Chapter 36.5- And so the Dragons Danced

Without asking him, Toji stepped forward to pick up Azula’s body and place her down where Long Feng had just been. I nodded at him in thanks. At least not having to do it twice made things better. It also brought m some reassurance, the fact that Toji could overcome the influence of the aura that made one recoil at the spirit.

“Assume the position” I ordered again. This time, the spirit covred the girl from head to toe. I nodded at the sight before clearing my throat and beginning to give the long list of instructiions that would unravel Long Feng’s own brainwashing and replace it with my own. What did I brainwash her to do? Nothing complicated, to be honest. Just for her to remember falling in love with the idea and person of Natsu Wu from the first time she heard of him. It made me feel a bit sleazy inside, but Toji and I were in agreement on this course of action. This was the best way to secure our futures in the fire nation.

Besides, if I thought about it and compared it to her fate in canon, this was a noticeable step up. She’d rule beside me as Lady of the Fire Nation instead of being relegated to spending the rest of her life in prison after watching her less deserving brother take her rightful place on the throne. This was mercy. A part of my mind whispered that mercy seemed to very neatly coincide with my interests but I shut it up quickly enough.

Azula’s brainwashing took even more time than Long Feng’s and when the spirit was done, Toji moved to return her body to the platform. Toph had gotten bored and left the cavern earlier, which was probavly for the best.

I turned to the spirit once its work had been done. I’d spent the time it worked debating with myself. This spirit knew the truth of me. Sure, only Toph, Toji, Amara, and I even knew about this place in the first place, bit that didn’t matter when one took the level of risk that the reveal of that information presented. The likelihood of the event had to be weighed along with the danger posed by the event. Even a 10% chance of complete and utter destructiuon was unwelcome to say the least. The secret of who I was- what I was was worth everything. Everything. Long Feng had said everyone who knew about the spirit other than himself was dead, but he did admit that Dai Li agents were still out there. What was the guarantee that the others had not mentioned it to them without Long Feng’s knowledge.

The only counterargument I could make against destroying this threat now was the potential for brainwashing the Avatar. But was that even possible? My first instinct was no. But then again Koh the Facestealer was a legitimate threat to the Avatar, so why would the dreamweaver be any different? The counterargument to that was the fact that it’s the fucking Avatar.

“Do you think this would work on the Avatar?” I asked Toji, turning to face him. He just looked at me like I had said something extremely stupid.