
Azula dropped to her knees, drained by the attack, and all at once, she knew what the Darkness Spirit had meant. It had given her an awesome power, but at a terrible price. The energy drain was bad enough, but the loss of free will was even worse. She had wanted to teach them just who she really was, but she didn't want to kill the townspeople. Hurt them, maybe, but not kill them. They could possibly have been useful to her.
Suddenly, she was aware of the same disturbing presence she felt earlier. The Spirit was there. She wanted to demand of it to know just what it had done to her, but before she could speak, it spoke to her, "Do you like my gift? I can tell you enjoy controlling your own actions, so wouldn't you consider not being able to control your own actions torturous? And how about that energy drain? It's not your life energy, but if you're not careful, the repercussions will be dire."
Azula wanted to demand of the Spirit to rid her of the affliction, but suddenly, it was gone. Now she faced a dilemma: She couldn't enter towns, unless she wanted to be drained of all her energy and possibly hunted down and killed when she couldn't move, either willingly or of her own accord. Another thought entered her mind just then. Her body would attack anyone who came near to her on it's own, and this black fire seemed powerful enough to kill easily. If she could get near to the Avatar...
An evil smile, the first in a long time, crept across Azula's face as she settled where she sat to rest a small while before setting out again. The Avatar will pay, she thought joyously as a plan began to form, The Avatar, and that Waterbender girl, and my brother. They'll all pay.
And that's it for Part One. I'll have the next part up soon, maybe next week.
Azula, Queen of Darkness, by Nerull
He'll pay. Oh, he'll pay dearly! Azula hadn't been the same since he narrowly escaped the Avatar's wrath. Her father, Fire Lord Ozai, and her henchwomen, Ty Lee and Mai, all died when Avatar Aang, thought completely unable to enter the Avatar State after she shot him in the back with a bolt of lightning in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se several months ago, did just that. And the bending. That horrifying display of Earthbending. Great spears of stone leapt up from the floor, impaling Mai and Ty Lee, while a hole in the floor the exact dimensions of a grave swallowed Ozai whole. If she hadn't been fighting with that Waterbender, she'd have met the same fate. The Avatar will pay! The Fire Nation should be mine! But not just him, no. My halfwit brother, and that Waterbender girl, too. Yes, they'll pay, too. But not just them. No, they're not the only ones who deserve it. The entire Fire Nation deserves to be punished!
That's all she could think for the past month. Revenge was all Azula cared about. She'd kill the Avatar, just as he killed her father and the only people she ever deigned to consider her friends, and her brother, who never could do anything right, and the Waterbender who prevented her from stopping the Avatar in the first place. Then she'd take her rightful place as the ruler of the Fire Nation, then, the entire world. But despite her all consuming need for revenge, Azula was not stupid. She knew she'd need to trap the Avatar somehow, separate him from his friends. "But how?" she found herself saying aloud, speaking for the first time in a week, or so she determined.
She had to keep a low profile as she traveled, no telling who might decide to turn her over to the Avatar. She wasn't ready to face him, not just yet. She kept moving, staying in a town for no longer than a week. She didn't so much mind the constantly moving, or keeping her identity a secret, but for someone as talented as her to live like a common traveler was just unbearable. How she wanted to reveal her true identity to those ignorant fools in every town she'd visited since she made her strategic withdrawal, but the Avatar had people keeping an eye on thing all over the Fire Nation, so she just couldn't risk being caught. Not yet.
She left the town shortly after dawn, as she usually had, but there was something odd in the air today, something unsettling. Perhaps she should have stayed in that town for another day or two, but she had already stayed there longer than she should have, she told herself, and had to be going.
If only she had listened to her reservations about leaving. She'd never have taken this desolate path. The trees were all dead or dying, and the few animals in the area to graze on the blackening grass all seemed to glare at her hungrily. It didn't bother her as much as it would have lesser people, she was a Firebending prodigy, after all. But being a Firebending podigy couldn't prepare her for the ghastly sight she happened upon quite suddenly.
A large, humanoid form, stood over a dead armadillo-bear, occasionally lifting chunks of the soft flesh that existed beneath the dead beast's durable hide to the hood of it's cloak, and said flesh would then disappear in the sickening sound of teeth gnashing, tearing flesh apart. Eating a dead armadillo-bear.
Azula wanted to get away from there, to go back to the village and forget ever seeing such a sight, but something kept her there, some horrid fascination with the whole macabre scene. She stood there, transfixed, almost hypnotized by what she saw. Staying was perhaps the biggest mistake of her life, for she exhaled the breath she held since she arrived on this disgusting scene, and the eating thing looked up, startled to find it was being observed, revealing a very shocking sight. The eating thing had nothing but a skull for a face, teeth bloody red from it's meal.
She wanted to scream, but couldn't. She wanted to run, but couldn't. All she could do was shake as the thing, a full seven feet tall, began stalking toward her. She was paralyzed with fear, a emotion new to her. People were afraid of her, not the other way around. Why was she acting like this? What about this thing did this to her? She couldn't possibly come upon an answer, for before she was even aware of it, the thing was now very close.
It spoke to her, it's voice deep and barely above a whisper, yet carried an almost deadly chill about it. "You who once stood in line to the throne of the Fire Nation, I am the physical embodiment of the Darkness Spirit. Why do you trespass in my domain?"
It took Azula all of a half a minute to find her voice again. Something told her that she shouldn't take too long answering it's questions, lest she would wind up it's next meal. Despite her horror, she spoke calmly, "I am Azula, former Princess of the Fire Nation. I had no intent to intrude. As you may know, I was recently driven from my home and have been forced to live the life of a traveler."
The Spirit stared at her through it's empty eye sockets. "And you just happened to wind up here," it finished for her. "I have not the powers in this world I would were I in the Spirit World, however, I am still capable of killing you, or worse. I give you this one opportunity to leave and never return."
The way it looked, Azula believed its words, however, couldn't help but blurt, "What fate could possibly be worse than death?" A very big mistake, for the Spirit simply said, "You will see."
The last thing Azula remembered was the Darkness Spirit lifting a bony hand and placing it's index finger on her forehead.
When she awoke, she was in the remnants of the town in which she had previously stayed. Most of the buildings had been completely destroyed, and the few that remained standing burned with black fire. People remained, and those who dared cross her path were immediately attacked. She watched as her own left arm lifted itself as if to send a fireball with her bending, but what came instead was an intense black flame.
Azula dropped to her knees, drained by the attack, and all at once, she knew what the Darkness Spirit had meant. It had given her an awesome power, but at a terrible price. The energy drain was bad enough, but the loss of free will was even worse. She had wanted to teach them just who she really was, but she didn't want to kill the townspeople. Hurt them, maybe, but not kill them. They could possibly have been useful to her.
Suddenly, she was aware of the same disturbing presence she felt earlier. The Spirit was there. She wanted to demand of it to know just what it had done to her, but before she could speak, it spoke to her, "Do you like my gift? I can tell you enjoy controlling your own actions, so wouldn't you consider not being able to control your own actions torturous? And how about that energy drain? It's not your life energy, but if you're not careful, the repercussions will be dire."
Azula wanted to demand of the Spirit to rid her of the affliction, but suddenly, it was gone. Now she faced a dilemma: She couldn't enter towns, unless she wanted to be drained of all her energy and possibly hunted down and killed when she couldn't move, either willingly or of her own accord. Another thought entered her mind just then. Her body would attack anyone who came near to her on it's own, and this black fire seemed powerful enough to kill easily. If she could get near to the Avatar...
An evil smile, the first in a long time, crept across Azula's face as she settled where she sat to rest a small while before setting out again. The Avatar will pay, she thought joyously as a plan began to form, The Avatar, and that Waterbender girl, and my brother. They'll all pay.
And that's it for Part One. I'll have the next part up soon, maybe next week.
