Sukuna: The Last Sorcerer 11

“Man, I hate the ocean.”

The ship cut through water, all black metal and red sails snapping loud in the wind. Ryo leaned forward on the railing, elbows digging into cool iron as salt spray hit his face. Felt good to be moving again, good to be anywhere that wasn’t those four walls back at the palace where the only thing to do was count seconds and listen to Sukuna talk shit inside his skull.

Still wished they could’ve done this by land, though.

Granted, Fire Nation’s an island, so… yeah. Should’ve expected that.

“I hate it, I hate it, I haaaaaate it.”

Yes, yes, brat. A bored voice rolled through his head, more mocking and imperious than the man that called himself Fire Lord. Complain about the depths all you want. As much as you act as if it’s a matter of taste, you’re only whining because you sink like a stone.

His face tried to twist up before he could stop it, Sukuna’s laughter already loud between his ears. Oh fuck off, Satan.

The laughter only got louder.

Ryo let out a huff as he turned away from the waves to watch Azula giving orders to the ship’s captain. Her voice carried that crisp atten-hut authority that made grown men in armor straighten up without her even raising it. 

Drill master Azula. Two days on this boat and he’d watched her do this maybe a dozen times, probably more, the world rearranging itself around what she wanted.

Wild.

She’d changed out of the princess gear long ago, having swapped it for traveling clothes that still looked like they cost more than a house. Dark red leather armor over black that fit close, gold bracers catching sun on her arms, her hair pulled back in this complicated knot thing without a single strand loose.

From far away or close up, the princess was perfect. Annoyingly perfect.

“The nearest colony is only half a day by foot once we make landfall.” She stopped beside him at the railing, back straight as a blade. “We will be questioning locals, following leads. Some of these deserters have been terrorizing villages for months.”

Ryo nodded, eyes tracking these purple birds with too many wings spiraling up from the dark water. Oh great, creepy fantasy seagulls. “Sounds straightforward enough. Find the bad guys, beat ’em up, drag ’em back.” He shrugged. “Easy.”

“Perhaps.” Her gold eyes scanned the horizon; as sharp as any one of her soldier’s spears. “But these men are former soldiers of the Fire Nation. They are trained, disciplined, and now, they are desperate.” 

She let that sit for a second, the silence making Ryo click his tongue. “Desperate men do stupid things.”

A smirk pulled at his mouth, half-there but nowhere near his eyes. Yeah, well. Stupid things are my specialty. He kept that one inside, leaning forward instead. “So what’s the deal with these guys, anyway? I mean, why’d they ditch? Bad pay? Ugly uniforms? Was it the food? ‘Cause I get that.”

Silence stretched out long enough that he glanced over at her. Her face was locked down, that perfect mask of aristocratic calm that the princess wore like her own skin.

“The Fire Lord will forever be the crown of the Fire Nation but the loyalty of the people remain its spine.” Those gold eyes narrowed. “These men broke their oath to their ruler, their countrymen and home. Whatever reason they have for their action is irrelevant. The act itself is a poison to be purged before it spreads.”

“Right, riiiiight, poison.” He was never going to get over how Azula talked like a period drama, all grand statements and capital letters on everything. It made sense considering she was a magic fantasy princess, but it was also kinda cute too. Just wanna get her to say ‘shit’ one time, though.

“So we’re, what, the doctors with the big-ass knives?”

Something ghosted across her face for a second, a smile there one moment and gone. “Crude, yet accurate,” the princess almost sighed, shaking her head, “as usual for you.”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Yeeesh. Maybe it was just the monthlong stay in a full-on royal castle, but Ryo couldn’t help but wonder if people could really live like this.

The colony… village… whatever… was called Ember’s Rest. Yeah, real restful.

Mean as it sounded, the place was a shithole, and he meant that even for a poor rural spot like this. Windows that weren’t boarded up sat dark and empty, streets cleared out except for a few people in dusty rough clothes who scattered the second they spotted those Fire Nation uniforms. Like roaches when you flip the light on.

The squad that came along with them was small but it definitely wasn’t weak. Azula had brought along her biggest soldiers, six of them in that spiky black armor, each one a firebender the princess had approved of; all of them moving with the same deadly silence you’d expect from evil fantasy soldiers in skull masks. 

In no time at all, they spread out through the village, their footsteps merging with whimpers and quickly quieted shouts as they herded the villagerstoward the central square where Azula stood with her hands behind her back.

Ryo watched, arms crossed, from up against the wall of an empty shop as soldiers dragged out people from their homes, rough hands on shoulders and arms. All of them (old, young, and in between) had that same look of people who’d seen too much and expected even worse.

One old woman got pushed forward, looking maybe seventy with gray stringy hair, stumbling until she dropped to her knees right in front of Azula. 

Her forehead nearly touched the dirt as she went even further into a bow.

“Y-your Highness,” the woman almost rasped out the words, voice as dry and worn out as she looked. “We… All of us are loyal subjects of the Fire Nation. We have done nothing wrong. J-just humble farmers here.”

Azula just looked down at her, face calm as ever. “I am quite sure you believe that.” One perfectly manicured finger gestured, and a soldier hauled the woman back up to her feet. “Tell me about the deserters.”

The old woman’s head shook back and forth, hands trembling. “I-I don’t know what you mean, Your Highness. We have seen no deserters here.”

Uh-oh. Azula smiling was the biggest and best example of a bad thing, if Ryo knew anything about the princess. Granted, most of that was just some observations he’d made on all their boat trips together but he knew enough to know her real smiles were small and something she tried to hide. Anything that showed teeth…

Well, that was just a threat.

“Three weeks ago, a supply convoy was attacked twelve miles north of this village. The soldiers were found with their throats cut, their supplies stolen. The tracks led directly here.” Her voice went silk-smooth as that smile widened just a little bit. “Do not mistake my inquiry for a request. I am not asking. I am commanding you to speak.”

“Please, Your Highness, we are poor people! We know nothing of this!” Tears started streaming down those wrinkled cheeks as Azula kept on smiling.

“Of course you don’t.” The princess turned her head, voice carrying clear across the silent square. “Sergeant, bring me the village children.”

The old woman’s eyes went wide, hands shaking harder. “No! Please! They’re innocent! They know nothing!”

“I am quite sure they are,” Azula’s voice stayed perfectly calm, almost sounding patient; something Ryo knew the princess didn’t really do. “Which is precisely why you are going to tell me everything you know. Right now. Or the Sergeant will begin his questioning with them instead.” 

He tried to ignore the twisting in his gut as he watched it, but that was hard enough to do the longer it went on. Should I… 

What? Say something?

Do something?

What?

It wasn’t like this was even the first time he’d seen Azula like this. Hell, the princess had killed an old man right in front of him without a hair out of place. But this wasn’t some quick execution of someone trying to kill him. 

The way she smiled while threatening to torture kids…

This is what you signed up for, his jaw eent tight. You wanted out of that castle.

Watching the old woman break down completely, though, watching her sob as she started stammering about the deserters who’d been using the village as a supply point, who’d threatened to burn everything down if anyone turned them in, who’d taken food and weapons and left them with nothing…

Weakness. 

Would you shut up? For someone that did his own thing almost all the time, he got really chatty every time Azula opened her mouth for some reason. Like, come on, already.

What else would you call it, brat? That dead world of yours, you cling to a morality you cannot even remember. 

Okay, that’s just bullshit. Ryo almost scowled, staring off at nothing. He remembered stuff… like, Jesus and Satan and God… and… and… well, that’s all you really needed, right?

If you say so. You know nothing of these insects, they have no place in your heart or mind, yet you flinch at the sight of necessary cruelty.

His face tried to twitch before he could stop it. Yeah, yeah, I geeeet it.

Didn’t mean he had to like it, though.