Ty Lee stood in between her two best friends as they… debated how they were going to kill each other. Mai and Azula, Ty Lee had grown up with both of them in the Fire Nation academy for girls, and grew very close over the years.
"…You miscalculated; I love Zuko more than I fear you…" Mai said daringly. Why did she say that? You just don't talk back to Azula… she's scary. Ty Lee's mind raced as tensions grew.
"No! You've miscalculated!" Azula shouted, her temper broke and her eyes burned a hotter amber than they usually were. Getting into fighting stance, her two for fingers raised out on each hand. She was going to use lightning. Ty Lee hated the lightning, ever since Azula learned how to use it as a girl, she would destroy pretty much anything that frustrated her. Besides other family matters, that was one of the primary reasons Ty Lee ran away to the circus.
Mai pulled out some of her darts and stood, ready to defend whatever attack Azula had. Mai was quick, Mai was clever… but no one could dodge a lightning strike. Ty Lee watched as her friend stood fearless to the wrath of Azula, which she didn't stand a chance to. She had to do something, maybe she could calm down Azula?
The Fire Nation princess raised her arms to shoot her lightning. Ty Lee remembered how lightning was a transfer of chi, and that Azula channeled it through her body to produce a deadly attack… the circus girl had been trained in chi blocking.
But how could she hurt Azula? Sure, she was super scary, and her aurora was just plain angry and power hungry… but she was her best friend, and Azula trusted her. But she had to help Mai… who was gentle and kind... most of the time. Mai had all of these ideas that Azula was evil and crazy, and that her anger and merciless power would destroy them eventually. That was finally coming true, but technically… Mai started it.
Azula furthered her stance and was ready to direct her chi in a force that would certainly kill Mai. She had to do something, in a moment of thought, she made her decision. Ty Lee dashed her hands into Azula's pressure points, which she'd gotten to know very well just by being around her so long. It felt wrong because of how quickly she went down, a person could withstand more of a chi blocking if they anticipated it, or at least acknowledged it could happen, this tensed up the muscles. But Azula went down almost immediately; she was completely relaxed and trusting of Ty Lee.
Suddenly, the girl felt horrible for her sins against the Fire Nation… she would be executed for certain… or banished, or challenged to an Agni Kai… even though she couldn't bend… especially because she couldn't bend.
"C'mon, let's get out of here!" Ty Lee ran towards Mai, and tugged at her hand pleadingly. She was in shock, and remained still. Guards started pouring in, and Ty Lee knew it was over. She was going to pay. Some of the Fire Nation soldiers who bowed to them only moments before now had their stiff hands wrapped around the arms of the girls. Azula was helped up.
"You're both fools…" Azula said with a crack in her voice, as if holding back deep emotions. Whether it was anger or the abandonment of trust, Ty Lee couldn't tell.
"What should we do with them, princess?" A soldier asked.
"Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again…" The fire nation princess stared at them with her terrifying fire red eyes. "And let them rot."
Azula slowly got to her feet and walked away. "Take the traitors to cell Block C, send a squad to retrieve the warden." A guard commanded, looking off into the vast sea of boiling water which kept the prisoners of the prison inside, except for Prince Zuko and his companions, who just escaped by the Gondola.
"Take me to my ship." Azula commanded.
"We'll take the emergency underground route, princess… the lines of the Gondola are still damaged." A guard reported as they left.
"Fine… fine, just get me off of this rock."
Ty Lee and Mai were escorted down towards the prison courtyard. "We need to escape…" Mai whispered.
"I know…" Ty Lee mumbled.
"Shut up!" A guard said fiercely, Ty Lee let out a small yelp and closed her mouth. Mai just sighed and kept walking. The group halted in front of the prison gates not far from the boarding station, a single man approached from behind, and all of the guards bowed. The two prisoners were forced to their knees.
"So, you two were responsible for the first escape from Boiling Rock?" The man, the warden, Mai's uncle asked. "Why?"
"Because Zuko means more to me than any consequences ever could." Mai said with her usual bland, emotionless expression.
"That was a foolish decision. Because you are my niece, I can get you superior treatment… but I have orders from Princess Azula to keep you locked up. I am sorry." The old warden passed them by and made his way into the prison.
"What about me?" Ty Lee whispered quietly to Mai.
"Shut up!" The guard groaned again. Mai knew the standard treatment for treason; a traitor would usually be locked away in prison for life or be executed in some humiliating, un-honorable way.
"You need to get out of here, my Uncle will pull some strings, I'll be fine… but you need to go." Mai said sternly.
"But…"
"On my mark…" Mai said slowly.
"Will you shut…" The dart throwing traitor grabbed the guard's jaw and neck and pulled him to the ground, a guard came to grab Ty Lee, she quickly blocked his hands away with her forearms and kicked him in the knee. A ball of fire came from towards Ty Lee, with razor sharp reflexes; she sidestepped to the right and evaded the attack.
Another fire ball formed from a guard's fist, she dove to her left and somber salted away from it, then shot up from the ground and jabbed three quick blows into her opponent's pressure points. Watching him crumble to the ground, she ran towards the gondola as fast as she could, turning only once to see the guards overwhelm Mai, who was fighting without her darts.
Not willing to let her friend's sacrifice be in vain, she rushed across the stone walk way to the long cables that lead to the exit of the prison, over the boiling sea. "Stop right there!" A guard shouted at the control center for the second car, the first one Zuko used to escape being broken. Ty Lee nimbly jumped up and grabbed hold of the rim of the shade structure, and swung over him.
She landed from behind, turned around and sent a blow to his lower back, shoulder, and side. When he collapsed, she pulled the lever to start the gondola and boarded. After she had made it about a quarter way from the prison, the guards caught on and pulled the lever. The car stopped, and was suspended over the water, the girl quickly climbed out of the window and started running away on top of the wire.
Luckily for her, all those years of circus performance often came to be quite useful, the cable was just like a tightrope wire. She sprinted as fast as she could, trying to make it as far as she could before they cut the line.
Ty Lee could see the other side, it was only twenty or thirty feet away, but she could feel the wire vibrating from the saws hacking away on the other side. She was almost there, just a little bit… the circus girl whispered to herself, then all of the sudden, she felt a terrifying drop.
The terrified circus girl fell freely through the air as the cable dropped, still grabbed on to loose cable as it plummeted downwards. Quickly turning her head, she saw the cable's end on the prison side dropping into the water, she grabbed hold of the line and held it tightly before it slammed against the wall, Ty Lee felt a stabbing pain in her lower arm.
She'd pulled one of her muscles, but the part of the line that hadn't been cut had saved her, and was still hanging on the side of freedom. Holding onto the line only a few paces from the boiling water, she could feel the heat rising and eating at her legs. Her right arm was severely hurt from holding onto the line as she dropped, but she attempted to climb upward with only her feet and left arm.
It was useless, she was going to die. Die a slow and painful death in boiling water, she couldn't possibly make the climb, it was a two hundred stone wall at least, there was no possible way she could climb that. She held on the cable for dear life, she was going to die now. Ty Lee stared at the steaming volcanic water and started sobbing to herself, she wasn't ready to die yet. She hadn't gotten married, or had kids, or had a steady relationship, or gotten a pet platypus bear, or gotten to dance with Sokka, the Avatar's friend, who she had a thing for.
Ty Lee's palms started sweating, and slowly, she slipped down the smooth metal cable. She looked around desperately for something or someone to save her, but there was nothing. Nothing but a stone wall, a metal cable and a bunch of water. All of the sudden, the cable started rising. Someone on the other end had activated the pulley system, and the line was moving upward.
The girl burst out a quiet laughter, some spirit or something must have looked upon her lightly, because she was being saved. She held on for a few minutes as the cable was slowly raised up, when she was but four or five feet away, the line stopped. And so did Ty Lee's heart, leaning over the edge was the Kyoshi girl who she had just fought with earlier. "What are you doing here?"
"I'll tell you later, keep the line going!" Ty Lee pleaded.
"No, you're probably here to bring us back to the rock." She said disgusted. "You're Fire Nation."
"No! I helped Mai, my friend, w-who saved you guys from the guards cutting the line! I can't hold much longer, help!"
"You know, I would… but after my friends and I got captured because of you, I'd rather not." The girl said, kneeling down over the ledge.
"Please, I'm sorry… I was just confused; Princess Azula made me do those things!" Ty Lee's hands started sliding down the rope. The Kyoshi worrier stared down at her coldly. "I'm sorry about your friends, really… but please, don't let me fall."
"You're pathetic. My people, of Kyoshi accept defeat with courage and honor." The girl pulled a lever and the line rose, she pulled the girl over and pinned her against the floor. "My fellow warriors are suffering in Fire Nation prison. What makes you think you deserve to be alive right now, why did you earn my help there?"
"…I, betrayed Princess Azula… and escaped the prison… my friend Mai is still down there, she saved you guys from dropping. But now she's gonna be locked up."
"Well, it seems we both know what it feels like now, don't we?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry, for what I've done to you, that stuff is really bad for your aurora." Ty Lee said as the girl helped her up.
"I'm Suki, by the way." The girl said, realizing they'd never met officially. She had a kindness that Ty Lee could tell was her usual mood, but she was still on the offensive and didn't let her guard slip.
"Ty Lee."
"I know your name."
"Where are the rest of you guys?"
"Getting Zuko's sister's warship started so we can escape. I saw you coming, so I came out."
"I know you must not like me very much, but…" The girls stood to their feet, then became still as they head approaching footsteps.
"Don't move." A man threatened, coming closer with both hands ready to fire bend. A group of soldiers approached.
"You ready to fight?" Suki asked quietly.
"No, I pulled my arm from the fall. You need to get out of here… or they'll bring you back down there." Ty Lee replied, Suki nodded to acknowledge her sacrifice, then ran towards the edge of the rocky cliff and jumped off. The entire crowd watched, puzzled on what just happened, then stood back as the ground shook from a gigantic war balloon that was rising in front of them, Suki holding onto the side.
Ty Lee moved her hands into a fighting stance. " Lady Ty Lee, what should we do? Pursuit or call for back up?" A guard asked.
"Huh?"
"The escaped prisoners, what are your orders?" He asked, Ty Lee suddenly realized they hadn't yet received word of her betrayal. And to them, she was still an imperial official.
"Gather your men, we must pursuit immediately! Don't bother sending any reports or… stuff back, we can catch them." Ty Lee said in her most official sounding voice possible.
"Yes, right away!"
"Escort me to your vessel; I'd like to meet your commanding officer. It is our new task to hunt the traitor, Prince Zuko!" Ty Lee said dramatically.
"Miss Ty Lee, it is an honor to have you aboard the Sozin Seventeen." A man with long grey hair and deep amber eyes said, his jaw was sharp and cheek bearing a long, red scar from shrapnel of an Earth bending attack.
"Thank you, Captain Renzo. I look forward to our pursuit of Prince Zuko." Ty Lee said, gazing out the windows of the Fire Nation war balloon as it soared above the open ocean.
"Yes, and to be clear, this is mission is to stay secret to avoid attention?"
"Yes, Captain. I want no word of this to the homeland. Princess Azula has specifically instructed me to keep this as low profile as possible. We don't want any other fleets tagging along for the rewards." The girl shot a small smirk to the old man, he nodded slightly.
"Well, official business from the princess… that is truly a great honor. We can track Prince Zuko by the residue of the burners that keep their ship afloat. I will notify you if there is anything eventful."
"Thank you. Now may I be seen to my room?" Ty Lee asked, trying to seem like an impatient official, but truthfully she was used to waiting for things for hours on end, considering how long it took Azula to have her hair and nails done.
"Of course, I will have my son show you to your quarters, and we can bring you a new pair of clothes from our female armory." The captain opened the door and a tall, young soldier walked in. He was dressed in the standard black and red Fire Nation armor, with his helmet in his hand, leaving his face open.
He had dark black hair and a handsome, sharp chin like his father's. His face was scattered with scars of his own, his lower jaw having a burn mark like Zuko's.
"Miss Ty Lee, this is my son, Ander" He introduced.
"Hi…" The young circus girl could feel her heart melt as she stared into Ander's warm eyes. "I mean, um… greetings." Ty Lee bowed, as did the young man.
"I can escort you to your room now, my lady." He said politely.
"Okay." Ty Lee said, holding back a childish grin and keeping her stare under control as she followed Ander down the halls. "So… Fire Nation vessel Captain's son? Pretty good deal?" She said, trying to spark a casual conversation.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you know… does being the son of the Captain have any perks?" She asked awkwardly.
"I suppose. Father believes that I should get no special treatment, as it would make me lesser of a soldier, I still follow standard rules and regulations. If that is what you were wondering." Ander said, keeping his posture completely straight.
"Uh, yeah…"
"This is your room." Ander opened the door, leading into a small, grey walled room with a few fire nation flags hanging. It also had a very large window viewing off into the open sky. "Is it to your liking?"
"Mhmm" Ty Lee wandered in.
"You may call for me if you seek any further assistance." The Fire Nation soldier turned and started to leave.
"Wait."
"Yes?"
"Uh… why you don't stay here for a while, I mean… I'd… like to… get to know… you." Ty Lee said strenuously, most of the guys she talked to made the move first. Ander simply stared at her.
"I am sorry; I must attend to my duties. If a tour of the facility is what you desire, I would be happy to escort you later tonight." The young fire bender said, still with perfect posture.
"Yeah, um… that sounds good."
"I will stop by here at sun down after my duties." Ander clasped his hands together and bowed; Ty Lee returned unenthusiastically and closed the door.
"I've never met anyone more bland than Mai." She said under her breath, leaning forward and cartwheeling onto her bed.
Ty Lee's eyes slowly fluttered open from a short snooze, she found herself in her private quarters as she started to realize the resent events. Mai was still in prison, poor Mai was behind bars. She felt a gut deep pain that she should have stayed, but she knew that her conditions would be far more harsh than that of the warden's niece. Ty Lee's mind then drifted to thoughts of Azula, the wicked and evil princess of the Fire Nation. And her friend.
The young circus girl groaned, and refused to think of her two best friends and how that day at the Boiling Rock had changed them forever. She wished they had never even gone there in the first place, they wouldn't have fought, and Zuko would have escaped. She liked Zuko; she'd known him practically forever, since they saw each other whenever Ty Lee visited the palace.
A voice on the loud speakers went off; Ty Lee noticed a tube in the top corner of the room where sound was echoing through. "Attention, all class A staff may proceed to cafeteria one for supper. Our status on the current objective is going as planned, Prince Zuko's ship has been traced and we are in pursuit. Class B staff may…"
Opening the door to her room, Ty Lee followed a crowd of soldiers and officers to the dining hall. After she was served a hot plate of spicy chicken-pig, rice, and wonton soup, she awkwardly stood in the middle of the room as the others scurried around, taking seats near friends and associates. She scanned the room and spotted Ander, who was chatting with some other young fire benders.
She made her way over, and sat herself at the table behind him. Watching eagerly, she intended to see how the uptight and proper fire bender would handle his table edict. "So, I heard the capital's gunna issue new armor." One of the young men said, looking up from his foot.
"Yeah, I heard about that… hopefully it won't be as ridiculous as the model from five years ago…" Another answered.
"No, I hear this production is going to be supervised by the Fire Lord himself." The original said.
Ander cleared his throat. "I certainly hope the Fire Lord has good taste. You could be the most powerful man on the planet, and have a horrible sense of fashion. Am I right?"
"Yes, I suppose."
"I mean, come on… no disrespect, but the model C7-Alpha armor looked ridiculous." Ander remarked, Ty Lee's eyes widened in response to him… well, talking? "The shoulder blades looked like the rear end of a platypusbear." The soldiers cracked a laugh at the joke, after a few minutes of their conversation, Ty Lee decided to leave her table and take a seat next to Ander.
"Miss Ty Lee, good evening." One of the men greeted.
"Hi." She said casually. "Don't mind me." The group stared at her for a moment, then went back to their conversation.
"So, my cousin wrote me when we were last at the homeland, said he saw a traveling circus preform… that'd be interesting." Ander said, attempting to spark conversation. Ty Lee had to restrain herself from getting up from her seat and wondering the room walking on her hands at the mere mention of the circus, she contained her excitement and took another bite of her food.
"Yeah, I took my kid to a circus last summer, crazy stuff there." One of Ander's many friends replied.
"I used to perform in the Fire Nation traveling circus." Ty Lee said as contained as she could, Mai said she had attention issues, maybe it was true, because she simply couldn't sit still when an opportunity came to brag about her acrobatics.
"Really? What specialties?" Ander asked, curiously. "Ma'am…" He shot in quickly.
"… let's see, I used to love tightrope and any balance acts… oohh, and trapeze and mostly everything involving animals, except for crocodilesnakes..."
Okay, hope you liked it, please review, I'll try to update soon. (If you liked, please leave a comment, fav, or follow, helps the process :) )