#Zuko with wings REALLY sells the blue spirit is a spirit thing

[elizabethemerald]

Azula and the Spirit Library

Lighting Scars, Lightning Heals

AO3

  This another part to my Lightning Scars, Lightning Heals story, read that part first for context. I had the sudden image of Azula, traumatized by fire, stumbling upon the damage Zhao wrecked in the library and how she would deal with that.

The massive Owl spirit towered over them. It glared at the Gaang as it closely inspected each of their gifts for the library. Each stepped up to the spirit in turn, each passing on under its shrewd eye. Zuko, in front of Azula, stepped forward, however the Owl immediately screeched and flared its wings. 

“Firebenders are no longer allowed in my library!” Its voice thundered around the library. 

Zuko stepped back, his hand moving protectively in front of Azula, even as she stepped forward. The heat around the two of them jumped. Katara and the others stopped and watched, eyeing the spirit warily. 

After a moment of tension Zuko bowed to the spirit. 

“Understandable, O wise one. My sister and I will remain above. We have no desire to threaten your library.”

He turned away towards the rope that hung from the ceiling, but stopped in surprise when Azula didn’t move. She stared boldly back at the spirit, still standing tall. She glared at it for a moment, and Zuko became afraid that they would have to fight the Spirit in its own library. Then Azula bowed deeply and her hands moved rapidly as she made her case. 

The Owl spirit looked at her, its head cocked to the left. Zuko was about to step forward again to translate his sister’s words when the spirit’s wings flexed and the feathers flared and it replied with signs of its own. 

“Interesting. Airbender hand speak, changed by their absence, then modified to match Fire Nation dialect. You say you are not a firebender, but are you not the daughter of the FIre Nation?”

Its sign language was different than Azula’s. It more closer matched the Air bending Aang used and was teaching to Azula. But she could still understand it. 

“I am not a fire bender.” Azula’s hands hesitated, her lightning sparking between her finger tips. “Anymore.”

The spirit rolled its head to other side until it was almost looking at her upside down. Azula continued to gaze back at it. The momentary hesitation gone, she kept her back straight and her head high as it watched her. 

“Very well.” It signed. “I will allow you to enter, if you show me your Fire Nation dialect of the language. The firebender must remain out side, however.”

Azula was mid bow when she stood bolt upright her eyes flying to her brother. He smiled at her, then nodded to the others. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll go keep Toph company.” Zuko said nonchalantly. However his hands moved rapidly in a brief conversation with his sister that only the spirit and Aang could follow. When they were done Zuko returned to the rope and climbed back to the surface. 

The spirit nodded and the rest of the Gaang began to disperse around the library. Katara waited till Zuko had reached the top to make sure he made it out safely. When she returned her focus to the library she was surprised to find Azula had pressed up against her. 

Katara remembered that Azula had rarely been by herself in the past two years since her and her brother’s exile. She signed clumsily to her, still unfamiliar with the Airbender language. 

“Do you want me to stay?” She asked. 

Azula looked at her for a moment. Katara tried to follow the journey her face went on but Azula was an expert at not allowing her emotions to show when she wanted. At best she could guess Azula was suspicious of her, then thankful, however briefly. Her face finally settled on the smug expression that was her default. 

“I’ll find you later.” Azula said before turning her attention to the spirt. Katara rolled her eyes at the dismissive hand wave, but moved to explore the library, leaving Azula alone with the spirit. 

Sometime later Azula found herself wandering the halls of the spirit library. The Owl spirit had been, unsurprisingly a very quick study and had thanked her for adding to its knowledge. She didn’t know how she felt about teach it her language, the language she, Iroh and her teacher had worked together to create. On the one hand, she needed to be able to communicate to people to convince them to do what she wanted. On the other, there was now another being that knew her language. Another being who could spy on her and steal her secrets, or worse sell them to her father. 

She clenched her fists at the thought. She carefully kept the lightning that constantly crackled within her safely hidden. She didn’t want to risk the spirit banning her when there was much she could learn here. The scar on her face pulled her lips down into a frown. She tried to ignore her internal feelings and focused on the titles around her. Some where in this library there might be something that can help her. 

Azula turned a corner of the library and found herself in the Fire Nation section. Her jaw dropped and she struggled to stay on her feet. The entire section had been destroyed. Burned. Ruined. Just like her. 

She fell to her knees as a scream tore through her mind. And she was gone. 

Zuko’s scream echoed around the arena. She couldn’t stomach it. Couldn’t bare for her father to treat her brother like this. She jumped to the battle ground, riding a wave of blue fire. She landed squarely in front of her father, Zuko on the ground behind her, a hand pressed to his face. 

“You always said family is the most important thing in the world and this is how you treat your family?” She screamed at her father. “You don’t get to hurt him any more!”

Firelord Ozai stepped forward. He towered over her. In her memory she could never say exactly how tall he was, because she always felt like his face was lost in the sun he was so tall. She stood bravely, protectively over Zuko as the Firelord bore down on her. 

Azula took her fighting stance unleashing a wave of fire, however Ozai stepped inside the wave, grabbing her wrists before the flames touched him. He pulled her into the air, his strong arms that she had always desperately wanted to pick her up and carry her, lifting her easily. 

Fire burned in his eyes and out of his mouth, and she screamed. She screamed as the hands on her wrist burned her. She screamed and writhed in pain, trying desperately to break his hold, only distantly aware of Zuko behind her trying to rise to stop their father. 

She lifted her legs, pushing through her pain to to thrust them into her father’s face. Blue flames erupted from her heels, and her father released her. She fell hard, unprepared for the sudden descent and skidded against the ground as the force of her fire sent her backwards. 

Azula stood up, her whole body shaking to see Zuko standing before her. She kept her arms pressed tightly to her chest, the burning there bone deep. Tears filled her eyes as she screamed at him. 

“Go Zuko! Run!” 

She watched his eyes. A flash came from behind her, reflected there. She watched his eyes widen in fear and Azula turned her body. Not to face her father, but to shield her brother. She felt the electricity hit her, but she couldn’t afterwards describe the pain of the blow. Whether its memory was lost in the pain in her arms, or in the look of fear on her brother’s face, she couldn’t say. 

She screamed nonetheless. Lightning flew from her hands, and out of her mouth. The entire sky whited out as she screamed and screamed. She carved massive channels out of the arena with her lightning. 

When she could see again she turned, lightning still crackling from and across her body as she faced the Firelord. She threw her lightning at him, making him again reel back. 

That was the last moment she was truly aware of. Unleashing lightning against her own father, who had just maimed her brother. She was only vaguely aware that Ozai had grabbed her by the throat, choking and burning her as she poured more and more lightning into the air around her. 

She was told later that her uncle, Iroh had stopped the fight, ushering her and her brother out of the palace. He got them onto a Fire Nation ship and set sail immediately. The next thing she could really remember was waking up crying on the rocking ship. Small sparks traveled and jumped down her body, shocking her anytime she touched the door to her cabin. 

And she cried. She was so lost in the whirling memories of pain and of fear that she didn’t notice someone was calling her name. The entire spirit library had faded from her vision. All she could see was her father burning her again and again. 

“Azula!” A voice screamed from nearby, but she couldn’t separate it from the screaming in her head. “Azula I’m coming closer. Please, let me help you.”

She turned her head to look at the voice. Katara. Lit by bright white glow, like she had been when they were in front of the spirit font at the North Pole. But this glow was different. Katara took a cautious step forward then had to jump back as an arc of electricity almost hit her. 

Azula became distantly aware that the lightning was coming from her own body. She pulled the lighting back, allowing Katara to get closer. The water bender girl slowly crept forward, still wary of the lightning. When she tried to lay a gentle hand on Azula’s arm, a spark jumped between the two girls, making her pull her hand back in pain. 

At that Azula reigned in her lightning completely. Katara had been one of the first people to try to be friendly with her after her banishment, that wasn’t family. Even the crew members on their ship had been more afraid of her than friendly. She couldn’t excuse hurting her. 

When no more lightning crackled across her body, Katara again tried to put a hand on her arm. When she could do that without pain, she pulled Azula into a tight hug. 

For the first time in her life, someone outside of her family saw her cry. Azula pressed her face against the other girl’s shoulder, as she sobbed. Each silent sob, brought fresh pain to her burned throat, yet still the tears flowed down her face. 

Katara didn’t try and speak. Didn’t try and ask. All she did was hold her as tightly as she could. 

When Azula could breath without screaming again she pulled back a little from Katara. Her hands shook as she signed. 

“All fire does is burn and destroy. Look at this room.”

Katara looked at her briefly before water bending her tears away from her eyes. 

“You don’t have to be like the other fire benders. You don’t have to be like Zhao or your father. You can help the world heal.”

“How can I do that?”

They just stared at each other again. Then Katara turned away and pulled out a book, that she had found in the library. 

“It was in the water bending section, because it talks about healing techniques. But there’s something that might interest you.”

Azula opened the book to the page Katara pointed to. There she could see a simple diagram showing a person fire bending. She flinched at first, squeezing her eyes shut, but Katara only held her tighter until she could look again. Unlike the other firebending techniques she had seen this one wasn’t destructive. A firebender used their fire to close a wound allowing a water bender to fully heal the injury. 

She stared at the page. Then began studying it and the surrounding pages in closer detail. She had never learned about how the body reacted to the application of heat or fire. As she looked she analyzed the firebending techniques, some of the fire bending was, in a word, sloppy. Whoever the firebender had been they had no where near her skill. Even Zuko could out bend them any day. 

“The fire bending is imprecise.” Azula signed. “However with lighting…”

Azula allowed a small arc of electricity to dance at the tip of a finger. She ran that finger along her other forearm, stopping just short of the burn scars left from her father. Katara gasped and immediately pulled water from her waterskin, it glowed with its healing light, however she stopped and stared at the wound. Despite its length the wound did not bleed. Azula looked at it in surprise before allowing Katara to close the wound. 

The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds, tears shining in both of their eyes. However before they could say another word the temple ground around them suddenly shook. They both jumped to their feet and raced back towards the center. 

Later they immerged from the temple window to land on the surrounding desert sand. The sand had streaks of glass blasted into it from Zuko’s bending as well as deep craters from Toph’s. Appa stood near them both growling softly at something that was disappearing in the distance, but turned and made a happier noise when it saw Aang was safe. 

When they were again soaring over the long miles of desert, Azula pressed the book Katara had given her to her chest. She made eye contact with the water bender and gave her a single sign. Her open hand tapped to her chin, then moved away. 

“Thank you.”

I'm loving this AU idea more and more. Azula has some pretty bad ptsd from what her dad did to her. Katara doesn't really understand but she wants to help. And she finds a book that helps Azula make the connection that she could perform surgery with her lightning, instantly cauterizing the wounds. And later they kiss. Also I totally made it so Aang didn't lose Appa, because I didn't want to deal with that. Also also, Azula's gay awakening was absolutely seeing the glow of the spirit water reflecting on Katara's face. She just hasn't come to terms with that just yet.