97 - Night visit to Azula's room

AN: An extra juicy 2.8K words chapter.

Enjoy.

***

Holding Ty Lee Mai sprinted down the stairs hoping to run into some Fire benders on their way, but there were none, there should have been two guards guarding the way to the king’s prison but Azula had dismissed them when she came earlier, they were now probably drunk in some random corner of Omashu.

“We need to go back,” Ty Lee managed to squeeze out, her whole body was still paralyzed but it seemed her head was regaining its functions.

“We can't defeat him, we need help,” replied Mai in a calm voice, but one look at her expression and anyone would be able to tell that she was far from calm.

“By the time We’re back Azula will be dead, we need to go back now,” said Ty Lee, pleading to go back, but Mai paid her no heed as she kept running down the stairs.

From what she had seen of their enemy, if he wanted Azula dead she would be dead by now, if they went back they’d just die alongside her, they could only hope to bring reinforcements and seek revenge, but even then Mai didn’t have much hope.

He probably already escaped by now, she thought before a more depressing thought occupied her head, what if he had freed the king? 

Just the thought of it terrified her, if that were to happen the entire city would turn into a battlefield, a death zone where she and Ty Lee would be lucky to survive.

And even if we survive we will have to run from the wrath of the fire lord and fire nation our entire lives, she knew the fire lord quite well and she had no delusions about how he would take this news, not only was his daughter dead but he would have also lost a city, she couldn’t help but shudder as she thought about it.

Ty Lee kept pleading for Mai to go back but she received no reply, she could only close her eyes and bite her lower lip helplessly and be dragged away by Mai, she could only hope that Azula was alright.

***

Huff Huff Huff

Azula’s breath came in quick succession as she struggled to stand, looking at her opponent, not even out of breath, she couldn’t help but feel her world collapse around her.

She had always been hailed as a genius, a one-in-a-million genius, but against the man in front of her she felt like an ordinary person facing a seasoned warrior, completely helpless.

But strangely, a part of her was calm, this was the third time she had ever felt like this, and all against the same person, and even though she had spent years training in order to catch up to him things still ended up the same, but even then there was this part of her that was calm and composed, as if it had already expected this.

But her pride couldn’t handle it, “Kill me…Huff…Why are you…Huff… standing there…Huff…and staring at me? I don’t want your pity,” said Azula through ragged breaths.

She meant every word of it, she would rather he deliver the finishing blow and end it all together than pity her, she had no regrets, her mother had left her, and she didn’t care for her father and only followed him out of respect and hierarchy, and the only people she cared about, Mai and Ty Lee, were now out of harm’s way, she could die peacefully.

Levi couldn’t help but shake his head from side to side as he heard her words, he disabled Gamer’s mind's emotional regulation function, he thought that the next words are better spoken from the heart, “I don’t pity you, Azula, I respect you, more than you realize, I even look up to you, you’re amazing.”

Whatever Azula was expecting it wasn’t that, she stood there frozen in shock, his words hitting more than any punch or attack that he had delivered during their fight.

“You’ve achieved what few other Fire benders have, you evolved your Fire into a more powerful and dominating blue one, you’re a master Fire bender at fourteen years old, you’re a master martial artist and a genius commander, you’re amazing, so don’t look down on yourself, you don’t need pity, in fact, how can I pity someone like that,” said Levi in one breath, he didn’t know why, but it felt like the right thing to say.

I should avoid turning off the emotional regulation function of Gamer’s mind too much in the future, he thought, he knew he wouldn’t have spoken these words if it were on.

Azula who was prepared to die moments ago found herself speechless, and even more so she felt warm inside, the kind of warm she hadn’t felt since she was a child, the warmth that she wished she received from her mother and father, the kind of warmth Iroh always showered on Zuko, the warmth she tried to receive for years but couldn’t, tears started falling down her eyes without her control as she laid there with one knee on the ground.

For the first time in her life, she felt recognized and acknowledged, her inhuman training and efforts which were never recognized by her father were seen and appreciated by none other than her archnemesis.

Shit, Why is she crying? I didn’t say anything except wrong, I just praised her, what did I do wrong? Levi couldn’t help but think, feeling a little guilty. Alright if nice words aren’t enough then I’ll give her even more nice words, I refuse to believe that wouldn’t work.

“Come on now, don’t ruin that beautiful face of yours with tears, although I have to say they do make you look more beautiful,” said Levi as he walked towards her, reached out, and wiped her tears away.

Azula wanted to back away, to launch a fire attack right at his face, he was so close that she might even succeed, but she found herself frozen in place as his hand slid across her cheek, not resisting at all.

Should I go for it? Levi couldn’t help but think, Oh FUCK it, he screamed inwardly as he looked at her red lips before he bent down and planted a deep kiss on them.

It lasted for only a second before they separated but for Levi, it felt both like an eternity and an instant at the same time, he couldn’t help but want more, but he held himself back, Having Gamer’s mind off is really not ideal, he thought, but he still didn’t turn it back on.

“SO SHE REALLY IS YOUR WOMAN!” came a shocked and hurt voice from behind Levi. “I knew it, I can’t believe all of this could have been avoided if you had just talked to her before but you let her take over my city, Levi you bastard,” Bumi’s voice kept coming nonstop ruining the moment.

I honestly forget he was even here. Levi couldn’t help but think awkwardly.

Sigh 

Sighing he turned around, but just as he was going to speak and berate Bumi for not being able to read the room hurried footsteps sounded from behind him.

“AZULA!” Mai’s scream came from the stairs followed by the hurried footsteps of at least a dozen people, Ty Lee was nowhere in sight.

“Well It seems I’ll have to get going now,” said Levi as he slowly jogged to the edge of the platform they were on, the streets of Omashu thousands of feet below him.

It was only for a split second, but he could swear he saw a slight hint of reluctance pass through Azula’s eyes before he jumped from there disappearing from sight.

An: I realize this might not seem like something Levi would do, we are used to his apathetic personality(except with friends and close ones), but remember he has Gamer’s mind off.

***

“He is taking too long, it’s almost night time, maybe we should follow after him,” said Aang with a worried tone as he walked from side to side hurriedly with his hands behind his back.

“Relax Aang, he has only been gone for two hours, scouting and information gathering takes time,” said Sokka as he trained with his sword on the side.

“Yes, Aang, Sokka is right, which begs the question, since when do you know about scouting and information gathering?” asked Katara curiously as she looked at Sokka.

“Well, when you were around trying to master fancy tricks with your water bending Levi and I spent time with Dad and learned all kinds of cool stuff,” said Sokka with his head raised up high.

“It's not a fancy trick and you know it, why not try me huh?,” said Katara defensively as she bended water to her side.

“Bring it on loser,” said Sokka with a smirk as he sheathed his sword and took out his boomerang.

“GUYS,” screamed Aang, “We have no time for this, something big could be happening while we are here arguing amongst ourselves, I am going after Levi.” 

Aang held his glider and was just about to take off when Levi fell from above with thin ice wings disappearing from his back and Air bending softening his landing, Katara’s eyes shined as she looked at the wings.

“LEVI, you’re back what happened? How is Bumi?” Aang jumped towards Levi and started bombarding him with questions.

“Relax Aang, everything is fine,” said Levi, but Aang didn’t relax, “Bumi is fine, I spoke to him, and he said he has it under control and that we shouldn’t worry.”

“Did he now!” said Aang, confused, but he seemed to have calmed down.

“Were you found out?” asked Katara.

“Unfortunately, I was caught off guard while speaking with Bumi,” said Levi shaking his head in regret, although with his Ethereal sense, he could have gotten out of there before they saw him she didn’t need to know that.

“Well that's fine I guess, as long as Bumi is ok,” said Katara.

“Wait, what if they do something to Bumi, they saw you talking to him, they’re definitely going to interrogate him, I need to go rescue him,” said Aang with a panicked tone as he quickly turned around and took off with his glider.

But before he could get far a water tentacle caught him and brought him back down.

“Levi, let me go, we need to go save Bumi,” said Aang in panic as he tried to break free from the water tentacle with no success.

“You’re right Aang,” said Levi making Aang stop his struggle, “They saw me talk to him and they might torture him for information, but you going isn’t a good idea, they just saw me with him and I can only imagine how much security is around him now.”

“That’s true but we need to do something,” said Aang with his head down, almost crying.

Sigh

“I’ll go,” said Levi, Aang's expression lit up.

“You will?” Aang asked in disbelief.

“Did I stutter?” Levi asked back.

“Hahaha, You’re the best Levi,” said Aang as he jumped and hugged Levi.

“Well, see you guys later,” said Levi as ice wings sprouted on his back and he took off.

Aang and Katara looked at his disappearing figure in the sky with a worried expression while Sokka just shrugged his shoulders and went back to his practice.

***

Inside Azula’s room - Previously King Bumi's Royal chamber

Azula stood in the room staring at herself in the mirror, She wore nothing but a red skin-tight shirt and the same color boyshorts, her figure was perfect, having fat and muscle in all the right places, the only defect was the red and blue bruises lining her entire body.

Be it her arms, legs, torso, or even chest, they were all bruised. She was applying a green herbal solution to them, but she was having difficulty reaching the ones on her upper back and she soon gave up.

Azula though didn’t care about them as much as her previous loss, it was a complete and utter defeat, they didn’t even manage to put up a fight.

Although there isn’t a single scratch on my face, did he intentionally avoid hitting me there? She thought, unwillingly remembering his words.

Come on now, don’t ruin that beautiful face with tears.

A smile couldn’t help but creep into her face as she remembered that, and she caught herself smiling in the mirror, immediately erasing that smile from her face.

How many times had this happened already and I didn’t realize, she couldn’t help but think, the only reason she had noticed this time was her silly reflection in the mirror.

“I really did a number on you didn’t I?” a voice came from behind her making her shiver all over, she didn’t feel or hear anything until the voice spoke. If they wanted her dead she would be, still, her training forced her to kick the ground and jump forward before turning around, blue fire burning on both hands.

“YOU!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? HOW DID YOU AVOID THE GUARDS?” She screamed question after question at him, ready to throw fire all around the place and burn the room in hopes of attracting her guards.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew she couldn’t win, her only hope was making a big enough noise to alert Mai and Ty Lee in the adjoining rooms and the guards outside,  but even after her screams nobody showed up, she was confused.

“Relax, I just want to talk, If I wanted you dead you would be already,” said Levi calmly.

Azula found herself lowering her hands and extinguishing her fires before she could process his words, “Talk about what?” she asked.

“Well for starters how about I help you apply that medicine on your back? I saw you struggling with it,” said Levi.

“Medicine? No need I…Wait? How long were you in my room,” asked Azula aghast, she remembered it had been at least five minutes since she had stopped applying medicine, was he in her all that time?

“Huh? Oh…ummm…I’d say for around ten minutes,” he said, holding his chin.

Hearing that Azula wanted to throw all caution out the window and attack him right here and now, Ten minutes! So he saw that smile? She couldn’t help but think, she wanted to reach over and strangle him to shut him up, but she knew she couldn't and that infuriated her even more.

“You really don’t pull back your punches do you?” she said as she turned towards the mirror and started applying her medicine again, more to escape from her thoughts than anything.

“Well, I could but that would be disrespectful to you wouldn’t it?” he asked, and Azula found a smile on her face despite herself.

“I suppose I should give you my thanks,” said Azula as she struggled to reach the middle of her upper back.

Sigh

“Is your offer still standing?” she asked as she held up the tray with the green medicine in it.

“Well considering I am the one who caused it in the first place it is the least I can do,” said Levi with a smile as he took the tray and stood behind her applying the medicine with one arm to her back.

He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty as he saw the bruises up close, it was worse than he had expected.

Putting the tray on the table to the side he dipped his other hand in it and started using both hands, Azula closed her eyes in relaxation.

It’s amazing how her skin can still be this soft despite the harsh training she went through and the strong muscles she has, he couldn’t help but think.

Levi, looking at her perfect back started tracing all the bruises on it and applying the medicine even lower, soon he reached her perfectly shaped ass.

Should I? He couldn’t help but question himself, but soon he steeled his will and reached both hands, lowering her boy shorts he started applying medicine there also.

“What are you doing?” asked Azula softly, turning her head slightly and looking at him sideways.

“You also have bruises here,” said Levi as he carefully applied what was left of the medicine and started massaging her.

“Mhm, but I’ve already applied there.” That was the only reply he received as Azula threw her head backward resting it on Levi's shoulder completely relaxing.

“And yet you’re not stopping me,” he said softly into her ear, his hot breath massaging her face, she didn’t say anything, and he continued.

AN: Honestly Levi should stop sneaking up on people.

AN2: Welp, we all know what’s going to happen, you’ve all been asking for it and here it is.