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Emerald Dragon Chapter 39
🕑 Added 2022-11-03 16:40:35 +0000 UTCChapter 39 -
"It's amazing," Chief Arnook whispered to Aang as the two of them watched from a distance as Harry helped assist the Water Tribe members in rebuilding and repairing the damage to their city. "To know that one individual as young as he holds such power, has battled us for years, only to show his true power when he's by our side and is now helping us repair our village."
"Yeah," Aang nodded his head in understanding. "He's good at making an impression." He added as he thought back on the days since the battle.
Ever since the battle, Pakku had agreed to not only teach Aang and Katara but also even Harry as well. Aang figured that the fact that so many women helped fight in the battle had helped convince Pakku that his opinion on women might just have possibly been not entirely accurate. As for Harry, Aang wasn't sure but simply guessed that Harry had proven himself enough to the older water bender. The other waterbenders were mostly just terrified of him and went out of their way to avoid him, but after a few days, it became clear that Harry wasn't going to do anything to harm them. Kia had even started treating Harry neutrally, it was clear that she wasn't entirely over the loss of her brother but at least now she didn't entirely blame it on Harry and seemed to believe him when he said he didn't want to support the Fire Lord.
Aang was also quite pleased with how his waterbending training was going, he and Katara had advanced at an impressive pace, though Katara was clearly a better waterbender at this point. Harry was also fairly great, though even he would admit that Katara was better. In fact, Pakku had even gone so far as to state that Katara was his best student, something that had left her beaming with pride.
Sokka had been fairly busy himself, not only had he been practising his skills as a warrior, but he had also been spending quite a lot of time with the princess. Aang wasn't entirely sure what had happened between Sokka and Yue, but the rumours going around the town were saying that the Princess had ended an engagement she had with another waterbender, Aang supposed he could just Sokka about it later.
"You truly trust him?" Arnook asked as he continued to watch Harry assist the other waterbenders that were staring at him constantly when they thought he wasn't looking.
"I do," Aang nodded. "He's not perfect but I think he's a good person."
"I have my doubts about that but I cannot say that he hasn't proven himself to be against the Fire Lord," Arnook replied. "I doubt even that madman would be willing to allow such a large portion of his men to die just to prove one person's loyalty. He's laid to rest any doubts about him being a double agent,"
"Yep," Aang agreed happily.
*Line Break*
A small smile appeared on Azula's face as she took in the view around her, she was currently standing on top of a Fire Nation ship, enjoying the beautiful ocean around her as the wind gently brushed across her face, almost soothingly rubbing against her skin. Whilst the trip was so far enjoyable, it was not the main reason for her happiness. She envisioned her plan working, she had thought it through and revised it many times.
Step one: Find Uncle Iroh and her grunt of a brother and sway them to her side.
Step two: If she still felt it was needed then she'd go and get Mai and Ty Lee as well, as far as she was concerned, it was never wrong to have more people watching your back.
Step three: Find Harry.
Step four: Bring him home, and if necessary, tie him to her so he doesn't leave again.
'Perfect,' She thought to herself, a happy smile on her face. Though that smile was gone almost instantly when she noticed the ship's captain walking towards her, she didn't like how tense he looked, he had the exact look of someone who had to tell her some bad news.
"May I help you, Captain?" She drawled, raising one of her perfect eyebrows.
"Forgive me, Princess," The captain said with a small bow as he stopped in front of her. "But the tides will not allow us to dock into port before nightfall." His voice was apologetic, his body language nervous and his face was desperately trying to hide the fact that he was scared.
"Is that so?" She asked, her voice calm as can be. "Do forgive me, Captain, but I am not an expert on boats and ships and such, so I was wondering if you could possibly answer a question that I have. That is if you don't mind?" She asked sweetly.
"Um, I will answer to the best of my knowledge, Princess Azula," He replied.
"Good, so my question is quite simple, Captain, who commands this ship?" She asked.
"I...I'm afraid I don't understand," The Captain responded, sounding slightly confused.
"You had just told me that the tides will not allow us to dock the ship, correct?" She asked, she continued on before he had a chance to respond. "Tell me, if I were to throw your body overboard, would the tides think twice about smashing your bloody body against some rocks and drowning whatever's left?" She asked, sounding more curious than anything else.
"Um...no, no, your highness," He gulped nervously, taking a step back.
"So, who should you listen to? The tides that have already made up their mind, or me, who is still mulling it over?" She asked, giving him a pointed look.
"I...will pull us in at once," The man coughed, he was about to turn and walk away when suddenly Azula spoke.
"Ah, so you can pull us in?" She glared, looking seconds away from ripping out his throat. "Meaning, it was not an impossible task, just one that you were too lazy to complete."
"Please, Princess Azula, I had just..."
"I've grown bored of you," Azula cut him off, fixing him in place with a murderous look that told him he was one mistake away from going overboard. "Let me tell you something right now, Captain, this mission that I am on is of the utmost importance for not just the Fire Nation and my Father, but me as well. It will not only change the course of this bloody war but it will also make us untouchable. So for this mission, I am expecting a hundred and ten percent from everyone involved, be it from you or one of your workers. And if I receive less than all of your complete effort in finishing my mission as soon as possible, I might just start suspecting you of being a traitor to the Fire Nation." She watched with amusement as the man paled, looking as if his very soul was sucked out. "Do you want me to suspect you of being a traitor to the Fire Nation?" She asked in a kind voice.
"N...no, no, please no, Princess Azula," The man stuttered as he took a step back.
"In that case," She spoke again, all warmth leaving her voice. "Perhaps you should get to work." She 'suggested' and watched as he all but ran away from her. She was somewhat amused by it, though she was mostly annoyed by the fact that he had not only wasted her time but also could have delayed her plans.
'Be nice to regular people,' A voice that sounded a lot like Harry's spoke in her head.
"How am I supposed to be nice if they act stupid?" She muttered to herself.
*Line Break*
"Come on, Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh said encouragingly after sipping from his tea. "Take some time and enjoy your life, then once you have relaxed your body and mind, you can perform and think at your very best." He smiled before finishing off the last of his tea.
Zuko grunted but didn't say anything, truth be told he knew his uncle was a clever man, but sometimes he felt like the man had no idea how the world worked. Zuko looked around the small building they were in, it only had the bare necessities like beds and a bathroom plus a small table for them to sit at and a couple of windows. He knew his Uncle liked it here, as proven by his smile and that growing collection of seashells that his Uncle was hoarding.
But Zuko was far from happy.
During the battle at the Northern Water Tribe, he ended up fighting against Zhao's incompetent spawn, Ryu, intent on paying him back for not just taking Zuko's crew, but also for locking him up and trying to interfere with his mission to find and capture the Avatar. Their fight had been going on when all of a sudden Harry arrived and intervened.
Despite not wanting to, Zuko left the fight and went off in search of the Avatar. He had ended up battling not just the Water Tribe savages that had tried to capture him, but also ended up fighting against a few Fire Nation soldiers that wanted to return him to Ryu. Despite that, he had done his absolute best to find the bald little Air Nomad when all of a sudden a massive fuck-off water horse shot up into the air, and if that wasn't enough to make things horrifying then the giant dragon made of fire that popped up shortly after was most definitely more than enough.
It didn't take a genius to work out that the winged horse was something to do with the Avatar whilst the dragon most definitely belonged to Harry. Zuko, once he had managed to get over the massive amount of shock he was suffering from, had hightailed it out of there. Realising that his chance of capturing the Avatar was gone, he couldn't battle a giant horse and a giant dragon and still somehow be able to drag the Avatar out of a city filled with waterbenders.
Once he had gotten out, his Uncle Iroh had insisted they make a 'strategic withdrawal' which Zuko correctly guessed to mean get the hell out of there. After getting far enough away his Uncle had brought him here to this beach house, which admittedly was a nice change of pace but still far from what he had wanted.
For the first time since he was exiled, Prince Zuko had truly started wondering if it was even possible to capture the Avatar. Not only did he have less than he had started out with but he also now had to deal with not just the Avatar, but also his water friends and not to mention Harry. How could he possibly hope to capture him when he and Harry had the power to take out an entire army on their own?
"Well, this is charming," A voice drawled, Zuko and Iroh both looked up to see Azula standing at the door.
"Azula?!" Zuko gasped as they both stood up.
"Hello, Brother, you're looking well," She greeted him before pausing and looking at his head. "Though you could do with growing out your hair," She couldn't help but suggest, not fond of his current hairstyle which appeared to be just a ponytail at the back of his head and no hair anywhere else.
"Greetings to you, Princess Azula," Iroh said with a small bow before Zuko could respond.
"Uncle," She replied, barely inclining her head. "I see you've lost some weight," She said in a dry voice.
"What are you doing here?" Zuko blurted out.
"You know, you could ask with a little less attitude," Azula huffed. "I didn't have to come here you know, I'm not a messenger girl, I am a princess."
"Forgive my nephew, he's had a hard few days," Iroh spoke up. "Though we are curious as to why you are here." He added.
"See that, Zuzu, it's called manners," Azula told Zuko who had growled at her for her chosen nickname. "As for why I am here, I am here to bring the two of you back to the Fire Nation."
"What?!" Zuko blinked and stared at her with a face full of disbelief. "Is this some sort of sick joke?!" He demanded angrily.
"Watch the attitude, Brother, or I leave you here and return to the Fire Nation without you," She warned him, staring him down for several seconds until he looked away. After a mental cheer at that small victory, she decided to continue speaking. "And no, this is not a joke, I didn't travel hundreds of miles across the ocean just to find you and tell you a joke. You can return to the Fire Nation."
"But...I haven't captured the Avatar," Zuko pointed out, feeling all sorts of things, primarily confused and hopeful. "Father said I could only return if I captured him."
"That's because Father never wanted you back," Azula shrugged.
"What?"
"Oh Zuko," Azula sighed. "Do you really think that Father wants you back? Even now? If he wanted you then he wouldn't have given you the task of finding the Avatar, a task that he thought was impossible. He never wanted you back."
"You're lying!" Zuko snapped at her, looking furious, his fists became covered in fire.
"Am I?" Azula asked calmly, stepping forwards so she was right in front of him. She took great care to look him in the eyes.
"You're the best liar in our family!" Zuko growled.
"Yep," Azula proudly admitted. "But this time I assure you, I am not lying to you," She leaned forwards and stared directly at his eyes, looking like she was trying to see his very soul. "Look into my eyes, ZuZu, and listen as I tell you this, Father does not want you back, he never did." She stood, rooted in her spot, cool as ice while Zuko's mind worked overtime, a large variety of emotions overcame him and for a moment Azula was positive that he would try and attack her. It was a few seconds later when the fire on Zuko's hands slowly faded away.
"If Father doesn't want me back," He began, his breathing was heavy and slow. "Then why am I being allowed back into the Fire Nation?"
"Simple," Smirked Azula. "Because of me,"
"What do you mean, Princess Azula?" Uncle Iroh asked.
"It's simple," Azula shrugged her shoulders. "The Avatar and Harry have become a big problem for the Fire Nation and Father, so Father wanted me to deal with them. I asked that the two of you be brought back into the Fire Nation so that you could help me."
"Why would you do that?" Zuko all but whispered, evidently still not over what Azula had told him about his Father.
"Because while I could care less about the Avatar, I don't want Harry to get hurt, not to mention that you are my brother, you idiot!" She glared at him for a moment before she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Despite how sour our relationship might have been, you are family, and I wanted you back. I'm not the only one either, Mai is not the same without you. She went from ten words a day to eight." She added, sounding slightly amused, though that amusement was short-lived when neither Zuko nor her Uncle Iroh showed any response to her joke. 'Honestly,' She thought to herself. 'Harry's the only one that gets my sense of humour.'
"So, you want us back to help fight the Avatar and the Emerald Dragon?" Uncle Iroh spoke up.
"Not quite," Azula shook her head. "I don't care much about what happens to the Avatar, but what I want you two for is to convince Harry to come back to us."
"What?" The two asked at the same time.
"You heard me," Azula rolled her eyes. "Between the two of you, Mai, Ty Lee and myself, I am hoping we can get Harry to come back."
"And if he doesn't?" Iroh asked.
"Then we capture him."
"Azula, I was there at the Northern Water Tribe," Zuko said in a serious voice. "I saw the dragon Harry created, it was unbelievable...and if what I heard was right then it devoured over half of the Fire Nation fleet."
"You think Harry's going to do his best whilst fighting us?" Azula scoffed. "No, he'll hold back, that'll leave him open to being captured. If that happens and we bring him back to the Fire Nation then the two of you are going to do whatever it takes to help me convince Father to let me be in charge of Harry's punishments."
"Why?"
"Did I get all the brains in the family?" Azula couldn't help but ask. "So I can keep him from getting hurt, you dumbass. Anyway, that's what I want, you two to come back and help me get Harry back. Think it over, if you're happy to do it then meet me by the docks tomorrow morning. I'd say it was nice seeing you again but you've been a bit of a jackass to me." Azula said to Zuko before giving him and Uncle Iroh a small nod, she looked at the building they were in and sniffed before she turned and walked out. 'Soon, you'll come back to me, Harry.' She thought to herself.
Comments
Griffin Quill
At the risk of sounding like a parrot to what everyone else has said... I really like the dynamic between Azula and Harry. I think it does justice to the hidden complexity in the show and am excited to see how things develop
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another excellent and very enjoyable chapter. I think I have to follow many people in the common section and say I absolutely love how Azula is turning out to be. I’m excited to see more interaction between her and Harry, and how both of them will grow alongside each other. Another thing that has been pointed out in the other comments, that I agree with, is that you have a fantastically, kept the core of her character, while allowing room for her to evolve, and showing that changes have already been made due to Harry Potter’s influence. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m excited to read more of the story.
