trans_9 | Helpless.

In the back of her cell Azula slumped against the wall. Between the pale exhausted look on her face and the empty eyes gazing at the transparent wall of her cell she looked dead to the world.

She knew something was wrong with her. That much was painfully clear no matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise. But she wasn't crazy! No. Never. Not the Princess of the Fire Nation, not the rightful heir to the throne.

She was just...sick. Yes. She had caught something. Like when a fever got too strong or when one drank too much wine.

No, she had been infected! That had to be it. That's when things began to go downhill. Mai must have had some kind of poison on her knives, or maybe the servants back at the palace...

The palace was gone. That's what everyone kept telling her. The fire nation, the world was gone.

Her father was gone...

She hadn't seen her father since he left to complete his destiny and take over the world. Only through what Zuko and the Doctors had told her did she know his fate. A war criminal.

His powers stripped...just a man now.

She still could create fire for now. But what if the Avatar tried to take it from her like he had her father?

What else could they take?

Images flashing through her mind. Medications, procedures. Those unsettling tentacles that belonged to the voice in her head, the world around her. "Stacy" How dare she speak in such a kind an loving voice? Azula knew better. Azula knew what sort of damage love could bring.

What was the voice plotting to do to her while it spoke so sweetly? Her mind? Not if she had any say! And why shouldn't she!? She is Princess Azula! From Birth her destiny was perfection and greatness. The heavens above had sent to the planet the perfect girl, born to the man destined to rule the world.

...or so they'd thought.

But he was gone, they were gone the world was gone! Azula too...must be gone.

Yes, that made more sense didn't it? Azula had died...no was killed. MURDERED! Murdered by those so called "Doctors" that had promised they wouldn't hurt her. That they only wanted to help her! Zuko probably gave them the order! Kill her so he wouldn't have to worry anymore about the only loyal family their Father had left.

Father...

These thoughts and more swirled about in her fractured mind but her body never moved, barely blinked. You couldn't even really tell she was breathing.

This was all that was left, of the Proud Princess Azula.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"...Why would you even think that would work?" Zetta asked, establishing a new bar of hypocrisy for himself.

"I didn't." She confessed, "But I can't destroy what's not real. If I could I wouldn't be in this cell, this nightmare would end and I would find reality once again."

"Look, this may be just a shot in the dark here," Zetta said. "The cell? The tentacles? The people you know? I can believe you could imagine those up. But I gotta point out that I'm a talking book that's also the strongest being in the cosmos. And if you can possibly justify imagining that in any way, I'd also like to point out that I'm a talking book, etc., with Prinnies for minions. And I'm freaking certain there's absolutely no way you could imagine a Prinny."

"There's no logic to things in this world." She countered in a tired beaten voice, "If there was generations of hard work and suffering would have been rewarded instead of destroyed in one day. In a logical world the strongest would have all they wanted and the weaker would not be able to stop them."

"That's not logic," Zetta said. "It's SENSE, but it's not logic. Look at me, I'm stuck in a book because the Ohm tampered with the Sacred Tome to take me out before I could take them out. Cheap shots and trickery still work."

"Make yourself useful." She ordered and leaned against the wall with a sigh, "What's happening beyond these walls? How does the kingdom adjust to their new false ruler? You're a book aren't you? Inform me."

"Uh, it's a ship, not a kingdom," Zetta said. "And most of the people in charge are pretty useless. They got there by playing politics and telling people what they wanted to hear. Turns out democracy doesn't work. People pretty much do whatever the hell they want."

"Fools. The people were never meant to decide who was best to lead. Divine right is given through strength and skill!" A surprisingly sharp and down to Earth sentence followed by, "Like those stupid turtleducks, always following their mother in a perfect line. No worries, no thoughts. Just follow the food."

"I'm with you on that." Zetta chuckled. "But hey, it has its upsides. If you don't get too loud and obnoxious about things, they let you do whatever the hell you want."

She scoffed, "Not if my brother has his say. He believes he has sealed me in here by leaving himself open to my strike." She chuckled, "One of many mistakes. He should have let his girlfriend kill me. It was the only way he'd be safe."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Zetta said. "You're looking at this entirely the wrong way."

"And just how would you have me look at it?" She hissed like an angry snake.

Zetta grinned smugly. "Simple. Right now, everyone on this ship wants to beat the Ohm and get their worlds back. That means if your goal is to get your kingdom back, all those people -- not just the people from your world, but all the so-called heroes and champions and whatnot on this ship -- they're all helping you. They're not your enemies while they're on the ship -- they're your tools. You use them to get what you want. And since they won't be going after you while they're on the ship... you train, you maybe learn a few new tricks from some of the other folks here. And so long as you're playing nice, in time their guard goes down."

He lifted his eyebrows slowly. "Then, when everything's back to normal... you reopen hostilities."

She shook her head and rolled so her back was facing him, "For most perhaps. But They will never work with me. Not with my brother and the Avatar out there. They will wait until my guard is down and then..." She slammed a fist onto the ground sending a spurt of flame up.

"You're forgetting. They're the 'good guys'. Heroes believe in stuff like 'redemption' and 'the greater good'. And this ship has a charter that says you can't be persecuted over anything you did before you came on it. If they break that, and screw around with you because of your past history? That makes them in the wrong as long as you're here."

Is Zetta the shoulder-angel or the shoulder-devil, here?

Azula was silent for what felt like the longest time.

Then slowly, she began to shake.

And giggle.

And then chuckle.

And then laugh.

And soon a loud manic cackling echoed through the halls of the brig in an unsettling manner. Maybe Zetta had gotten through to her.

Or maybe she had heard something funny from her visions.

Zetta is totally adding Azula to his list of hobbies. When she's not hitting him with a Prinny, she's fun.

"When you get out of here, come by my fortress in the City. I'll show you how to use the omnicomm. Trust me, you'll want to learn. Knowledge is power and all that crap."

Helpless.

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