Fandom [ATLA] spiritual awakening {closed}

[oswins]

Thread between oswins and vanisher . This is a post-The Search/comics story, where Aang follows Azula into the forest. I am playing Azula while Vanisher is playing Aang.

This thread will be azulaang-centric.

Someone was chasing her.

Their footsteps were far too light to be Zuko's, and far too quick to be one of the Water Tribe peasants. It wasn't Ursa - (Mother, a word that tasted bitter on her tongue) - and she very much doubted the pig who stole Ursa away from them would care enough to chase after the maniacal girl who'd just tried to kill his family. Which left one option as to who it possibly could be.

Not bothering to turn around, she shot out blasts of blue flames behind her. It didn't matter where they landed, so long as she got away from that wretched Avatar. Only he could manage to catch up to her in this speed, despite her attempts to propel herself forward with her firebending. Damn airbenders. No wonder Sozin wiped them all out. The art was a nuisance to deal with.

"Oh, will you give up already?" Azula snapped. She cut down a large tree trunk with lightning, praying to Agni that it would stall him. "I've made it clear that I'm not going back."

This forest. This nation. This world. She didn't belong here, not anymore. There was no use for a sword when there was no war. Her father sharpened her into his very own blade, her brother had dulled her and left her to rust, and her mother had finally laid the sword to rest. Now all that was left was her - Princess (if she still had her title) Azula, the once-great conqueror of Ba Sing Se, running away from her family. Running from the boy she had once killed. Ozai would have called her a coward, reprimand her and remind her through any means he could that she was his daughter, that she will not disappoint him like dear old Zuko has.

Of course, disappointing Ozai was an inevitability. She couldn't even get this right.

Azula threw vague insults at the Avatar's way. Maybe she could hurt his feelings so much that he would go back to little Zuzu and his merry band. Not that her insults were as sharp as they used to be - she blamed the years at the Asylum for dulling her cunning mind. Maybe when she shook off the Avatar, she could go back to the Asylum and burn it to the ground. She was good at that. She knew how to do that. Let that accursed place -

Water filled her lungs, her vision blurred. Her body was submerged in it, her muscles cramping up as shock hit her all at once.

Oh, now he was using waterbending? Though, she had to admit, she didn't think the Avatar would have the guts to drown her. How very impressive.

Wait. This wasn't waterbending. This was merely a lake. She stumbled into a lake in the forest - an admittedly shallow one - and assumed it to be the Avatar attacking her. Azula stood up, emerging from the waters, and coughed. Badly.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare, once she had recovered from her fit. "Let me guess. You're going to take my bending away like dear old dad. Oh! I know! You've come to put me back in the Asylum, where I can't hurt anybody. Is that right?" She took a step back. A mistake - she stumbled and fell on her backside. "Just - stay away from me!"

 

[vanisher]

She was fast. Aang tried to keep up with the fire princess and they both ran as fast as they could, deeper and deeper into the forest. A few blast of blue flames hit the ground around him, one landing right in front of him. He yelped and he jumped away, his clothes almost catching fire.

Aang sighed and with the force of his air blast, he managed to fall behind Azula again. "I just want to talk! I'm not here to-" He was cut off an a tree trunk fell to the ground in front of him, making him halt. Azula wasn't playing around. He jumped up the trunk and started following her again.

Of course, Aang could hear the the insults thrown his way but he chose to ignore them. It wasn't the first time someone from the fire nation hated him. After all, zuko was also like this, trying to kill him a bunch if times but fortunately, he realized the error of his ways. That was what Aang hoped to achieve with Azula too. She was poweful, they could certainly use someone like her as an ally.

Zuko had been skeptical as to why the avatar wanted Azula out of all people, but he didn't knew Aang well enough. Aang always gave people a chance to redeem themselves. And since they gave zuko the benefit of the doubt, why not Azula?

Aang slowed down a little as he saw a lake in front of them. Azula didn't seem to notice tho, still running at full speed. "Azula wait-" Aang called out, trying to warn her but it was too late. He ran towards her as she started to cough, the sound echoing strangely around them.

"No, I'm not here to do any of that. That's just not what we do. I'm here to offer you to join us. You can even be reunited with your brother. It's not too late to turn back." Aang said as gently as he could and offered a hand to help Azula up. "Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves. I'm offering you yours now."