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the-genius-az · 2 months ago

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Embrace The Dark Shades Of Life

Summary: The Addams Family Adopts Azula

For @subterraneanwatcher who has good taste in characters and put this idea in my inbox

She doesn’t know where she is or how she got here, doesn’t remember. But the people welcome her so readily. They are a terribly strange bunch and they call themselves the Addams.

She meets Wednesday first. She’s cute enough to a person who finds flutterbats and the like cute and Aula supposes that she does…not that she has ever put much thought into that sort of thing. She certainly has more of a connection to those sinister beasts that make people scream. Wednesday is a smart girl—Azula can see the intelligence in her eyes. Her eyes had been the first thing that Azula had seen when she opened her own to take in this strange new world that she finds herself in.

The girl had loomed over her. Poked at her, called to her brother to say that she had found a dead body.

Wednesday's brother, Pugsley, a plump boy with a bizarrely pleasant face. The boy has a cheerful nature to him that seems to contradict his macabre interests. The ones that his parents are more than happy to indulge.

His parents are pleasantly strange themselves. There is the darkly charming Gomez with his well groomed mustache and his flowery speech. And there is the woman who introduces herself as Morticial. She is tall and sleek with an angular face and long dark hair. Her makeup is striking and dramatic. With a pang in her heart, Azula acknowledges that Morticia reminds her of a more morbid Mai.

The manor that the woman welcomes her into smells of expensive perfume–likely an iris and rose blend, velvet, old leather, dust, and oak wood. It is gloomy and richly furnished with things that Azula has never seen before. There is a chandelier with candles of glass that flicker like the real thing. There are lamps whose shades are made of lace and full of dust and webs. Upon the bookshelves, between ancient tomes, are jars of specimens such as detached tentacles and toad eyes as well as polished stones and bat and wolf bones. The wall is decorated with grim photos–black and white family portraits hang alongside paintings of burning bodies and skeletons wearing dark cloaks and holding scythes. The creaky halls are lined with full suits of armor in a style unlike anything in the four nations. They also keep instruments of torture and display them as plainly as a kitchen table or a sofa. Most of the sofas in this house have white sheets thrown over them despite being used often.

The Addams are kind enough to her but the manor is terribly unsettling with all of its surprises—a detached and fully sentient hand and plants that may or may not have an appetite for human flesh.

“Settle yourself in, darling.” Morticia says after the tour is through. But for as lovely as the woman is, Azula doesn’t think that she will be able to do so. Not with the floorboards groaning the way that they do and the tree branches that scrape like screeches against the windows. She nods regardless, “I’ll try…”

The woman offers a warm smile. “If there’s anything that I can do to make you more comfortable, don’t be shy about requests. Perhaps you would like a cup of tea or some warm milk. Pugsley does like his warm milk, especially when there's a fly or two floating in it!”

Azula crinkles her nose.

“You don’t like flies in your drinks, dear?”

Azula shakes her head.

“Well that’s alright, we all have our own taste. More for Pugsley then.” She pauses in the doorway. “Gradmama makes the richest teas. I will have Lurch bring you a cup.”

“Who is Lurch?”

“Our butler. He is the most polite gentleman that anyone could meet—so long as they don’t meet Gomez.”

The woman practically swoons over his name and Azula finds herself wishing that she could meet someone who would speak of her like that.

“Have a gloomy night and dreams most dreary.”

Azula might have found herself offended had she not already taken a tour of the house. It is plenty clear that Morticia is bidding her the finest night of sleep that she could ever get. For all of the manor’s curious creaks and groans, the bed that she has been given is wonderfully plush. It smells a bit like stale perfume but the blankets are made out of fabrics just as fine as the ones that she had slept under in the palace. She swallows hard at the thought of home and the life that she used to know. The life that had slowly been slipping away from her anyhow.

She does have dreams most dreary, but not the kind and elegant sort that Morticia had wished her.

.oOo.

Azula can’t say that she has quite settled into this new place just yet. Although Morticia and Gomez are going very far out of their way to make her feel welcomed. So far out of their way that they have asked her to draw her old room so that they can construct an exact likeness to it, assuring her that they are perfectly alright with her ‘eccentric’ tastes in furnishing. “I do love a cuddly dragon!” Gomez had remarked with such enthusiasm that she fully believed that they don’t mind her clashing taste at all.

And while Morticia couldn’t find a single firelily seed to plant she had given a call to a cousin who had reached out to his fiance’s friend who is, from what Azula understands, “a biologist and a phenomenal bio engineer.” And this friend of a cousin will be working to alter the genes of a tiger lily to produce flames.

She doesn’t have the heart to tell any of them that they have misunderstood what a fire lily is. She is also quite curious about what type of flower they will plant for her.

Presently she stands in a garden that is mostly withered and wilting with overgrown grass and fountains that spray more moss than they do water. Smoke still trails off of her fingers from lightning discharged.

“Wednesday, come look at this!” Pugsley calls. And to Azula he shouts. “Do it again!”

“I am…” She reminds him, “...a princess.” She holds her head high. “Do not order me around or I will show you my lighting up close and personal.

The boy seems to perk up. “Really!?”

Azula gives a stiff nod. “Yes, indeed. Which would be a shame because I like your parents.” So maybe she won’t fry the boy but she will surely shock him a good one.

“Wednesday, she’s going to zap me!” He cries out.

And Azula cringes. She glances over her shoulder at Morticia and Gomez who watch them from across the garden. Although watch is a bit of a stretch. Morticia is rather invested in the rose that Gomez tucks behind her ear—thorns and all—with a loving pur. She breathes a sigh of relief.

Wednesday wanders her way over. “I’ll get the chains.” She says.

“Chains?”

“So he can’t get away.” Wednesday nods. “He likes the silver ones the best. The big iron ones are too heavy.” She pauses. “He’ll grow into them.” And just like that Pugsley is bound good and tight. “Now then. Let’s begin.” She clasps her hands behind her back.

Pugsley shoots her a goofy grin. “Make it a good one!”

Azula clears her throat. “I will have you know that my lighting is always superior.” She lets it dance upon her fingertips. She brings it precariously close to his nose and waits for him to twitch. Instead he giggles.

Azula sighs. He isn’t even slightly intimidated.

In fact he groans in disappointment when she withdraws her fingers.

“Just so you know, I am not being nice or merciful. Your disrespect of me will be punished. However I will not waste my lightning on you. Lightningbending is a very complex and highly regarded art. It isn’t to be used for silly games and party tricks.” She declares with a tilt of her chin. She clasps her arms behind her back. “I used it to strike the Avatar down and…”

Pugsley giggles again. “You’re really weird.”

Azula’s eye twitches. “And you smell like a moldy carpet!” She pinches her nose for good measure. Her heart lurches when a shadow falls over her. Two of them, in fact. She grits her teeth. “Listen I was just—”

“Isn’t she just precious?” Morticia gushes to Gomez.

Azula furrows her brow. “Wh—”

Gomez clasps an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t hold back on him now. Everyone loves a good verbal sparring! A battle of wits is an underrated form of combat.” He concludes.

For once Azula’s heart swells with delight. Ursa certainly would have scolded her for a remark like that. Would have demanded that she treated her brother with respect. Nevermind that Zuzu takes jabs of his own now and then. “You aren’t…I’m not in trouble.” She sounds like a child and she hates it.

“Well of course not! It’s perfectly healthy for children to play outside.” Morticia answers. “And such a creative game too!”

Gomez nods. “Indeed. Innovating lightning into playing hostage. Pugsley makes a remarkable upcoming criminal doesn’t he?”

“He’s an absolute menace.” Azula grumbles, thinking of the tin full of spiders he had left on her bedside in place of mixed nuts and dried fruits. She can still feel them crawling up her arm.

“Oh he sure is!” Morticia agrees.

.oOo.

The poor darling is so quiet and weary. Morticia pats the spot on the sofa next to her. She will get the girl to feel at home yet.”

“Pugsley and Wednesday had a fantastic time today. They simply adore you.” Morticia compliments.

And Azula’s brows furrow. “They did? They do?”

Morticia nods. “Well of course. Pugsley is absolutely delighted to have met someone else who enjoys electricity as much as he does. He and Wednesday are constantly playing execution; she straps him to an electric chair and he pretends to be a criminal giving his final words! But Wednesday gets tired of playing the same game over and over again. She would rather read her books.” She pauses, hoping that she isn’t boring the girl. “I’ll have to ask her to read you some Edgar Allan Poe one day. Have you heard of him? Do they read his works where you are from?”

Azula shakes her head. “No. But there is a poet named Ryo-Hi. He has some thoughtful poems about dragons but I don’t really care for that sort of thing.”

Morticia hums. “Well you’ve never heard an Addams family poem!” She says. “We have poetry slams every 14th day of the month. Gomez has a way with words. You’ll have to join us one day.”

Azula swallows and Morticia can tell that something is on her mind. Home, perhaps. “My dear, if you don’t want to stay with us just say the word and we’ll reach out to Uncle Fester to see if he can come by a device that can transport you…”

“No!” Azula says abruptly. “I…I don’t want to leave. I don’t think that I want to leave.” She bites her lower lip. “I don’t really have many friends where I came from. The think that I’m…” She trails off. “Morbid, cruel, a monster.”

“Oh, darling, they are right; it sounds like they love you very much!”

Azula shakes her head. “They aren’t like you. Monster and morbid aren’t terms of endearment.”

Pursing her lips, Morticia replies, “well that sounds absolutely drab.”

She shrugs and is silent for a moment before adding, “I guess.”

Morticia feels rather inclined to embrace the girl, but she remembers her mentioning something about not being the hugging sort.

“Well our family, finds you to be wonderful company and we’ll be glad to have you here.” Gomez promises as he enters the room. “The children wanted to play catch with a hornets’ nest before supper. Lurch will fetch them when it’s ready.”

Morticia nods. “Thank you, mi cariño. I would hate to cut their fun short.” She turns back to Azula. “Would you like to be an Addams?”

.oOo.

“Azula Addams does have a satisfying ring to it, I suppose.” And it would be awfully nice to be a part of a family that delights in her cynicism, witticisms, and sarcasm. To have a mother who still calls her a monster but with a very loving coo.

“Well that is splendid news!” Morticia takes her hand. “I will let the children know that you will be staying with us. They were hoping that you would be an older sister to them.”

Azula’s stomach flutters. “I never got along with my own brother.” She confesses. “Pugsley is much less whiny.” And much less preachy. And while her mind is on the topic of preachy… “what’s uncle Fester like?”

Gomez puffs his chest. “Ah yes! Good ol’ uncle Fester. An extraordinary man, he is. He’s a lot like you in that he’s got a way with electricity! I think that he would love to see that…what is it called?”

“Lightningbending.” Azula fills in.

“Lightningbending! He would love that a lot. He’s a practitioner of martial arts as well—kung fu to be precise. Your lightningbending looks a lot like that, you know.”

Azula tries not to grin too widely at the thought of having someone to firebend with. “Just wait until you see my firebending.”

“Firebending, well that sounds extraordinary.” Morticia replies. “Perhaps you can show us your firebending at the dinner table.”

“At the dinner table?” She almost comments that it is poor manners to do any type of bending at a dinner table unless the setting is a dinner theater. She bites her tongue, reminding herself for at least the sixth time today that things are very unusual here. “At the dinner table, of course.” She folds her hands in her lap.

She is going to have a lot to get used to now that she has been more or less, officially welcomed into the family.

She can’t imagine that they will be impatient with her. And she thinks that, that is just what she needs; patience and a group of people who don’t demand perfection from her. People who, in fact, delight in imperfections and notable flaws.

And maybe, here with these curious, darkly inclined individuals, she can find a comfortable and kinder place is a world that wasn’t her own but suits her much more.

#Azula #Azula Addams #Gomez Addams #Morticia Addams #Wednesday Addams #Pugsley Addams #Atla #avatar the last airbender #The Addams Family #crossover #fanfiction #one shot

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