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So, once again sleep deprivation loans genius. I was stuck on where to go with "Remember When" and suddenly this hit me as I attempted to sleep.
On with the show!
Disclaimer: …
"You love me, don't you?"
Those five words made Ty Lee's world crumble whenever they slipped past Azula's lips.
"You love me, don't you?" The statement always came seconds before Azula ripped something away from her.
"But Ty Lee, you love me, don't you?"
-Her Doll-
Jealousy flared in the young princess's eyes as she watched the acrobat play with the flimsy fabric toy and not her.
"Hey, Ty Lee! Lemme see it!" with that as her only warning the fire bender snatched the doll from her friend, and held it up for her closer inspection.
"But, 'Zula!" Ty Lee jumped to retrieve her toy, knowing how rough the princess tended to be especially towards dolls.
Golden eyes met gray, fringing innocence and hurt, "awe, but Ty, you love me, don't you?"
The acrobat chewed her lip, she was given to telling the princess she loved her, because in her child's mind she loved everyone especially Azula, "Of, course, 'Zula," her eyes moved from the other girl's to the smoke now curling up from the princess's closed fist.
"Good," the fire bender tossed the now useless toy to the ground and grabbed her friend's hand dragging her towards the courtyard, "let's go chase the turtle-ducks!"
-Her First Kiss-
Ty Lee wandered the empty halls of the palace. It had been two days since Fire Lord Azulon had died and as a precaution for the new Fire Lord, the palace had been cut off from the rest of the kingdom for those two days. Now she wandered in search of her friend. From a few of the servants she'd learned the princess hadn't left her room, not even for breakfast that morning, so to Azula's room she went.
She knocked once before entering, knowing the young princess would be furious with her if she entered without doing so. She'd expected to see her friend meditating or hear a splash, indicating she was in the bath. Instead she found the other girl sitting on her bed, knees up to her chest, golden eyes wide with something akin to shock.
"She's gone Ty," Azula said, barely loud enough for the acrobat to hear her.
Ty Lee knew simply from the broken sound of her friend's voice that tears were on their way, and she rushed to the princess's side instantly.
"She left without saying good bye," Azula choked out, now in her friend's arms, tears on the verge of breaking through.
Ty Lee sat there and 'shh'ed her running a hand up and down her back, trying to calm the other girl, and despite their presence no tears fell from the princess's eyes.
"I bet she said good bye to Zu-zu," she practically spat her brother's name, "I bet she even told him she loved him," Ty Lee could feel Azula's arms wrap around her pulling her closer. Blurry golden eyes met gray, "you love me, don't you, Ty?"
The question caught her off guard, "of course, 'Zula."
Without another word the princess shifted and pulled the other girl into a quick kiss. Only a split second, that Ty Lee wasn't sure even happened, but when she saw the tears no longer in Azula's eyes she knew it had.
-erHerHh
Her Calling-
As she had done that night nearly a year before, Ty Lee began packing her things for another journey, though this one promised a darker, less pink aura then the one she'd taken so many months before. As had been the case then all her possessions (or at least those that were her's alone and not the circus's props or costumes) fit into one, albeit slightly large, shoulder bag.
She walked out from the tent that had become her home, and made her way to the princess's military caravan, which had been waiting for her on the out skirts of the ring of tents.
The caravan was much different than the typical circus caravan. Wagons carrying extra supplies for machines as well as food for troops were pulled by vicious looking komodo-rhinos that snapped at her as she passed. Two tanks accompanied the convoy, cold and indifferent to the grass and flowers and sometimes small animals that were crushed beneath their treads. Fifty troops had been sent to accompany them to Omashu, and they, like their tanks, were indifferent to the world around them as they showed off their bending by burning down otherwise healthy trees.
The sight made her queasy as she passed and she found herself wishing she'd declined Azula's offer, though she knew if the princess were determined enough she could have simply ordered her to join.
"You're not happy," Azula said, more of a statement then a question as the acrobat climbed into the carriage that would take them to Omashu.
"Not really," she admitted, looking away from the prodigy, "I really loved it there, I'm gonna miss it," she said, hoping-though knowing better-that this would change Azula's mind.
Instead the princess grabbed her jaw, "But, Ty Lee," the fire bender forced her to meet the golden gaze, "you love me more, don't you?"
"Of course, 'Zula."
A smirk flitted across the princess's face and she pulled the acrobat into a kiss, and the caravan moved away from the circus and on towards Omashu.
-Her Inocentce-
The change is amazing to Ty Lee. Back in her element, in her country, in her home, Azula could relax if only for a short time. They'd been back in the Fire Nation palace, for no more than a few hours and she could almost see knots unworking themselves in the princess's shoulders. As the tension unfurled in the prodigy's muscles something much darker unfurled in her eyes, turning molten gold to an almost bronzed color as they traveled Ty Lee's body, making no attempt at subtlety.
When the fire bender's eyes traveled up to the vanity table mirror to met stormy gray the silent order was evident. The acrobat rose from her seat at the vanity, where she'd been preparing for bed, and made her way to the bed where Azula lay.
When she reached the edge of the bed the princess pulled her down to met their lips in a heated kiss, the intent behind it surprising the aura reader as she was dragged onto the bed a pinned down by the bender.
Azula pulled away once she'd decided to turn her attention to the skin of Ty Lee's neck, giving the acrobat time to recover for a moment, surprise still paralyzing her until she felt the princess's wandering hands and finally managed to choke out, "Azula wait!"
Lava gold eyes rose to met her own, while the fire bender's hands rested dangerously close to the sash that held the acrobat's sleeping robes shut, "but Ty Lee," she ground her hips into the aura reader, making Ty Lee painfully aware of how hot her own body was becoming and how uncomfortable clothing seemed to be at that moment, "you love me, don't you?"
"Of course, 'Zula," she answered, without thinking.
Heat and friction, wandering hands and moans that hung heavily in sweat thickened air followed soon after.
-Her Freedom-
Even though she was at the furthest end of the prison away from the coolers, she still felt unbearably cold. Perhaps it was because of the silent fire bender robbing the room of heat with her bending or perhaps it was that, some time in her closeness to Azula she'd become cold blooded and now she'd lost her heat source.
Standing before the heavy metal door the princess was silent the silence was louder than any raging she could have done then.
Hesitantly Ty Lee chanced a look up to met Azula's gaze and immediately regretted it. Pain and anger mixed in gold pools boring into hapless gray, a ghost of the princess's former self spoke in a broken whisper so low the acrobat almost didn't hear it, "you love me, don't you Ty Lee?"
She swallowed hard before replying, "Of course, 'Zula."
Without another word Azula turned on her heel and left the cell.
Ty Lee sat back against a white washed wall of the cell of a room. The room's only other occupant had her back to the acrobat, refusing to acknowledge her. She'd been told by the doctors that, of Azula's hallucinations, her's was one of the most frequent, second only to the princess's mother. She wondered what the illusions told the broken princess.
The words she'd wanted to say left her then, as she wondered if they'd already been said by a phantom vision of her before. She chewed the inside of her check, wondering if there would be any use in her visit if Azula thought she was just an illusion.
"Go," the word echoed in the room, hanging there and making the air thick with the single syllable that had been spoken. No glare from golden eyes accompanied it, but the commanding, cracking voice like the snap of an animal's fangs was enough to make the acrobat consider obeying.
Her own response surprised her, "No," the new word, much calmer then the first drown the heavy echo of the first syllable, and took its place hanging in heavy air.
Now golden eyes chanced a look at her, a glare as much a warning as the rattle of a deadly snake, "why not?"
Ty Lee opened her mouth to reply but no answer came to her. She closed her mouth, brows drawing together, as she pouted in thought. She could see the golden glare growing restless. Her mouth, however, stayed empty of the words she wanted to say. A moment passed as she fought over the words to say. Because I'm afraid to leave you alone again, to lose you again. Because I know this isn't really you, and I'm hoping the old you will come back. None of the words would make it to her tongue, and when she heard the lethal crackle of blue flames, the only words to come out were, "because you love me, don't you?"