goddamnit kristopher where the FUCK are we

by InsignificantArtist

Summary:

Azula finds herself in a strange world. She seeks to survive more than anything, and what helps survival more than power?

Chapter 1: improvise. adapt. don't have a mental breakdown. overcome

  After burning someone to a crisp without any forethought, Azula tried to subtly wander the streets.  She observed every advertisement, every stand, and asked questions to strangers like a hopelessly lost, naive girl.

 

  Quirks were a sort of power.  Unlike bending, it seemed rather randomised, and it was forbidden to use powers in public.

 

  Instead of letters, this place used a four-digit number as the current year.  According to the calendars she found in a little store, the clock was based around a year divided into 12 sections, with each having roughly 28-31 days.

 

  Contrarily, this world still had 24-hour days, 4 seasons, and a 7-day week.

 

  Since people asked her if she was a hero or villain because of her outfit, then asked if she was a vigilante, she knew those existed.  Via pretending to be a shy foreign girl, she discovered some legalities and technicalities of those interconnected communities.  With that, she also discovered history was entirely different here.

 

  Libraries were free, no library card or ID required.

 

  A map was her first go-to.  The entire round planet was mapped out and labelled.  Everything looked so different.  Fascinating how weird isolated communities could get.

 

  When the sun fell, the sky was still too bright to make out the stars.  She went back to the library to browse their joke of a written star system.

 

  She asked the librarian where a girl could find a spot to stargaze.  The librarian shrugged and admitted that light had pierced the air so thoroughly that seeing the stars from the ground was impossible ‘these days’.  Azula would have to go to space just to see the stars again.

 

  She huffed and left, aware that this place was larger than it believed.  Anywhere else on a true map would allow her to stargaze, but not here.  Possibly not in any other place on this place's map.

 

  Accepting she was trapped on the island for now, she read law and history books like she was planning on being a time-travelling representative for ancient Fire Lord Lee (imprisoned for his horrendous fashion crimes).

 

  While she was reading, a cute guy flirted with her.  Bored of her books and sincerely flattered, she flirted back.  For some reason, he paled and claimed to be late for his dentist appointment.

 

  She glanced at herself on a ‘computer’ screen.  Perhaps her teeth were so wonderful, and that's what caused the guy to remember his quite real prior engagement and flee.  It definitely wasn't her intimidating attitude or large personality at all.

 

  Back to history.

 

  Quirks had only been around for a little over 200 years.  No mention of bending at all.  How fascinating this quaint little place was.

 

  She was already tired of it, despite the interesting books.

 

  She gained a supposed map of Japan and travelled using the automated transportation systems, which didn't seem to be animal-run in the slightest.  Completely metal and electricity.

 

  Fascinating.

 

  These cities were so beautiful at night, and people were so nice.  But the groups of men seemed to back away when she responded, no matter how polite she tried to be.  Eye contact seemed to be the thorned mushroom to their bear-frog.

 

  The fire nation would love this place, and the villain situation could be easily solved by their forces.  However, it was fairly cold, especially while raining.  It'd be difficult to defend from waterbenders.

 

  But the current culture was great for her moneyless state.  With puppy eyes and a cute voice, it was child's play to get free samples and meals off store cashiers and street vendors.  Or something from a vending machine, those were really good too.

 

  Popping seedless grapes and cherries into her mouth from a mango bowl, she glanced at the street signs.  If her memory served correctly, she needed to turn left to find the bus stop.

 

  Hands reach out to grab her from the dark alleyway.  She ducks and leaps over to be under a street lamp, turning to face potential opponents.

 

  They weren't the silent footsteps type, thankfully, the lack of the noise simply their cowardice.  Looking around also proves to show no visible enemies.

 

  She hears spiteful mumbling from the alley.

 

  Standing behind the well-lit bus stop so she doesn't get easily kidnapped or splashed by a car, Azula continues eating her sweet, tangy dessert.  It was perfect to have after the savoury takoyaki she had, three on one skewer.

 

  She licks her lips just thinking about it.  Street food could be so good in foreign countries.  She'd request that the culture stay or become integrated into fire nation culture after capture if possible.  If not, there were always other places.

 

  Assuming she was in a place easily accessible from and to the fire nation.  It was possible but unlikely she was in the spirit world.  But possible.

 

  The bus arrived slightly later than scheduled.  Normally, she'd throw the edible bowl away, but in her situation, she ate it while boarding.

 

  //

 

  Japanese mall clothes looked so beautiful.  Azula did a twirl in front of the mirror, wondering if the fashion she wore was modern and trendy, and how long it would stay that way.

 

  After a while, she decided on a single, simple outfit: short-sleeved shirt, hooded jacket, non-ripped jeans, and short boots.  The shoes really did only go to her ankles, which was terribly sad, but she was trying to fit in with the people she saw on the street.  Her elaborate outfit as a princess went in a dull and plain backpack.

 

  She paid for everything using Yen she stole from some thugs she beat up, of course.

 

  Azula browsed the rest of the store, buying nachos to eat while exploring and people-watching.

 

  //

 

  Every single edge of Japan was clearly actually surrounded by water.  Azula shouldn't have been surprised., since it was supposedly an island.  And clearly isolated from the rest of the world, based on the lack of bending knowledge.

 

  But it still stung.  She worried about being stuck in the spirit world without knowing.  The only thing keeping her going was knowing the rest of the world didn't know about this place, and thus, if it was on the physical plane, it was very conquerable.

 

  It was beginning to feel like she didn't have a real way to go back home.

 

  She found another library.  Reading books still didn't require ID of any sort, despite her far travels.  How would they know who stole or burnt books?  Such a defenceless place.

 

  Good for her sake, though.

 

  After pouring through sections of lawbooks for a whole day, she decided she knew how to obtain a regular citizenship.  How else would she eventually get a boat?

 

  A little lying to adults was never difficult.

 

  //

 

  The overcrowded, smelly orphanage they put her in didn't notice when she disappeared for hours.  Or days.  Or a week.

 

  They really didn't check up on her at all.

 

  While browsing books, she discovered one about animals.  Species and evolution seemed cool, a far cry from the wolf-bats and kangaroo-spiders she was used to.

 

  Not that she had time for that, studying to get into the most prestigious hero school on the island.  She spent all her time on the street or in the library, making an effort to appear at the orphanage every so often.

 

  At some point, she realised it really didn't matter.  The old caretaker marked everyone there regardless of who they saw and talked to.  Days before the UA entrance exam, she decided to stop bothering to show up there at all.

Chapter 2: entrance exam

  In Azula's backpack were many things, but books and pencils weren't one of them.  It was too full with her fire nation clothes and usual outfit.  The pockets were stuffed with money.

 

  Less than before, but for good reason.  Private schools weren't cheap.  There was the entrance fee, dorm fee, lunch fee, and a uniform fee.  All gave necessary privileges she wanted, but for some of them, she didn't understand why she was expected to pay for it instead of the orphanage.

 

  She shrugged it off like she did with everything else.

 

  In the test room, she held a sharpened pencil and nothing else.  Putting her backpack in a locker had left her hands twitchy.  But she refused to let that impact her handwriting; not in a place as prestigious as this.

 

  The entire place reeked of teenagers and fear.  Like they were about to be incinerated for shoplifted instead of taking a math test.

 

  Azula hid in the bathroom for lunch.

 

  The reading test was just as easy.  She wasn't sure if everyone was worried because they couldn't read or because they couldn't write.  Idiots loved grabbing more kindling than they could light.

 

  By the time everything was done, the sun was setting.  Students poured from the doors like liquid from weakly linked fingers.

 

  She took the bus to a somewhat nearby restaurant specialising in a foreign cuisine, planning on sleeping behind the dumpster until the truck came.  In the meantime, she sat inside, eating a greasy burger overfilled with condiments and extra ingredients.

 

  //

 

  The other testing days were about the same.  Enter the school, complete two tests on a subject, hide, complete three tests on a different subject, and leave.

 

  The physical test ended up being different.  She was shorter than all the other students, secretly a year younger than on her documentation, and they were required to listen to a presentation.

 

  After the short explanation on the point system, Azula looks through the gym uniforms.  The one that fits best is, insultingly, the small.

 

  "Woah, look at these!  I think my little sister would fit in these."

 

  Azula scoots away, trying to keep annoyance off her face.  She doesn't know if they're referring to the pile she just chose from, and fails to find a reason to find out.

 

  //

 

  "The real world won't wait for you to start!  Go!"

 

  Azula rolls her eyes as she runs forward with everyone else.  This was a school.  They were taking a test.

 

  She aims for the three-pointers, metal robots moving on their own using electricity and artificial joints.  She doesn't have time to worry about other people.

 

  She knows people are getting hurt.  She's the sibling with two functioning eyes, after all.  It's really, truly not her problem.

 

  Near the end, there's a rumbling in the distance.  From the surface, an enormous robot breaks free.

 

  She squints at it.  It doesn't look like the one-pointer, two-pointer, or the three-pointer.

 

  It's the zero pointer.  She's on the other side of the faux city, and this was clearly a scripted event, so it's truly not her problem.

 

  She puts a hole through a two-pointer with a concentrated blast of fire.  Blue fizzles out before hitting the building behind it, grabbing the attention of a one-pointer.

 

  Someone else takes the kill, a blond with exploding palms.

 

  She sighs, then looks at the giant robot.  It seems very intent on stomping through the whole area, already halfway to her location.

 

  Confidently, she hops up the fire escape stairs, swinging up to a high rooftop.  It's still a distance away, but it gets closer faster than she can run.

 

  Not that she intends to run.

 

  She inhales deeply, then exhales.  Fire flows through her body, too fast to burn any spot but too hot to contain for long.  She inhales more, barely fueling her lungs with how much goes towards fanning the flames.

 

  When she exhales, flames begin dancing around her form.  She encourages the life with fluid movements, allowing it to grow deadlier with each concentrated breath.  Bright blue highlights the dull concrete.

 

  Hands in a mimicry of a dragon's maw, the fire flies through as straight and far as an arrow.  With a scorched hole in the middle of its face, the robot teeters and falls backwards.

 

  Proudly, she brushes off her hands and makes her way down the building.  She blasts a half-dead one-pointer into oblivion before the test's timer ends.

Notes:

half of this fic was cut off because i didn't like it but it IS canon (cut-off half can be found in the void)

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 7 of cross-fandom crossovers