"I thought I might find you out here."
Ty Lee glances down from the branch where she is perched, high in a tree in the palace gardens. Azula is staring up at her, looking absolutely stunning in her elaborate, crimson and gold robes despite the flyaway hairs and slight flush in her cheeks that Ty Lee assumes came from searching the palace for her. She can see the glint of a ruby-adorned ring still clutched loosely in the hand at Azula's side.
She merely shrugs in response. On the ground, Azula sighs. "I will not come up after you like some lovesick schoolboy. I had these robes especially tailored for this gala. And I have dignity."
"Great, maybe you can marry your dignity instead," Ty Lee snipes before feeling guilty about it. She was the one who left her girlfriend white-faced and open-mouthed on an empty bridge that had probably been closed especially for the occasion. She is the one stopping this from happening. It is just that a lifetime of Ty Lee's companionship is about the only thing Azula is willing to commit to, and Ty Lee wants to be more than somebody's companion. She wants to marry Azula, but not because Zuko and Mai are about to be married and the Princess is afraid she will be left alone.
She hears some disjointed grumbling and the a rustling of leaves, and when she looks back at the ground, Azula is climbing clumsily through the branches, new robes hiked up to her knees. She was once so nimble, but four years in an asylum and an additional year in the rural town where her mother lives becoming re-acclimated to society have left her careless about many of the things in which she used to take pride, brute strength among them. She perches uneasily on a branch across from Ty Lee, the ring clenched in one of her fists. "I've given you everything you asked for."
The look on her face is one of utter confusion, and it breaks Ty Lee's heart, because she knows that this is all love has ever been for Azula, something that is exchanged for favors. She reaches across and covers Azula's fist with her own hand. "I know," she whispers. "But that's not what I want out of a marriage."
Azula fixes her with an exasperated look, the kind that Ty Lee restrains herself from giving her girlfriend every waking moment. "What else could you possibly want? If you marry me, you'll be a Princess. You're not going to do any better than that, Ty Lee. My brother is already engaged."
"That…" Ty Lee gestures to Azula, "is exactly what I'm talking about. I don't want to marry for status. I ran away from nobility to join the circus. Do you really think I care about any of those things?"
Azula drops her eyes. "I suppose not," she mutters, the way she always does when Ty Lee makes a point that Azula cannot argue with, but still does not want to admit she is wrong. It is completely adorable. She looks back up to meet Ty Lee's eyes, and the sadness in them speak volumes. "I'm afraid I can't offer you much else." Her voice is level and cold, like she is ending a bad trade agreement, but the knuckles of the hand gripping the ring are white.
Ty Lee nods and smiles sadly. "That is exactly why I can't marry you," she whispers. "Azula, what you have to offer is something most girls would kill their sisters for," or marry someone they didn't love for, "but I'm just not one of those girls. Sometimes I wish I was. I'm sure I would be happier." She has long since suspected that is exactly why Azula wants her. Ty Lee makes it difficult for her in a way that no one else ever has. It is the thrill of the chase. Nothing more.
Azula slumps against the trunk of the tree. "What then?" she demands. "What is it that's so much more important to you than power and wealth and title?"
Ty Lee shrugs. "Love."
"Love?" Azula says it like the word alone tastes disgusting in her mouth, but the acrobat nods.
"I want to know you need me with you now and always, Azula. I want to know that we'll always be together, no matter what happens," she answers. "And not just because you don't want to be alone. I want to know that you wouldn't be as happy if I was anyone else. You could be a beggar in the Caldera and I would still marry you if I knew that."
"I don't need anyone," Azula snaps. It is a phrase that Ty Lee has heard often from her girlfriend, and it is always cutting.
"Then what's the point of me even being here?" she raises her eyebrows. "Why should I stay? Other than power and wealth and title."
"I can protect you," Azula offers quickly. "I'm the best firebender in the world. You would never have to be afraid if you were with me."
Ty Lee rolls her eyes. "Like I need protection. I can remove bending with a touch, Azula. Try again." Without waiting for the Princess to speak she leans toward her and rests a hand on her shoulder. "Let me give you a hint. All the reasons you're giving me are reasons why I should want to be with you. What I want to know is why you're with me. Why do you want me to marry you so much? There are probably a hundred girls at the party who would agree to do it without even meeting you first."
"That might make things easier," Azula replies. There are a million reasons Ty Lee is expecting the Princess to give her. Because you're my friend or because I enjoy feeling wanted or because the sex is fantastic, but what she actually says is, "But I don't… because I want…" She shakes her head in frustration. "Because it wouldn't be the same. Those girls wouldn't be you."
"Say you love me, Azula," Ty Lee challenges, and the Princess glares at her.
"You know I do."
She raises her eyebrows. "Do I? Because you keep telling me you don't need me, and pushing me away like you don't even want me around when all I'm trying to do is help you, and talking around telling me that I mean anything to you at all costs, and I'm not sure why any of those things would make me think you love me."
Azula blinks and directs her eyes through the leaves to the starry sky. "All I want is freedom. I've never had it before, and now that I can, I will not tie myself down."
"But that doesn't mean you have to do everything alone," Ty Lee insists. "Sharing your life with someone—really sharing it, not just accompanying each other to state functions and having sex like we've been doing—doesn't have to be like that. It's falling in love, not going to prison. Look at Zuko and Mai. Look how happy they are." She inches as close as she can while keeping a steady balance on the branch. "Let me lead you from your solitude, Azula. I can be your freedom. I'm the freest person I know."
"You say that like it's easy." It sounds like an accusation, and maybe it is. Ty Lee is rarely better at something than Azula, but when she is, the Princess is always terrifyingly jealous. It was why Ty Lee used to pretend to fall after flipping through the air in the palace gardens as a child, when she always landed perfectly on balance at home.
"Everything's easy for you," she answers simply.
Azula scoffs. "Only the things I try. There's something to be said for knowing your limits. People who don't try to do things they know they'll fail at look much better than people who do."
"I don't think it's possible to fail at loving," Ty Lee points out. "You either love someone or you don't." She slides off the branch to climb onto Azula's beside her and slip an arm around her waist. "I love you, Azula, but I can't spend the rest of my life with someone when I don't know if they love me back, and… if you can't love me then you can't and I understand and we can still be best friends, but romantically, I'm going to move on to someone who can."
"Please don't." It comes in a shuddering breath against her neck.
"Do you love me, Azula?" Ty Lee asks gently, her fingers finding their way into her girlfriend's hair. "It's okay if you don't. Just tell me the truth."
There is a silence that is just long enough to cause Ty Lee's stomach to roll unpleasantly, and then, in the form of a pained whisper, "I do. I just… can't…"
"We can work on it," the acrobat promises, a smile crawling its way across her face. "But," her fingers graze across Azula's sweaty fist, "I don't think we should get engaged just yet. Let's wait another year, and then if you still want to and I believe that you love me, we'll get married, and I will follow you anywhere you need to go."
"Are you sure I can't just name a ship after you or assign you another servant or buy you an island or something?" She can feel Azula's lips brush her neck as she asks, but despite the dizzy feeling that is coming over her, she presses her lips together and shakes her head.
"Just love me," she breathes into her girlfriend's hair. "That's all I ask of you."
A/N: Hey guys, so I feel like I owe you all an explanation as to why I've been completely AWOL from this website the past week. I've been on spring break since last Friday, and I was originally going to use the time to try to get ahead on my writing, and then at the last minute, I made the executive decision to just leave behind everything that's been stressing me out when I went on break, and unfortunately, that included fanfiction. I've basically spent the past week reading fanfiction in other fandoms on AO3 (a.k.a. burying myself in Swan Queen and Cartinelli feels) and playing lots and lots of Sims. I will resume posting my regularly scheduled updates with Glass Hearts, Paper Souls on Saturday. I've been trying really hard to keep to my schedule, but if real life keeps throwing everything at me that it's been doing, I may have to go to every ten days. I'll let you all know.
Anyway, about this oneshot, I don't know that it's my best work, but I've had the idea in my head for about a week, and two hours ago, I decided to write it. For those of you who are not musical theater people, it's heavily inspired by the song, "All I Ask of You," from Phantom of the Opera.