Azula burns bright (bornoffire) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-05-06 22:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, azula, iroh, khamul, ty lee, zuko |
Give me my sister and let us leave.
Who: Khamul, Azula, and later Zuko and Ty Lee. Briefly Iroh
What: Azula tries to take down Khamul. It doesn’t go well
When: Sunday night
Where: Some alley
Status: complete!
Rating: Mature
Triggers: violence, drowning, dismemberment, burning. Pretty bad all around.
Khamul struck first, not in the mood to fight honorably, and not wanting her to get any closer to his home than she already was. The disturbance earlier had made him a little paranoid. He decided that Azula needed a lesson in humility if she thought she could fight him.
She barely had time to dodge his attack, blasting herself down the alleyway and recovering at the other end. She threw fire and lightning as the shadowy man rushed forward, but she either didn’t hit him or the shadows he used were shielding him.
Her face exploded in pain and she spun out of control, landing in a pile of newspaper. The paper ignited as she managed to block his blade with a burst of flame.
Khamul dodged away, and the next thirty seconds was a flurry of blows and a near constant stream of blue fire. He felt the heat blister his skin, and his hair burn. She got some physical blows in, keeping him on the defensive.
So it went until Azula made a single misstep.
Shadows wrapped around her, squeezing the life out of her, burning like cold flame. They spilled into her mouth and her ears, filling her lungs. She felt hands close around her throat. Panic consumed her. It felt like she was drowning, she couldn’t breath. She was terrified for her life, for what he could do to Ty Lee if he’d done this so easily to her.
She gagged, and the shadows retreated. Azula fell to the ground, coughing and whimpering in a completely undignified manner. She scrambled, trying to get away, self-preservation over-coming pride.
The sword knicked her cheek, and she watched her blood hiss away on it’s blade before she jerked away. She blew fire at Khamul’s face, and the wraith was caught off guard, and caught on fire. Azula pulled herself to her feet, drawing on her strength as she traced electricity through the air. Blood dribbled down her nose and from a split lip.
Thunder sounded in the alleyway, shattering windows above. As glass rained down on them, Azula cautiously approached Khamul’s prone body. Shadows grabbed at her wrists and ankles, suspending her into the air. More poured into her mouth like a black liquid. She choked again, and felt cold hands on her waist. They burned, and she tried to scream, but only gurgling sound escaped her mouth. The world started to fade away before she felt a piercing pressure in her stomach. Agony lanced through her body
Khamul yanked the sword back out. He wanted Azula to live with the shame of her defeat, and that was more satisfying than killing her. He pulled his shadows back and watched her as she tried to pick herself up. The fire that licked at his boots was half-hearted at best.
“You’ve got spirit, at least. Do you want to know what Ty Lee felt like? Did you know she started to enjoy it?”
Azula could only cough in response, sweeping her left arm up and creating a wall of fire. She watched in shock as her hand flopped to the ground several feet away. She looked up at Khamul, the only satisfaction she felt in the way her flame had burned away his hair and damaged his face. Blood caked her hand, pooling on the ground beneath her. She grit her teeth
Before she could cauterize the wound, he kicked her in the stomach, then threw her against a dumpster. The shadows swallowed her up again, drowning her in watery darkness.
The fight wasn’t happening at Khamul’s house. Ty Lee was beside herself with frustration. She decided to wait for Zuko at the house before heading off to find Azula. There was little she could do against Khamul on her own. She hoped Zuko’s firebending had expanded a little, the little puff of flame he could produce now wouldn’t help much either. She just didn’t know who else to turn to.
Uhm, yes, he could do more than that, thanks. He practiced. And was also discreet in bars. So.
There was nothing going on when he arrived. Zuko frowned, wandering until he spotted Ty Lee. “What the fuck?” He asked, not very politely. Frankly, if this was just some sort of trick, he wasn’t enjoying it.
Thunder crashed some distance to the north, and there was a flash of light. Azula broke free of the shadows, long enough to try to hit him again. She felt a pressure on her back, Khamul's knee as he knelt on her. "Choke. Remember what it was like to breath?"
Ty Lee grabbed Zuko’s hand and raced for the thunder. Hopefully it was Azula kicking ass and taking names. Probably it was Khamul, and she was terrified at what they would find. How long had they been fighting? “Be careful, he’s nothing like anything from the dreams.”
“What the fuck?” Zuko asked again, but it didn’t really slow his running any. He didn’t know who the fuck Khamul was. He didn’t know why Azula was fighting him, and he really didn’t know what he’d do to help, to be honest. He could fight -- even in this world he’d been trained in martial arts, the dreams only reinforced that. But if lightening didn’t do the trick? What the fuck was a good karate chop worth?
Ty Lee had no idea, but she’d think of something when they got there. The alley was very dark, and she had a bad feeling the moment she set eyes on it. She let go of Zuko’s hand, ready to charge in. She couldn’t hear Azula, and that terrified her. “Khamul! I told you I’d come for you!” There was true rage in her voice, it was a tone she’d never taken before.
Khamul's laughter echoed from within the alley. It was dark, unnaturally so. The only other sound was gagging or gurgling, and one pathetic whimper. "That took longer than I expected. I'm almost through with her."
Skidding to a stop next to Ty Lee, Zuko peered into the darkness. What was it about his sister and the trouble she found herself in? His nerves were suddenly in disarray, and he felt a bit sick to the stomach. “What the hell is going on here?” He asked, hands balled into fists and fire just begging to be let loose.
Ty Lee took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness. “Come out and face me! Or are you a coward, too afraid of a little girl to show yourself?” She had to get him away from Azula. She hoped Zuko would follow her in and look for her.
A spike of shadow shot out of the darkness, as solid as a spear, narrowly missing Ty Lee's head. Khamul laughed, and the darkness lifted. Azula was suspended in the air again, bleeding from a wound in her gut and the stump of her left arm. She was pale, and a little blue, breathing shallowly.
His head was burnt and his hair was gone, and blood pooled at his feet. Azula had at least managed to take her pound of flesh.
It was terrible to think it, but Zuko realized very quickly he probably should never have shown up -- or, in complete opposition with that thought, brought Draco with him. Probably a wizard would have been useful in a situation like this.
Fighting clearly wasn’t going to win this one - not right now - and so Zuko moved closer slowly against the wall. “You’ve done your damage. If you wanted her dead she clearly would be.” God, when had he become the voice of logic? Fucked. “Give me my sister and let us leave.”
Ty Lee whimpered when she saw Azula, the fight completely taken out of her for the moment. “Please, you’ve had your fun. Letting her live in disgrace would hurt her so much more than just killing her.” She was going to throw up. Azula looked so helpless, and it frightened Ty Lee. Once again she’d failed to protect the woman she loved.
Khamul flung Azula towards them. The girl hit the ground with a whimper, and curled into a ball. He pressed her hand against her stomach, trying to staunch the bleeding.
The wraith gave them a sweeping bow. "She really is worth it to you, isn't she."
There was no proper response to that, and so Zuko didn’t bother. Instead, he gave a vague gesture for Ty Lee to grab his sister. She was a damn mess, and that was putting it nicely. Hooray hospital trips? “We’re going now.” This man’s face -- burned or otherwise, he would not soon forget or forgive.
Ty Lee collected Azula, picking her up carefully. “You know she is.” Her voice was quiet. She was going to rip him apart. She didn’t care what it cost her. No price was too dear. “I walked here, can you drive us to the hospital, Zuko?” She turned her back on Khamul. There were more important things to worry about.
Khamul could have cut her down, but he didn't. His message had been delivered, effectively he thought. He did give Zuko a look-over. This was Ozai's son? He snorted.
Now? Now was a super great time to be underestimated. Zuko wasn’t going to prompt his own death by being vain or stupid. If he did that, Draco would really fucking kill him. He didn’t turn, but walked backward, keeping his eyes on the strange, dark man until they were around a corner.
“Yeah,” he said, “I’ll drive.” Good thing he’d been taking all those driving lessons, or else they’d be all kinds of fucked. Well, more than now.
Ty Lee nodded, making her way steadily to the house again. She had to get away from Khamul, he was unstable and might change his mind. She felt a very potent mixture of emotions, but right now the only thing she could or should do was take Azula to get help. “Thank you.”
Azula whimpered, and there was the smell of burning flesh. She hyperventilated. "Ty Lee? Zuzu?" Mai...wait, Mai wasn't around...
They got to his (okay, it was Draco’s) car quickly enough, and Zuko unlocked it with a fumble of his keys and then opened the door of the backseat before hightailing it to the driver’s side and getting in to start it up. He really wasn’t sure how he was going to explain all that blood to Draco. He also wasn’t sure why that was something he was currently concerned about. “Whatever,” he said, once they were all inside and he was speeding stupidly fast down the roads. “You’re idiots.” Zuko always had been good at being angry.
Ty Lee nodded, taking her shirt off and ripping it in two to hold against the worst of Azula’s wounds. “It’s my fault. I did something terrible and she went to fight him because she was hurt.” Ty Lee felt she should be the one who suffered.
“Didn’t hurt you?” Azula asked. It almost seemed like she was talking to both of them. She sounded raspy, and her voice gurgled.
Zuko and Azula both were kind of stupid about their anger, but it was clear that Azula was taking the cake on this one. “Just you,” he told his idiot sister, eyes sticking to the road as he merged onto the freeway in a way that he might have normally been nervous over. He only glanced into his rearview for a second, catching the sight of the bloody mess, and Ty Lee’s worried expression. “We’ll talk about this later,” he told his sister-in-law. “We’re almost there.”
“Okay.” She didn’t care, as long as they got Azula taken care of. Compared to Azula’s driving Zuko was being fantastically careful and conservative. Ty Lee was grateful for that, too much jostling wouldn’t be good for Azula. “We don’t have her hand. They can’t reattach it if we don’t have it.” She felt like an idiot for not grabbing it, for not thinking.
The fire-bender moved her good hand, grasping for Ty Lee’s arm. “Mmsorry...”
Her hand. Jesus christ. Zuko stared hard at the road, feeling a bit sick about everything. “Hospital first,” he found himself saying. “Then we’ll-- go back.” Because a hand wasn’t worth a damn to a dead person. To his little sister.
“Yeah.” Ty Lee’s voice was really high and small. She leaned down to kiss Azula’s hand. “Shhh. We’ll talk about it later. Don’t you worry, Azula.” Why did things always blow up like this?
Azula closed her eyes again, breathing growing shallow. She wasn't sure she wanted to live with this shame.
Honor and shame were a bitch, weren’t they? Maybe Zuko and Azula could have that fucked up excuse of a talk, someday. As it was, he was a bit busy now. He pulled up in front of the Emergency room, not bothering to park properly (which was good, because he didn’t know how anyway). “I’ll wait,” he said, because he couldn’t seem to take his hands off the steering wheel.
Ty Lee panicked a little when Azula’s breathing changed, and bit her fingernails into Azula’s arm, just a little. The body’s reaction to pain was normally to fight, and she needed Azula to be fighting right now. She looked up when they stopped, and sighed in relief. “If I’m not back in five minutes you need to go back without me. There’s only so long it can be detached before it’s no good anymore.” She climbed out of the car and carried Azula in, yelling for help the second she hit the door.
Normally a new patient at the ER had to wait to be seen, but anyone looking at Azula immediately got the impression that she was seriously injured. They were soon surrounded, and the nurses were trying to pry Ty Lee’s hands off of Azula so she could be put on a stretcher.
Zuko waited, staring at the clock on the car radio for what seemed like forever. The minutes ticked by, each one feeling like a tiny eternity. Five. Six. His knuckles had gone white against the steering wheel, and he felt a bit like he had to pry one away just to go back into drive. That was long enough -- he’d go back there alone.
He couldn’t think of anything at all until he was back there again; already out of the car and wandering down that dark alleyway with a tremendous wariness. He wasn’t even sure when he’d gotten out of the car, let alone parked it. He really should have called Draco. He should have thought to do that.
But there was nothing in the alley but blood and fire burns. Except for a hand. His sisters’, his mind told him in a detached sort of way.
Ty Lee was too busy freaking out in the hospital to go back out to go with Zuko. Azula was in and out of consciousness, so Ty Lee had to tell the doctors what happened and whether Azula was allergic to anything or not. It was nervewracking on her own, and watching as Azula was hooked up to machines was killing her inside. She felt so useless. It was terrible.
The doctors rushed as quickly as they dared to stabilize Azula. She was still bleeding, despite what looked like an attempt to cauterize the wound. They stabilized her while checking for internal injury, leaving Ty Lee in the waiting room. One of the nurses came back out several minutes later. "They're operating right now, miss. We need to notify her legal gaurdian, her ID says she's seventeen."
-
It was funny how much fear the need for quickness had improved Zuko’s still limited driving skills. He’d nearly have been proud of himself for driving there and back again in so little time if he’d been able to think on it properly.
As it was, it was very hard to consider much of anything in the range of normal with someone’s detached hand on your lap while driving. The scarred boy ended up at the hospital again before he really knew it -- poorly parking the car in a spot that probably wasn’t really a spot.
It was very strange carrying a hand. Like. A bad Halloween favor.
Ty Lee replied that Azula was emancipated, because they were married. She wished she’d brought the forms with her. The look of irritation from the doctor was enough to make her just shut up and call Iroh. She handed the phone over, and Iroh gave his consent, between cursing in Japanese and dragging his clothes on.
When Ty Lee was sent to the waiting room she instead went to stand outside to wait for Zuko. They knew the hand was coming, she just had to show him where to take it. She was staring out at nothing, lost in thought, when Zuko arrived. When she saw him she sprang into action. “Follow me.” She took his unencumbered hand and dragged him into the hospital, and the poor intern waiting with a cooler for the hand. Saving her life would take precedence, they made no promises about the hand. The intern rushed off, leaving Ty Lee and Zuko in the emergency room.
Zuko stood awkwardly next to Ty Lee in silence for a moment, expression a strange shocked sort of blank. They were both bloody messes, and it was only too obvious that the blood was not their own. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do. Basically it was just a waiting game. He looked at Ty Lee, golden eyes serious and a little lost, mouth a thin and serious line.
Ty Lee squeezed his hand. “Buy you a coffee.” It was the only thing she could do that would help anyone. She had to keep herself together. She had to be strong for Azula.