**Something a little different (the pairing I mean). I've never really thought of this pairing, but I wanted to write this so badly and couldn't think of who could fit this with Ty Lee, then bam! Lol. This is kinda sorta based on 'In All My Dreams I Drown' from The Devil's Carnival. It's not really a songfic, but I included the lyrics to kind of help the story flow a bit. You don't have to read them, but I think it helps it flow. Also! This is sort of AU, but not really! It's still Avatar universe and everything, but I was gonna have it when Zhao was a Captain, but then realised that Ty Lee would have been 11... No thanks. So he's a Captain, and she's her normal age of fourteen. We'll just say he was a Captain before episode one and all, and then got promoted quickly! XP Hope you like it! Let me know what you think!**
*.*
The ship, it swayed, heave ho, heave ho,
On the dark and stormy blue,
And I held tight to the Captain's might
As he pulled up his trews.
"You haven't slept," heave ho, he said,
"In many suns and moons."
"Oh, I will sleep
when we reach shore,
"And pray we get there soon."
He said, "Now hush
love, here's your gown.
There's the bed, lantern's down."
"But I don't want to go to sleep; in all my dreams, I drown."
*.*
The Circus had been traveling, being rocked across the deep blue ocean on a rickety ship that could hardly hold the passengers themselves, let alone their 'special' cargo. The seas proved to be their enemy, not the passing ships, nor the civilians in the towns that they docked in that gave them odd looks, nor even themselves amongst the ship. The seas created waves that swallowed half the ship, the Freaks running around and screaming, trying to save what they could as they retreated to the small life boats. None of the Freaks thought of each other. They weren't kind that way. They claimed to be family, but when it came to a life or death situation, it was exactly that. You either die or survive at your hands. So when the happy, spunky, always-dressed-in-pink acrobat wasn't accounted for on the life boats, no one thought second about it. No one thought about going back onto the ship that was being taken away by the violent seas. No one cared. Even if it wasn't her, no one would care.
Ty Lee awoke from her sleep, still in her cabin. A scream erupted from her lips as she pulled the sheets up to her chin, cowering into her pillow as the water spilled in from the busted window. What was she to do? Drown in here? No…
What had happened for the water to come in like this?
Thunder.
Lightning.
Her brown eyes turned to the busted window, seeing half of the violent seas as the ship was tossed up and down. Her thin legs were caught in the sheets as she jumped from the bed, her body stumbling down onto the floor, into the water.
Another small scream, more scrambling. She had to get away from the water.
Her strong legs ran, taking her to the deck of the ship. Everyone was gone. Gone. They had left her. Angry tears of betrayal stung her eyes. No… Now wasn't the time for crying.
She had to survive.
Raindrops pummeled down onto Ty Lee, along with the salty, stormy waves of the angry sea. There was no way out of this. All the safety boats were gone. The ship was old and wooden, never repaired from the last trip. She was surely going to die…
Ty Lee ran to the ship's foremast, clutching the thick wood with her small arms. Cold tears ran down her cheeks as she began whispering a prayer to the Spirits. A prayer for her to be saved somehow, someway from this horror.
The dark sky lit up as a string of lightning flashed. Just then, over in the distance, Ty Lee's brown eyes could make out the shadow of another ship. A metal ship. A Fire Nation ship.
Would they save her?
Would she survive?
Was this her answer from the Spirits?
Ty Lee dare not to move, for if she did, she risked losing her life in the near flooded deck of the ship. She would stay put and hope that someone would come and save her.
The waves had something else planned for sweet, little Ty Lee. The ship swayed, knocking the acrobat off balance, and sending her in the water on the deck. She slid down with the unevenness of the ship until her back hit the railing. She clutched on desperately, crying out desperately for Agni to save her.
On this night it would not be Agni who would save her, but a Captain. A Captain who reveled in the anguish and misery of others. His silhouette crept closer to her, heightening the already terrified girl's fear.
"W-Who's there?" Her voice was as shaky as the ship, and just as ready to crumble.
The Captain said nothing, only walked closer, his face eerily illuminated by the lightning flashing behind him as he stood over her shaking form. Ty Lee threw herself at him, hugging his waist tightly, holding onto him for her life, and the smirk on his face was hidden as the storm's darkness took over once again.
"You must sleep, little one. This storm will be over soon."
Ty Lee lifted her round face, looking at the shadowed man, "I-I can't! If I fall asleep… I just can't!" Her small arms tightened around him, "Please, you have to save me…"
Loud cracking and thundering was heard, and Ty Lee sobbed, realizing it wasn't the sky making those noises. It was the ship. "I have to get off here. I have to…"
The Captain's smirk only widened as he felt the ship below him vibrate with the coming split. His hand ghosted across the young girl's face as he looked down at her, seeing her face as the lightning flashed. "Come."
Ty Lee held onto the Captain tight, terrified of the water beneath her. Ever since she was a child, she had always been frightened of water. No… Not the water, but drowning. She was terrified to drown, and would never go near the water due to her fear of drowning…
Her brown eyes looked up at the Captain as her feet touched the metal floor of his ship. He ushered her into a door and led her down a stairwell, into another door. "Put that on."
Ty Lee could hardly make out what he was talking about. The storm was still angry out side, raging, and it was still dark. There were only a few candles lit in the room they were in. She saw a robe laying neatly folded on a chair as her brown eyes took in what little they could due to the small amount of light given off by the three candles.
The Captain stood there, waiting for her to change. He wouldn't- couldn't give her any privacy. His predatorily eyes watched her, nostrils flaring as her pink garments fell to a wet pile on the floor, and as the red robe covered her porcelain skin. "On the bed."
The flames of the candles died slightly, making it nearly impossible for Ty Lee to see. "But… I'm not tired… I can't sleep…"
*.*
The Captain howled "Heave ho, heave ho"
And tied me up with sheets
"A storm is brewing in the South
"It's time to go to sleep"
His berth, it rocks, heave ho, heave ho
The ocean gnashed and moaned
Like Jona will be
swallowed whole
And spat back teeth and bones
He said, "Now hush love,
here's your gown.
"There's the bed, lantern's down."
"But I don't want to
go to sleep; in all my dreams, I drown."
*.*
"On the bed." His footsteps closed in on the small-framed girl, and she felt her wrists being wrapped with something, then her body falling down onto something plush.
Thunder wailed outside of the cabin still, but the scream of the storm were muffled by the metal walls around them. The girl struggled, realizing her hands were bound to the bed by the very sheets she was lying down on. The Captain's hands skimmed up the inside of her arms and then grabbed her wrists, pressing her into the plush mat with his body.
"Go to sleep."
Ty Lee struggled more, the sounds of the screaming storm getting louder, the thunder seeming to echo in and pierce her ears. She could feel the ship rock beneath her, around her. A strangled cry left her lips as she realized she was under the angry sea, and if the sea were to mangle this ship as well, she would drown in the metal cabin she was in. Tied down to the bed, no escape. She would surely drown, swallowed by the mocking sea due to her fear.
*.*
"Captain! Captain!
I will do your chores
I will warm your cot at night
And mop your cabin floors
Scold me, hold me
I'll be yours to keep
The only thing I beg of you
Don't make me go to sleep"
*.*
"Captain…" Ty Lee's small voice broke into the metal cabin's silent vow of silence. "Captain, please. I will do anything. Anything you tell me to do. I'll be here at night when you return. I'll keep the ship clean. You can hate me, use me, hurt me, love me, I don't care. Just please… please don't tie me down… please don't make me vulnerable to the sea… It knows my weakness…"
*.*
The sky it flashed, heave ho, heave ho,
His pillow toed to the brink.
The curtains ran between my legs as we began to sink.
I closed my eyes, heave ho, heave ho,
As the ship was rent and filled.
Eddie's in the water headed to the mouth of Hell
"Hush now, hush love, here's your gown.
There's the bed,
lantern's down."
"I'm begging you please wake me up
In all my dreams
I..."
*.*
A shaky gasp was heard before the loud wail of thunder. The metal walls no longer were trying to keep the noises out, they were more interested in the their Captain and his new pet.
The Captain pressed the girl's head into the pillow, his hand gently at her throat, mocking the poor girl. However, she didn't catch on. Ty Lee thought that he was going to end her life before the sea could extort her weakness and fear. Her brown eyes widened as she felt the sheets begin to rise up her leg, ushered by a hand.
Her brown eyes closed, and she could see it all again. The impenetrable metal ship was filling with the sea water, the angry waves taking over the ship as the wailing storm pounded down on the destroyed ship. The water was filling her lungs, she couldn't breathe. Her hands tried to move, tried to grab onto something, but they were bound down. Her legs tried to move, tried to get her up so she could run, but they were held down by someone. She was drowning.
Ty Lee's mouth opened, muttering softly, before the water took control of her, "Save me."
A toothy smirk glinted in the candle light, thunder echoed in the far off distance as the storm was far away. The ship gently rocked with the stray away waves that were left I the storm's wake. A malicious hand pulled apart the thin red fabric keeping him from his pet. "Gladly." Came the evil reply above.