Another Avatar University Story

Chapter Seven

"And..... break!" The producer clapped his hands once and immediately the camera crew went ahead with disassembling their cameras and booms and lights and microphones. After shaking hands with Ozai, albeit he was quite nervous and scared, the news crew dashed away into their van and drove off, leaving Zuko and his father Ozai alone on the steps.

Ozai worked as a representative for the Fire Borough, the second most populated quarter of the city, only after the Earth Borough. Much of the city's wealthy businesses operated in or were operated by people who hailed from this section of Ba Sing Se. A good portion of the city's economy was due in part to activities run in or by the Fire Borough. This part of the city was more advanced and modern compared to the other boroughs, being relatively well lit at night, well kept, and well funded. Because of the advantages of wealth and prosperity that this borough enjoyed, Ozai used this to his advantage at council meetings, using his borough as leverage to get what his people needed, often threatening to withhold material and financial support from his district when other places in the city needed it if he didn't get his way. He realized that he could elevate his position in the city's government to the highest obtainable post as mayor. In his eyes, it was his way of sharing his borough's prosperity with the rest of the city.

Him and his son Zuko walked their way off the steps of city hall and went over to their parked black luxury sedan. Black and Red were staple colors. They ducked their way into the car and began to drive their way back home to their penthouse in the Fire Borough. Ozai sat behind the wheel with Zukoi running shotgun with him.

Soon, Zuko's pocket began to vibrate. He pulled out his phone, brightening it. It was a text from Azula.

"I saw you and dad on the news dude."

"We looked great, didn't we?"

"Absolutely horrible."

Zuko snickered before going back to the conversation.

"Now that father's running, we gotta speed this plan up even more if he's to win."

"What do you mean?"

"Zuko, you know what I meant."

His face grew unsteady.

"You're not gonna chicken out, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

He was a Fire Borough citizen and was thus indoctrinated into the euphoria and propaganda that Zuko and his father spoke, that the Fire Borough citizens were superior to the rest of the city and that it was their duty to share their prosperity with the rest of the city. However, the means at which this was executed were troubling to him. While he took part in the terrorizing of what he was taught as "lower class" people at his University, he felt awful and conflicted after the fact.

Several minutes later, Zuko sat in his room staring at the ceiling.

Knock. Knock.

"What do you want, Azula? You and I both know that you would've walked in here whether I wanted to open the door or not."

He heard a muffled laugh through the bedroom door. The knob began to twist and standing in the doorway was his sister.

"Hello Zu Zu." She stood with one hand on her hip and the other slyly waving at him.

"Again, what do you want?"

"I'm here to remind you that our first operation is going to happen earlier than planned. You're not going to chicken out are you?"

"What is it with people thinking I'm gonna pussy out of the job?!"

Azula chuckled. "It's just a heads up, dear brother. Thanks for exposing yourself, though."

Zuko puffed at the hair that fell over his eyes. "I think it's common knowledge that I'm a bit timid. You didn't expose anything you already knew. I won't pussy out this time though." He pouted.

"Good"

She walked up towards him and patted his head. She grew a devilish smile on her face. She turned around and walked out of his room.

As soon as she found herself out, he closed the door as quietly as he could. He backtracked towards his bed and started to punch the ever living shit out of his bed. He hated that his sister treated him like this.

A muffled sound spoke through the door once again. "Oh, and Zu Zu-"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Zu Zu, I know you're punching your covers. Try not to wear them out too much; it's such a hassle when it comes to washing them."

He grumbled.

"That's not the reason why I came back to talk though. Mai and Ty Lee are downstairs if you want to greet them." Azula said. He heard her footsteps grow quieter and quieter, signaling she walked away.

He stopped laying waste to his innocent bed cover. He tidied his bed and immediately made his way down to the first floor of his apartment flat. They lived in one of Ba Sing Se's behemoths of skyscrapers, towering almost 80 stories in height and they happened to live on the top. Such perks could be afforded only by the richest of Ba Sing Se natives like his family.

"Zuko!" A pony tailed girl dawned in a pink hoodie with baggy, light grey sweats said as she lunged towards him for a big hug. He took her in with open arms and stood there in her embrace.

"It's nice to see you too, Ty Lee, but we see each other almost every day.." he mumbled.

"So, you're saying you hate having these hugs?" Ty Lee looked up to his tall figure, frowning, almost on the verge of crying.

"No! No, It's just.. I- I don't know what I'm trying to say."

Ty Lee laughed and broke apart from him. "Mai's over there by the way." She raised her arm and pointed towards a red velvet colored couch facing towards a window which granted a bird's eye view of the city.

He stuck his hands into his pants and shuffled his way towards Mai. He could hear some struggle going on behind him which could only mean that Azula was trying to stop the onslaught of Ty Lee. While he could never best Azula in any regard, he knew that Ty Lee could. No one could stop her affectionate hugs.

"Mai" He nodded towards her with a smile

"Zuko" She nodded towards him with a dull expression on her face.

Sitting himself right next to her, Mai nuzzled her head in between the crook of his neck. He threw an arm over her shoulder and leaned his head atop of hers. Together they looked out through the window and towards the skyline that lay in front of them.

"The city looks great from here, doesn't it?"

"Zuko, I've been sitting on this same couch and taking in this view for years now. It got pretty stale awhile ago"

"You're a buzzkill, you know that?"

She turned her head upwards to look at him. He returned the gesture lifting his head to look down at her. They just stared at each other for a few minutes. After those few minutes, Zuko couldn't hold it in anymore. His lips started to quiver. His cheeks started to bloat. His eyes watered. He was the first to break the stare and started to laugh and Mai followed suit, laughing as hard as he was. He knew her to be a dull and and bleak person in which the sight of the slightest emotion was comparable to a bigfoot sighting. However, when she did, it would always lighten up his mood. He found her monotonous to be cute, but the more happy and laughable Mai to be even more attractive and cute.

Still laughing, Mai cupped one of her hands to Zuko's cheek. She pulled his head towards him, and they both locked their lips together in a kiss. Zuko broke apart from her.

"I hate you, Mai."

"I hate you too."