#also you can probably tell how i am absolutely hamfisting these prompts into the chapters

[squiddybeifong]

Bittersweet

Day Five of the Azula Ship Challenge

Pairing: Tophzula

Notes (on chronology) in tags

--

Red rimmed eyes stared unflinchingly at the guard as he entered. The armored man walked calmly around her, loosening her chains and leaving just enough space for her to move around. She observed the sliver of his neck that was left exposed and felt her fingertips twitch, trying to ignite a light that couldn’t be lit.

He noticed her staring and squared his shoulders, quickly depositing a tray on the grimy tile in front of her. Noodles, tea, sliced komodo-rhino sausage, boiled cabbage. The prison’s chef even left her two of the kitchen staff's sweet buns.

Flicking her sight up, the prisoner couldn't help but feel her eyes drawn to the man again. The corners of her mouth tilted down as she watched his stance, observing the nearly imperceptibly nervous shifting of his heels. She suppressed the instinct to snort. Pathetic. But then again, he was on prisoner duty, so he couldn't have been worthy of being called one of the fire nation's best. Still training her attention on him, she watched his jaw shift for just a moment before he spoke, his voice booming in the silence of her cell, “Here you are, Princess. Enjoy your lunch.”

Azula barked out a harsh laugh. Princess? What was she the princess of? The only things under her command were the circumstances that imprisoned her: her honorless defeat of an Agni Kai (against Zuko no less!), her crumbled sanity, the fluttering shreds of her dignity, left only through her royal blood. She ruled the heavy chains that bit into her wrists, the unkempt, stringy strands of uneven hair that covered her face, the horrible throb between her ears that lasted for weeks on end every time that waterbending peasant attempted to heal her mind, the short condescending visits of her oh so dear brother. Yes, she certainly was a princess, wasn't she?

She kept cackling as he left the room, the thud! of the door slamming shut drowning out her voice. The brunette gradually fell quiet, still letting breathy little giggles escape her mouth at the humiliation of it all. The back of her throat burned, cracking and dry as she tried to wet her lips.

She tilted a bit under her own weight as the ground trembled. It was a tiny shake, as subtle as a hushed breath, but Azula felt it nonetheless.

She knew what it meant, of course. The earth’s quiet jolts didn’t surprise her as it did the first time.

Against her better judgement a wry smile overcame her lips. She should have moved to position herself in some menacing stance. She should have turned away from the eastmost wall, where her visitor would appear. She should have grabbed the tray and angled herself the best she could, poised to beat their heads in the moment they appeared. She should have forced her weary features into a sneer. A wicked twist of her lips that would strike the deepest chamber of the heart of whoever could witness her glare.  

Whether they could see it or not.

But she didn’t even attempt to make herself more intimidating. She simply sat up, straightening her back and rolling her shoulders.

A moment later the ground opened up and a figure plopped out. Without a moment’s hesitation they sauntered in front of her, easily bending the metal off her wrists with a simple flick of one small hand. Azula watched as Toph grinned at her and couldn’t help but stare. The short girl's hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders and back, a strange sight compared to her signature bun. Decked out in a red cloak and loose fitting pants, she looked like the average fire nation peasant. While greens and browns fit her far better Azula had to admit that Toph played the part well.

Saffron eyes watched as the short girl straddled her hips and made herself comfortable in her lap, settling down with her chin against the princess’s chest, her rough fingertips resting right underneath Azula’s ribs. This time the firebender couldn't contain her snort, amused at the girl's impatience.

Toph pressed a firm kiss on her shirt, right in between her breasts. Languidly, she spread her slender fingers and traced the edges of Azula’s stomach, fanning down and clutching where her waist bloomed out into her hips.

Lazily trailing her kisses up to her prisoner’s neck Toph felt the princess shift under her. Restlessly, Azula grabbed at the younger’s biceps and pulled her even closer, growling under her breath at the chuckles that escaped the blind girl. Impatient, Azula lunged forward, crushing her lips against Toph’s own. She snarled into the kiss, tasting the salt and dust that coated her lover’s skin, aware that the blind girl tasted the metallic blood on her own.

Calloused fingers reached up to palm her face as Azula dove further into the kiss. The younger girl broke their embrace, trailing her fingertips along the royal’s jawline. Foreheads resting together, Toph was silent as she continued her inspection, feeling the sharp contours of her princess’s face. Azula’s half lidded eyes watched as her lips quirked down into a frown.

“You need to eat, Lightning Bug. Starving yourself won't help.”

Azula snorted at that and leaned down for another kiss, her face nearly moving into a pout when she was rebuked.

The earthbender’s face was set in concentration as her slender fingers trailed over Azula’s body, feeling the jutting rib bones and chafing skin beneath her shirt. Casually, her palm raised and with a flick of her wrist the tile underneath the tray rose and slid towards the two.

Toph grabbed one of the sweet buns and held it up, pressing the pastry against her lover's cheek. Stubbornly, Azula pressed her lips shut and shook her head, growling out, “I refuse to eat any of that.”

Toph tilted her head to the side, eyebrows raising up mockingly, “So you're not hungry? At all? Even though Snoozles could probably find you just from how loud your stomach's been grumbling?”

As if to emphasize her point a rolling gurgle was heard from in between them. Gold eyes glared at her traitorous stomach for a instant before her eyes were back to Toph's face. Ignoring the anger in her cloudy eyes, the princess repeated, “I'm not eating it. It's beneath me to do so.”

Intensifying her glare, she pressed, “And I am not hungry, Toph. Give it a rest and kiss me already.”

The blind bender’s brows only rose up even further, a concerned line forming from her lips. “Zula…” Azula frowned at her tone, taking in the girl's change away from teasing and use of her actual name.

Groaning in annoyance Azula let her head fall back until it hit the wall behind her, taking some pleasure in the loud bang! of her skull against the brick. Toph's hands came up to weave at the back of her neck, the pads of her dirty fingers rubbing at the matted patch that was her hair and behind the backs of her ears.

The two were silent for a while, the only sound being their breathing and the rhythmic shifting of the small fingers in the princess's dark brown strands.

Azula closed her eyes and tried to calm her breath to steady herself. She felt her shoulders slump and the tiniest arch come over her spine as she started to relax. She could feel Toph shift against her, the muscles of her arms tensing a bit. The princess bit her lip, a heavy feeling pooling in her stomach as she realized she could tell that the short girl was nervous. Toph breathed in once. Shifted a bit more. A second breath, deeper than the first. Azula attempted to brace her mind.

“I can tell when you're lying.”

Dark eyelids snapped open and the prisoner tensed, her body completely still. Irises the color of a newly dying sunset slowly traced the cracks and spider-roach webs that decorated the ceiling. The dusty features called out to her, slowly urging her weary mind to register, to somehow accept her companion's words.

Against her will tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes. Her pupils seemed to pulsate, dilating and shrinking as reality just kept hitting her. She had truly lost everything. She couldn't lie. She couldn't bend. She couldn't walk around without these Agni forsaken chains binding her. A dry, choking sob escaped her trembling lips as she squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't even talk. Her throat was closing in and her hands balled into fists at Toph's waist.

The princess of the fire nation. Ozai’s protege. The firelord for all of a few minutes. The forgotten prisoner hidden away for nearly two years now. The psychopath that few deemed redeemable, if any thought of her at all. The sixteen year old who'd been conditioned to fight for pleasure rather than necessity.

The teenager who was currently being comforted and straddled by a fourteen year old, who had seen her less than fair share of war as well.

Her sobs turned to laughter as she curled in, clutching Toph to her chest in a tight hug. The earthbender was silent, only rubbing soft circles into her hips and tenderly scratching behind her ears.

Azula felt crushed from all sides: her stomach was caving in on itself, her sanity was still unstable, her legacy would be left as one of an invalid. Her abdomen growled out and she felt as Toph moved, grabbing the cup and pressing it to her chapped lips. Without any encouragement the princess drank, feeling some of the tea fall from the corners of her mouth as she did so.

Toph refilled the cup and held it to her lips again.

Blankly, the prisoner blinked as she drank. Her still leaking eyes painfully rolled in their sockets and focused on the crown of Toph’s head. She watched as her bangs fluttered about and brushed against the length of her face and felt the need to move them aside.

Before she could the little earthbender was twisting again, grabbing something just out of reach. Azula lazily flicked at a pesky lock of hair that peeked out from beneath the golden headband and came face to face with a sweet bun.

She took in Toph’s hopeful face and snorted.

“Come oooon....” Toph’s voice was teasing as she took a bite of the bun, humming in satisfaction as she chewed on the sweet fruit inside. Azula drew her lips into a tight line as the pastry was once again held level at mouth, the waning figment of her pride keeping her from being fed directly. Then the earthbender grasped her chin and neither her pride nor her hunger could prevent her from leaning up into the tomboy's kiss.

Azula felt the stretch of her pinched skin as she leaned up, jerkily tangling her fingers along Toph’s hair. She hummed, the sound surprisingly light in her mangled throat, enjoying the soft feeling of long locks in between the gaps of her fingers.

Toph tasted sweet. Like fruit filling and soft bread and jasmine tea and salt. Azula deepened the kiss, running her tongue along the inside of the shorter girl’s mouth, feeling as the metalbender eagerly responded.

If any shred of her once royal dignity was left, it vanished at the whine that involuntarily escaped when Toph pulled away again. A wicked smirk had enveloped her thin lips -- lips that were beginning to be bruised, Azula noted proudly -- and she raised that infernal bun up again.

“Ah, ah, ah, not yet. You need to eat dinner before your dessert.” Despite her obvious teasing a part of Azula wished to singe the smirk off her face, but the lethargy that pulled her limbs down prevented her from doing so. A finger twitched and she jumped a bit, stunned at the hazy idea that flitted into her mind.

Violence wasn’t to be enjoyed, merely endured. She had to remember that. To even think of violence against Toph...

The prisoner shook her head, physically shaking away the treacherous thoughts. Her eyes flicked to the pastry again and when she spoke she knew Toph could feel her deadpan, “Sweet buns are dessert, you know.”

She ignored the wonderful twist around her heart at Toph’s lazy chuckle, “No duh, Fire Lily.” She leaned in, pressing their noses together and casually flitting her thumb on the protruding bone of Azula’s collar, “My dessert is way sweeter.”

Their lips brushed against each other; not a kiss, but a promise.

Her voice in a whisper, Toph softly nuzzled her face as her hands wrapped around the prisoner’s shoulders, adding, “Plus, I brought you a little something extra.”

Eyes fluttering shut at the tenderness, Azula softly pried the bun out of her lover’s grasp and took a bite.

...

Azula braced herself on the frame of her cot and leaned back against the wall, feeling the dull weight of the chains on top of her thighs. Glancing first at the crumbs that littered her hands and then at the washcloth more than an arm's length away, she settled for popping her index finger into her mouth.

Oh. The taste of her skin tasted just like Toph. Sweat and dirt and blood and breadcrumbs. Sweet and salty.

The princess smiled sadly, gazing around her grimy cell. The shadows’ darkness engulfed the room, sucking away any of the lingering remains of the feisty earthbender.

Chuckling darkly, slim fingers unwrapped the little package -- Toph's extra something special -- and carefully picked up the candy. It was a small piece of chocolate, carefully molded into the shape of a bear. One eyebrow raised as she studied the figure in an attempt to figure out what kind of bear.

It obviously was neither a platypus-bear nor a roach-bear. Gopher-bears had different snouts. Armadillo-bears had stumpier paws and skunk-bears were hairier.

Was it just a bear?

Golden eyes narrowed as she observed the shape more intently, picking up the paper and noting the insignia of Ba Sing Se on the back of the paper. She snorted, shaking her head at the memory of Kuei’s odd fondness for his pet. It was just a piece of candy, what use did she have for it?

But then again…Toph had brought it for her.

Azula plopped the sweet into her mouth, feeling it melt against her tongue. Slumping down until her chin rested on her collar, she softly chewed on the chocolate, feeling the nuts embedded within.

Her eyes flicked down to her hips, exposed by her ridden up shirt. She smiled as she took in the beginnings of a bruise: five little circles the size of Toph’s fingertips. Azula’s gaze moved from the pink marks to the dust and grime and shadows and scraps of food that surrounded her. Something soured in her mouth and she grimaced.

The princess swallowed the chocolate thickly, the candy settling like a rock in her stomach.

The taste of Toph still lingered in the back of her throat, refusing to be overwhelmed by the creamy chocolate. But it didn’t matter anymore; not until her little earthbender came back for another visit.

Until then, it was too bitter for her.