Chapter Text
Perfect... Everything is absolutely perfect... He is so absorbed by the scrolls he is browsing that he has not noticed her presence. And to make matters worse, this prodigious moron Zuzu is so fundamentally clueless, that he didn't even take the time to make sure that his personal cabinet was perfectly secure... Which is completely ridiculous for a Zuzu raised to the rank of Fire Lord by the jokes and perversions of history... A shame; A shame so absolute and fundamentally aberrant that it makes her want to shred things, even if it is true that at this moment it plays to her advantage. Zuzu has never shone with his intellect, and tonight it is time for him to suffer the consequences... Satisfied with this thought, which is so joyful in its significance, she slips out of the hidden passage she has just taken and advances behind it, taking care not to make the slightest noise.
When she is only two meters away from him, she stops and tilts her head to the side when it appears that he still hasn't noticed anything. Agni all-powerful, but how is it that this gigantic moron Zuzu is still alive if he really pays so little attention? This Zuzu has been Fire Lord for four years, and now she can simply slip behind his back without him realizing anything? Certainly, it is true that she is smarter, stronger, more dexterous, better than Zuzu in all things, but still... It is unheard of, stupid, aberrant, astounding, and above all: Perfectly incomprehensible! But so be it, she will be the instrument of the legitimate vengeance of the great and beautiful family honour; Tonight Zuzu pays a high price, because tonight he falls under the blows of her righteous anger!
The idea appears to her so clearly that it shines in front of her in all its glory, as she steps forward a little further and prepares to pounce to deliver the fatal blow. A little more, just a little more... Her hunting instinct and the glorious prospect of victory make her salivate and push her to settle down a little more. Her gaze lights up and locks on her target, a little more; Just a little more... NOW!
In a fraction of a second, she releases all the energy accumulated in her body, and leaps forward like a ballista bolt. At the same moment she exults in her success and stretches herself at full length as she propels herself with a flap of wings worthy of the most colossal of typhoons. The gesture is perfect, her trajectory irreproachable, and suddenly... She grabs the calf exposed by his overly high dress and willingly plants her claws and fangs in the same glorious movement!
— YAHHHAAA !!!!
Zuko jumps out of his chair, letting out a divinely entertaining cry of pain; A cry to which Azula instinctively responds with the most implacable proclamation of victory:
— SCRIIIIIIIIIIOOOUUUU!!!
The sudden movement of her prey throws her violently into the air, but her innate skill allows her to contort her serpentine body so that she can land on all four legs. A split second later she turns around and darts a gloriously satisfied defiant look at her victim, as the latter jumps on the spot in a dance as ridiculous as it is pathetic. Ah, what a pitiful Zuzu he does when he waddles up and puts his hand to his calf so pleasantly scratched by her strike, and...
— AZUUUULLLAAAAA !
Her thoughts freeze, and she bows her head in response to her brother's bellow, who stares at her with an openly furious look. Well, what? Isn't it normal that she should be satisfied with having dealt such a brilliant blow to his honour, his dignity, and his self-esteem by demonstrating her natural superiority? With this thought, Azula leans on her hind legs and rises to her full height at the same time as she spreads her wings as wide as possible, and lets out the most resounding of answers:
— SCRIII, SCRIII, SCRIII !!!
Waving her head from right to left, she is about to perfect her declaration of victory when she sees him initiating a fiery kata that pushes her to jump immediately towards the door of the office.
—I SWEAR THAT YOU WILL PAY FOR IT!
Zuzu angry... Not good, not good at all! Listening only to her instinct to flee, Azula sprint towards the sliding door and cracks her with of her muzzle, which allows her to put her head through the opening. However, her escape is stopped dead in its tracks when the rest of her body is trapped, and she must kick the door back a little more. Hurried footsteps echo behind her and push her to flee even more before being cornered by a pathetic, but oh so vengeful Zuzu.
— OH NO!
Unfortunately, a hand grabs the tip of her tail before she has time to escape, and suddenly she finds herself lifted into the air in a dazzling gesture that elicits an outraged yelp from her. A fraction of a second later she is suspended upside down, while she waves her paws and wings in vain to try to free herself. Then Zuzu enters hier field of vision, and she freezes at the furious expression he darts at her as he holds her at arm's length.
_ THIS TIME IS ENOUGH! THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU ATTACK ME IN THIS WAY! FINISHED, FINISHED! THIS TIME IT'S THE MUZZLE, THE COLLAR, THE LEASH AND THE CAGE!
— SCRIIOOUUUUU !
— SHUT UP!
— Scrii...
Not good, not good at all; Zuzu is furious, she must escape before he locks her in a cage. She doesn't like cages, she prefers her nest, the cage brings back too many bad memories.
— Zuko, what's going on?
Attracted by the voice that addresses Zuzu, Azula rotates her long neck one hundred and eighty degrees and brings her head horizontally to stare at the newcomer. Half a dozen meters away, Mai watches them from the doorframe leading to the royal couple's bedroom. Noticing Azula hanging upside down, the Fire Lady sighs and shakes her head with an air of great weariness.
— … What did she do this time?
— She bit my calf while I was working.
— Scriiiouuu !
— Silence!
— Scrii...
— Zuko, don't shake her like that, you'll hurt her. You know what the Healers said; At that age, her tail is very fragile!"
Fragile, what do you mean by fragile? Of course not; She is a powerful dragon, proud, strong, solid and... Ouch, ouch, ouch! Zuzu shakes her a little harder and the spike of pain instinctively pushes her to contort herself to bite his fingers. Her fangs close on the pad of his thumb, and it's his turn to yelp when the enamel of her teeth digs into his skin.
— AIIEEE !!
The pain causes him to reflexively release his grip, and Azula falls on the floor of the room before immediately propelling herself towards the approaching Mai. The pain in her tail has passed, but the fear it has created is so pressing that she has no time to dwell on this information, and even less so when Zuzu cream again:
— AZUUUULLLAAAAA !
Listening only to her instincts, she slips between Mai's legs, and rushes to hide under a low piece of furniture; Then she changes her mind and dives in the direction of the Kotatsu located in the middle of the room, which obviously offers a much better protection against an angry Zuzu. A heartbeat later, she has slipped under the Futon that dresses the Kotatsu, and she curls up into a ball as she tightens her long quivering tail around her. Beyond the impassable limits of the Kotatsu, Zuzu and Mai exchange loudly and Zuzu's tone does nothing to calm the panicked beating of her heart.
— I've had enough, Mai; I can't stand her anymore! It's the fourth time in two days that she's ambushed me in this way!
— A teasing soul would say that it is surprising that you have been caught so many times.
— May, please! I can't spend my days watching my back because I risk being ambushed by her!
— Isn't that what we were already doing before she reappeared?"
— Yes, but there was still less risk of her succeeding when she didn't look like a fucking winged rat!
Winged Rat... The insult echoes through the air with the power of an explosive jelly barrel that detonates and causes Azula to bury her head under one of her wings. She is not a winged rat Zuzu... She is a Dragon; A noble and powerful Dragon, not a winged rat... The wave of sadness that his words create in her is so strong that it knocks her out and makes her let out a wounded squeak.
— Calm down Zuko, you know that there is no point in getting angry with her in for that. Remember what Sage Shyu explained to us when we consulted him; At this moment she has the mind of a two or three years old child. You can't expect her to behave like the Azula who was eighteen.
— I don't give a damn about that May! It's her fault if she's in this state, and I'm tired of having to put up with her whims and her strokes of madness!
A moment of silence followed his words, then Mai sighed for a long time.
— I'll take care of her until Aang and the others arrive.
— No, you're not going to waste your time with this thing! I want her to be caged and muzzled!
— Zuko, I'll make sure she can't leave her room anymore.
— That's not what I...
— Zuko, please?
—…
— I'll take care of her.
—… Very well, but if she ever attacks me again, I swear that I...
— It won't happen again.
A muffled growl responds to her, and a moment later the sound of a sliding door is heard, as light footsteps approach the Kotatsu. The futon is pushed aside, and Azula catches a glimpse of Mai's face as she has knelt to look under the tabletop. Before the Princess can do anything, the Fire Lady slides her hands around her and gently pulls her out of the fortress where she was holed up in. The warmth of Mai's body causes the Dragon to shiver with relief and instinctively encourages her to nestle against her chest as she gently embraces her.
— Scriii...
— … Agni almighty... If one day I had been told that such a thing would happen...
—… Scriii...
— Yes, Scrii... But don't you think you could have avoided provoking Zuko again?
—…
When the young woman's grip tightens on her, Azula closes her eyes and an instinctive purr is born in her chest. Curled up in this pocket of warmth, she easily slips into a light sleep comforted by the regular rocking born of the steps of Mai. Before long the latter reaches the doors of the Princess's former quarters and enters to place her on the large bed occupying a part of the room. The texture of the sheets under her and the smell of them immediately wake Azula from her drowsiness, and it is with a suddenly revived energy that she leaps towards the headboard, squealing. A short moment later she dives between the larges pillows that are piled up there, and sneaks into the heart of the nest she has set up there. It had not been easy given her size and her lack of hands worthy of the name, but by dint of effort and perseverance she had managed to rearrange pillows and sheets according to her needs. A titanic work that had led to the erection of a downy hole one meter in diameter, and a good fifty to sixty centimetres high; Certainly, a nest of royal scope, as befits a princess of the most exemplary lineage that can exist on the surface of this world! A quick roll allows her to pack the sheet that lines the bottom of the nest, before she curls up in it with a little cry of satisfaction.
However, the latter is quickly interrupted when she feels the mattress deform under the weight of Mai who has just sat on the edge of the bed. Alerted again, Azula jumps up and stands up as high as possible so that she can look over the edge of her fortress. Her eyes immediately meet those of her childhood ex-friend who has become Fire Lady, who observes her with her usual jaded expression. Her memories of Mai are extremely precise, and she has certainly not forgotten anything about the treacherous act committed against her. An act that will naturally have to be punished in the most exemplary way possible, and even more so since it had been done in Zuzu's name; No less! The outrage that this idea arouses in her immediately pushes her to make a heartfelt comment to the young woman who looks at her and shakes her head gently.
— SCRIII, SCRIII, SCRIII…
—… You know that I have absolutely no idea what that means?
— SCRIIIIOUUU !
—… Hum, hum, if you say so...
Of course she says so. What else could she do but throw the truths in her face in the sharpest way possible?
— SCRIII!
— Of course, that's obvious... Still, you're pushing Zuko to the limit, and it's not really the smartest thing you can do.
— Scriii!
— Azula... You're less than seventy centimetres long, and you hardly weigh as much as an owl cat...
— Scriii, scriii, scriii!!
A loud sigh answered her and made her tilt his head to one side.
— Oh, don't look at me like that... I'm not the one playing with fire... Azula, you have to stop attacking him, otherwise he's really going to explode, and I won’t be able to stop him.
— Scriii?
— No; If you don't calm down a little, he'll really have you locked up at the bottom of a little cage.
Mai's words make Azula tense up and she instinctively huddles under the threat. No cage! She hates the idea of the cage; She don’t want to go back to prison; She don’t want to be locked again... She's a good Dragon, a Royal Dragon! You don't put a Dragon Princess in a cage!
— Scriii... iii... iii...
Swaying her head from right to left, Azula wiggles with the fear of the idea of a cage. Zuzu... Zuzu must pay for his crimes, but the cage... Not the cage... Zuzu angry means Azula in a cage... No, no, no, no...
— Scriii... Scriiiouuuu, scriiiouuuu, scrouuuuuu...
— If you don't want that to happen, you must stay in this room and don’t do anything stupid; Is it clear Azula?
—…
The question is as cruel as it is vexing since slaying Zuzu is her most sacred duty, and how could she carry out her task if she must stay in her nest? Yes it's a beautiful and very comfortable nest, and it's true that she has a lot of room to move elsewhere in the room, but her duty is to... Hey, what is that? A shiny shape draws her eye to the vanity located at the back of the room, and naturally her thoughts immediately go off the rails when her curiosity quite legitimately takes precedence over all other considerations. Listening only to her instincts, Azula squeezes down and flies through the fluffy tunnel leading outside her nest.
— Hey, I was talking to you...
Three majestic leaps later, she reaches the edge of the bed, and rushes towards the vanity which is a bit too distant to be reached in one go. But who cares since she has the strength, the determination, and the unlimited power of her legendary nature! A glance over her wings tells her that she has moved so fast and with such skill that Mai has remained frozen in place.
—… Agni... It's really going to be a long week...
Less than five seconds later, half of the objects on the vanity fall to the ground, when an overly enthusiastic dragon jumps on what she covets.
—… A long week...