
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/6997468.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage, Rape/Non-Con
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender
  Relationship:
      Azula/Zuko_(Avatar)
  Character:
      Azula_(Avatar), Ozai_(Avatar), Zuko_(Avatar), Ty_Lee_(Avatar), Mai_
      (Avatar), Iroh_(Avatar)
  Additional Tags:
      Alternate_Universe, Incest, Torture, Post-Traumatic_Stress_Disorder_-
      PTSD, Fire_Lord_Azula, Phoenix_King_Ozai, Minor_Character_Death, Angst,
      Tragedy, Insanity, Implied/Referenced_Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced
      Character_Death, Mental_Instability, Disabled_Character, Dysfunctional
      Family, Emotional/Psychological_Abuse, Hallucinations, Fire_Nation_Royal
      Family, Alternate_Universe_-_Dystopia, Cross-Posted_on_FanFiction.Net,
      Slow_Build, Romance, Spirits, Horror, Alternate_Universe_-_Dark,
      Emotional_Manipulation, Stockholm_Syndrome, Civil_War
  Series:
      Part 1 of Ash_Petals
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-05-28 Chapters: 1/13 Words: 764
****** Draconian ******
by Akalish
Summary
     True rulers are born leaders. Leaders hold a great responsibility for
     others, and should have a strong sense of compassion and ambition,
     the combination of which would bring you closer to the population you
     protect and wish to see grow; both in strength and in morality — and
     an explicit capability to decipher right from wrong even in the
     gravest of situations.
     Azula could scarcely believe the vastness of the responsibility and
     exactly which kind of ambitions would bring her down.
      
     (Only teaser is up)
Notes
     I am the most terrible person ever to shift between fandoms without
     even feeling guilty about it, not to mention I'm horrible enough as
     it is with not finishing my earlier works without the slightest
     concern. But I have to admit, I haven't felt this inspirational since
     I left the my first fandom two years ago. No, seriously, I haven't
     really written anything during that time; just small niches pieces
     that never went anywhere. But now, it's completely different and I
     have so much to contribute to this fandom, it's crazy. And I just
     love being back in the driving seat and write to my heart's content.
     (That's not even a saying, but who cares? I'm back where I belong!)
     This is just a small teaser for my upcoming fan fiction, Ash Petals,
     which is an AU from Sozin's Comet Part III — Into The Inferno in
     which Ozai rules as Phoenix King and Azula as Fire Lord and Avatar
     Aang is dead while Zuko is imprisoned for his treachery against the
     Fire Nation and tortured within an inch of his life. So yeah, pretty
     dark themes ahead, you have been warned.
     The overall outline is actually completed; I know what I want to
     happen from start to the end and what to happen in between that time
     span (more or less). I just need to write it down, and I already have
     some of the more important parts written down through notes and small
     scenes mapped out across the story. :)
     Remember, teaser! The real story will have to wait until I've
     finished it completely before I post anything more.
  This work was inspired by
      So_We'd_Both_Be_Free by electric gurrl, Move_the_Mountains_that_Aren't
      There by attackfishscales
===============================================================================
                                    Book I
                                   Draconian
                                       惡
===============================================================================
                                "War is peace.
                              Freedom is slavery.
                           Ignorance is strength." 
                            — George Orwell (1984)
===============================================================================
                                        
                                    Teaser
                            At_the_End_of_the_World
Even now, facing her father in a match dominated by the lust for power, she can
feel the cold hatred flow through her veins — like ice spiked into spears,
stabbing her very soul with such force that the cold is burning — as it had
done all those years ago when realisation hit and still does every time she
looks at him. If only she had known sooner, maybe things wouldn't have come
down to this: father vs. daughter in their last battle, lost hopes flickering
back to life in what they don't even dare to consider will be the end of loss
and agony. The calm before the storm as the world awaits its destiny.
It took her years to come down to this, standing up and believing in herself,
thinking for the better for herself and for the benefits for her people,
despite deserving not an iota of their loyalty. She knows she was never meant
to rule. True rulers are born leaders. And leaders, in turn, hold a great
responsibility for others and a strong sense of compassion and selflessness
that is meant to bring you closer to the population you protect and wish to see
grow; both in strength and in morality. The explicit capability to decipher
right from wrong even in the gravest of situations with such wisdom it is
considered much beyond your years of living. It is all something resided within
the heart, connecting with your mind and body, your very soul devoted to
embrace, and of which rightfully divines your power and your right to rule.
Azula never possessed such traits.
But her brother always had. Zuko had everything, everything she had ever
wanted, and additional she could never imagine to achieve. He had so much to
contribute to the world, so much to give. Has so much more to show the world,
has so much that can change it for the better, has what it takes to right their
fallen country, she reprimands herself. Because he was always the better
between the two of them — still is despite his continuative denial — no matter
what he thought and no matter how much she thought it differently from an
alternative point of view earlier on in time; he was always the preferred one
for reasons unknown, when it came to the popular, reasonable opinion — the true
heir. Even if consequences and sins has finally caught with him, because there
is nothing she can do to reverse time and fix this. It doesn't matter, not any
longer.
He is not here and has no capabilities to do what she is about to do; what she
does out of necessity, what she does to protect and save what little there is
left of a world controlled by draconian laws and laid in ash. What she does for
him. Perhaps he will never regain what he lost — what was stolen from him. But
she will make sure that he will regain everything the moment all of this is at
its end. He will become as great as he once was at a point where he could even
beat her, his prodigious little sister, just as he nearly did that day on their
Final Agni Kai, when he turned a new leaf and became his own person. He will
return to that place, she has sworn it already, and she will keep her promise,
if only because it is all she has left.
But until then, balance, and the heavy burden it carries, rests on her
shoulders, and she will do everything it takes to make sure the world will
never again be brought into an era of chaos and terror. If only to see him
smile once more.
There is trepidation in the air, a sense of dread and tension wafting through
her nostrils, but it does not emit from her. Never has and never will, despite
the course of her personal history. And yet, between the two of them, between
the perfectly imperfect girl and the monster lurked for too deep in darkness,
she is the first to break, like porcelain on stained silver.
She charges without hesitation, her piercing amber eyes blazing with a thirst
for blood, but her face set into cold precision without an inch of self-doubt.
And what happens afterwards is a battle filled with torture and terror with
fire raining from the sky, cascading their fighting forms in the middle of
dawn.
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