Azula: Redemption

Chapter 4

Still drenched in sweat but regaining my foot hold on reality, I scanned the room and seen bright blue eyes in the corner of my dark cell. They were staring at me as though they were in the dream with me, as though they held my pain and my suffering.

"I'm sorry" he said, his voice gruff from not speaking in a while.

"What exactly are you sorry for?" I purred, moving the thin blanket off my body and moving closer to the bars of my cell.

"You were talking in your sleep, talking about your mother. It was only bits and pieces but I gather she left you" he said, not moving from his spot in the corner of the room.

"I don't need your pity watertribe boy, she didn't leave me, my father banished her, and with any luck, she's dead" I said staring him down, putting on a small smile.

The sun was just beginning to rise, I felt it in my bones and through the small window high above on the wall behind me. The guards had opened it to give me strength for today. So I would not die on the ship to take my to my own icy hell. The light made his eyes shine more, like the shinny bars of my cage. However, just as the shine broke through the clouds, someone appeared in front of him, a woman, my mother. She was so real it was like I could touch her if I wanted.

I backed away slowly, falling back on my bed. I stared wide-eyed at her, taking her in as she moved closer like fog.

"Azula, I didn't ever mean to hurt you. You are my daughter and I love you." Her voice a haunting melody. She kept moving closer until she was right in front of me, her edges blurred, ghost like.

"Let go of your father." She said finally, before the opening of the cell brought me back to reality and my mother, disappeared in a blink.

"What is wrong with you, snap out of it!" I heard the man scream in my face, grabbing my arms and shaking me, worry in his words and eyes. Worried for what I did not know, his job or for my sanity.

His concern did him no good, with the sun rising and the usual freezing water thrown on me forgone in preparation for our journey today, I felt alive. This was my only chance.

I made no reply as I took his arm, grabbing right above his elbow and slung him into the bars. Kicking his legs out from under him, restraining him with every ounce of power I had while I let the sun warm my tired bones. Feeling the fire in my blood, fueled by the rage of my last dream, I melted the bars, forming them around his wrists. I could see the skin starting to form blisters, it was not hot enough to cause any real damage, however, it had to hurt.

The man was unconscious by the time I was done, wether from pain or from his head hitting the bars, I didn't really care. I had a mission. One I had to complete before I was forced away into ice and oblivion.

I raced down the hall, light as smoke on my feet as I danced down the metal corridors, avoiding soldiers. Light streamed in from the many windows lining the walls. I let it heal me, let it warm me and I was flame.

My vision focused as I rounded the last metal corner, knowing where they would keep him. The highest security, only one step up from mine, I would have been offended if it didn't house the only man I admired.

Two guards were stationed outside, they turned and looked at me, surprise shining in their eyes. I took a deep breath, gathering my hatred and gathering my power.

They began running.

And so did I.

I smashed into the guards not with my body, but with a wall of blue magnificent fire, not hot enough to melt the surrounding hallways but with enough force and heat to send them flying back. Landing unconscious on the floor. I paced to them, observing the men only alive due to the fire they tried to send in my direction.

I spotted a single key on the bigger guards waist, encircled in red and held only by bronze chains. Grunting I moved him on his side, yanking the key of his body. The chain broke, shattering and dropping onto the floor like molten gold.

I stood up, panting, and with all of the heat in the room that I had created, I did not feel warm. But icy, as I took one, two, three steps towards the thick metal door, looking inside through the barred window, I seen him.

My father was sitting up in his cell with his hair perfectly groomed and his beard straight and untangled. How he managed his impossible grace I didn't know, but he was the embodiment of a god.

I jammed the key into the slot and yanked open the door, taking heavy steps till I was inside the room and sealed the key hole; melting the metal around it. I didn't need to escape, I couldn't. My fire was close to being extinguished from exhaustion. I only need time to talk, that was it.

I bowed low, looking up into his golden eyes. He smiled.

"Hello Azula."