*AzulaxKorra*
Summary: Azula finds herself in a whole new world after being frozen for years. Maybe she can find new opportunities with a new Avatar.
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/8678051/1/New-Era-New-Opportunity
Word count:130k(COMPLETE)
Chapters:28
Chapter 1
Azula had been running for four years.
Running from her past, and her past was still trying to catch her.
Azula had managed to recover from her "episode" after only about a year in her prison cell, but of course no one seemed to care.
What enraged Azula the most about the whole ordeal was that every time she actually had a visitor, she was given so much medication that she couldn't even recognize who it was or what they were trying to say, so to them she just looked as insane as always and Azula was left to rot.
Well at least that had been the case until she realized that if you simply acted like you couldn't move for long enough, people will start to think it's true. Once they do, they will get lazy and careless. They will forget restraints, leave doors unlocked or even windows open.
Azula had finally gotten out of that hell hole four years ago and had been on the run ever since. Azula noticed the irony of it after she had been out for a while; she had not done anything wrong- no plots, no murders, no crimes-well at least no crimes that stood out as she survived in the shadows.
Azula did not know why. Maybe some part of her mind thought that maybe if she played nice they would stop going after her. Or maybe she just grew up a little in that cell of hers. Sure she was mad about what had happened to her, but Agni the chance of going home and never going back to that cell again was just to alluring.
Unfortunately, no one seemed to care what Azula wanted, no one ever did. So now she was somewhere over the North Pole in a small airship she had managed to procure a near by ship yard with rather inattentive security staff and close behind her she could count three more airships of a similar deign.
However, unlike Azula's own ship that was currently being battered around by the storm that was currently hovering over the pole, those following her didn't seemed to be having any trouble with the weather conditions and Azula knew why.
This was Katara's doing.
That accursed waterbending peasant had made it her personal mission to chase after since the moment she escaped four years ago, and the accursed woman has persisted in this crusade even after all others had moved on to other things.
Katara had never given her more than a moments rest. Azula had been tempted to just kill her out right, but she knew that such an act would only bring the wrath of other companions and of course the Avatar himself. Avatar Aang for whatever reason loved that woman and if Azula hurt her, he would never let her see daylight again.
With that said, there was still the question of what Azula should do and she needed to think of something soon since she was failing to stay ahead of her pursuers. Taking a quick look outside the cabin window showed Azula that there was now a figure standing on the gang plank of the lead ship. Then she saw what she thought was movement and before she could put the pieces together in her head, her whole ship came to a very sudden and lurching stop. Quickly regaining her footing, Azula looked back out the window to investigate what had happened, and that is when she saw a huge bridge of ice had appeared between the lead ship and her own. Even more startling was the bridge began to retract, dragging her craft back towards her pursuers.
She had been caught. Azula knew that much. 'Well at least now I get to fight', She thought as she watched the figure skip across the bridge before jumping over to her ship. A moment later and the figure, walked into the cabin with their arms poised for an attack. Azula could now clearly recognize them as the bane of her existence herself.
"Why Katara what a surprise it is to see on this fine day" Azula said in a mocking tone.
"Save your lies Azula, it's over. We're not letting you cause anyone anymore suffering!" Katara yelled back.
Azula couldn't help but rolled her eyes in annoyance "What suffering do you speak off? I have not done anything in a long time, and you are the- Wait, what do you mean we?"
Azula's answer came in the form of a sudden and powerful gush of air that seemed to strike her from all sides at once and shattered every window in the small cabin. The next thing Azula saw was the orange robes of the Avatar flowing across the threshold of the cabin door.
"Avatar what a surprise, guess I should have known the peasant was too weak to bring me in herself." Azula spat, trying to sound more menacing then she currently felt.
However, Aang didn't rise to Azula's taunts. Perhaps he had simply matured over last four years or maybe he had simply gotten use to this routine. Regardless of the reason, the only reaction Azula got from Aang was a sad stare before he took on another bending stance.
"Ready Katara" Aang asked abruptly.
"I'm ready" Katara replied without delay.
Azula looked on with uncertainty and tried to prepare herself for whatever they were going to throw at her. She could do this. She had fought them both before and even though she may feel sick and tired, and even though she may be battered and bruised, she was not going down without a fight. Not her. She was not weak or helpless.
Aang and Katara finally made their move. Together the pair suddenly began to channel all of the ice, snow, and air from outside the cabin around them before blasting it all directly at Azula.
Despite her metal perpetration, Azula was not prepared for an attack. The force of the attack was too great and it was so cold. It wasn't bad enough that she had already been freezing, but now with the pooler winds battering her, she felt like she was suffocating. She couldn't defend against this, she could barely move, or think. The arctic water now drenched her whole body and she could feel it becoming even colder, harder, it was turning to ice. In an instant Azula's muscles, her eyes, and even her lunges, had been frozen. She was barley aware of what was happening anymore, her mind was slipping away from her. The last thing she could remember thinking before losing conciseness was. 'Am I dying?'
With Azula finally defeated Aang let out breath he didn't know he had been holding. It was over and he couldn't be happier for that. He was also sure Zuko will be happy to know that his sister would be coming home soon. With that thought he turned towards his wife who was still breathing heavily and had yet to drop her bending stance. She looked like she was in disbelief. He couldn't say that he blamed her. She had been chasing Azula longer than anyone, but now she was free from that burden as well.
"Well it looks like our training pulled off after all c'mon Katara let's get her-"
Aang was cut off mid-sentence when Katara quickly moving her arms and sending a wall of snow that knocked the now frozen Azula out of the airship.
"Katara what are you doi-" Aang was cut off once again when Katara turned an almost inhuman look on him. He had never seen her like this before and he had to use all of his will power to prevent himself from jumping at the sight of it.
"Come on Aang lets go home we are done here." Katara snapped forcefully before storming from the icy cabin.
Aang wavered for a moment. His mind was whirling from what he had just witnessed. He felt like he should do something, saying something, but ultimately he relented. With a silent prayer he left the airship and the frozen Azula behind.
-
The Sledger class was designed and built soon after the Great War. It was an Ice breaker vessel meant to reopen old trade routes between the fire nation and Northern/Southern water tribes. Though, most would consider it a fossil in comparison to many of the newer models of today, it still carried its weight. Even after nearly seventy years in action, it was still the best ship for its job.
The Sledger's most distinguishing features included its large crane and claw and its unique type of steam furnace. Rather than a separate chamber for the water to be heated, the massive chunks of ice the ship harvested from the field were all slid directly into the blaze. By some marvel of engineering, each block of ice they fed in would only stoke the flames higher giving the she the power to press on.
The crane was pulling large chunks and putting them on the slide to eventually be dumped in the furnace. However, when one of the operators noticed there that there was something odd about one of the chunks he called out to his fellow crew members.
"Hey it looks like there's something in that piece!" the worker tried to point out, but the noise of the ship prevented him from being heard. In a final attempt he grabbed the crane operator to get his attention.
"HEY grab that piece!" The operator turned around just in time to see it fall into the blaze.
After a brief explanation the operator said. "Well it's your job to clean the burner when its -" suddenly an explosion rocks the ship as the two workers see what is distinctively blue flame come spewing from the furnace.
It was like an explosive had been set off. Intense heat washed over the deck as nearby workers were thrown to the ground and the rest scrambled to perform damage control. The deck was in full panic mode, so much so that no one even noticed the extra shadow stammering through the smoke and steam.
The figure tried to walk, but collapsed on the deck of the ship her body was both numb and aching at the same time. She didn't know where she was or how she got there, but she noticed that she wasn't alone. She could see what appeared to be humanoid figures scrambling all around her. Taking a moment to blink away the haze she then realized that she was on the deck of a ship sailing on what appeared to be arctic seas. The air was frigid and the deck felt like an ice sheet against her skin so she decided that she first needed to get herself out of this cold and that is when she looked up and saw the lights of what had to be the ships bridge.
Azula carefully easied herself up off the deck and started on her way. She needed to know where she was and how long she was "stuck".
Azula made her way towards the bridge making sure to be as quite as possible, but she soon realized that time in the ice has not been kind to her. Each and ever step feels like a chore and even after leaving the open air, the chill still stuck to her bones.
Some one must've noticed her sluggish behavior since they called out to Azula. "You there, stop wandering around and go tell the captain we have four badly wounded men down here!"
'The best place to hide is in plain sight as always it would seem' Azula thinks to herself. "Of course" she replied, making her voice sound horse. She quickly moved up the stairs and opened the door to the tower.
"What's going on down there?!" The captain quickly asked without even looking up from the controls.
"There are four badly wounded men down there." Azula quickly stated, but at this point she was paying the captain about as much attention as he was her. Instead she was far more interested in what looked like a stack of papers on the desk beside the door. Documents were usually dated, if she could figure out the date she might be able to get her bearings. It didn't take long since the folded up paper on top of the stack had just what she was looking for and her eyes fixed on one line.
170 ASC
'One-hundred and seventy!?' Azula found herself muttering in horrified disbelief. If this paper was accurate it would mean she had been frozen for years, decades even. How could she have even survived for that long in such a state? Sure Avatar Aang had supposedly been frozen for one-hundred years, but he was the Avatar, and Azula was fairly sure normal rules of nature didn't necessarily apply.
Azula shuck her head. 'That water peasant must've learned a new trick.' She thought to herself.
"Argg, we will have to head back to Republic City to make repairs and get everybody all fixed up." Said the gruff captain
"Of course." Came the only response from Azula as she turned around to head out the door.
Republic City- It sounded familiar, wasn't that the town that the Avatar was trying to start? Azula could remember hearing about it when she was on the run.
Running… she had no reason to run anymore this was a new time, a new world, and maybe she'll be lucky and all her old enemies will be dead. Yeah, Azula did like the idea of going to Republic City. Maybe there she would find a New opportunity.