Title: Positive and Negative.
Author: holmesfreak1412
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing: Azula & Ty Lee
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Summary: Back in the Forgetful Valley, Azula vanished with a roar of thunder. Years later, she comes back having tamed lightning and herself.
Author's Note: Headcanon is about Azula essentially inventing electricity. Inspired by Legend of Korra's Republic City powerplant and the suddenly common art of generating lightning. As well as the history of electricity in my younger brother's textbook so credits to the various discoverers, I guess.
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Positive and Negative
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When the beginnings of lucidity finally start to creep in Azula's murky void of a fragile psyche, she only thinks of what lay ahead. Long lost mothers, fire lord brothers and treacherous lovers are forgotten, swirling through the oblivion of the things beyond her control. In a moment, everything will come crashing back at once: the anger, the envy, the pain. But in the next second, she would learn to accept all of those with grudging numbness, eyes affixed to the road that lay ahead. Somewhere in there is her destiny. She knows. Maybe, she has always known.
Say you were crazy and your own frazzled mind told you something that you realized is the truth of your existence all along—does that make you even crazier? That it took the hallucination of long gone parent to make you realize that? In those moments of clarity, it is not Ursa who tells her of the possibilities but her own voice that urges her to see it, with a pair of clearer, golden eyes. Princess Azula is destined for something more than being a Fire Lord. She knows. Maybe, she has always known.
She screamed at the Forgetful Valley to take away the anger, the envy, the pain, to make her forget. Because what is she but a monster without a throne? Without her honor? But the faceless ethereal being that came before her told her of things only Princess Azula and only Azula could do. "Your destiny lies somewhere else." It preached, waving one clawed, glowing arm, touching her face. She does not feel any pain, does not witness any change. "A new face and a new life would do nothing to help you." Later that night, she trembled and shivered underneath oversized tree-trunks, watching the voices argue over each other. Zuzu and Mother talk louder than Father, their drones drowning the man's venomous retorts.
When she emerges from the dream, she sees clearly for the first time. The incessant nagging in her head is gone and Azula can look at the skies now without squinting, without her heart pounding too loudly for her to behold the beauty of being alive and free after her years locked up. The Valley looks over an endless realm of possibilities, trees blooming over charred ashes and rivers flowing over a lahar of destruction. From a distance a lightning strikes with a loud boom, cracking in between the purple skies but it provides light in the darkness of the night and Azula suddenly knows. Maybe she has always known.
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When she flew a kite and dangled a key amidst the storm, she has an idea. Azula knows. She always did. And in each seemingly irrational action she makes, there is always a purpose that would lead to a bigger, beneficial picture. Sparks erupted overhead, singing a choir of a thousand crackling birds and Azula tries not to be reminded of a certain someone who she once watched fireworks with, who once thought that the blue fire that she wielded to kill was the most beautiful thing in the whole world.
Fire is the element of destruction, bearing the curse of hatred incinerating anything along its path. Wild and untamed, it burns the densest of forests, kills the strongest of warriors. ("We used fire to train the fiercest of platypus bears!") One cannot control fire but one must guide it effectively. Azula once danced, leaped, pirouetted through it. Azula once got burnt.
Fire is also the element of industry. Coals set ships sail over the unpredictable seas and heat tried to drill through the impenetrable walls of Ba Sing Se. ("And fire dancing makes people happy!") Lightning is always just one step ahead, the cold blooded fire only the elite could wield. Positive and negative. Positive and negative. Positive and negative. ("We are polar opposites 'Zula but that makes it interesting, don't you think?") The citizens of Hira'a leave her alone as she spaces out. Positive and negative. Positive and negative. In the full year that this regal-looking young woman lived amongst them, she has always been rather eccentric.
("Ty Lee, can't you stay still?)
Positive and negative. Positive and negative. Positive and negative. Lightning generation is all about guiding it, going through the flow of what otherwise is a highly volatile force. Azula does not try to control it, to restrain the powerful force that has defined her for so long. But in her hands is the product of her observation and ingenuity—the audacity of standing under a lightning storm as she ran a kite. And the electricity flows steadily through the metal chip, now finally tamed. Positive and negative. Positive and negative. In between two vastly different entities, she managed to gain a semblance of stability. The chip bubbles with suppressed energy and she is reminded momentarily of herself. Her power restrained, reined because she now lives in a world that it no longer has a place for.
She firebent for power, summoned flames and sparks in the desire to be something more. This time, like the lightning that coursed through her little invention, she only longs for serenity, for something to flow through. Her destiny lies somewhere else, she hears herself say. In truth, Azula just wants to have a place in the world again.
She wonders briefly if this is what Ty Lee means about "callings" and "signs from universes". The sudden urge to just do something. The sudden omniscience that you just knew. That you have always known.
That you are meant for something.
The copper wire is discovered by accident but the inspiration persists and the short burst of lightning flowed freely with the premonition of something great. She knows. Maybe she has always known. And so Azula allows herself a small, exultant smile and names the wondrous phenomenon after her own.
A reminder that if you let the good and the bad things in your life merge into a single, stable entity, one can conquer even your own demons.
(And my aura has never been pinker-)
Such is the brief legend of the Azulights.
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Shadows thrive in the brightest of places and within a year as the filament incandescent light bulbs were pioneered into production, the streets of Hira'a became the brightest, the safest and the most magnificent in all Fire Nation. The lamps burned bright blue in the earliest of its creation, illuminating the once gas-lit alleys and eradicating smoking lamps from dinner tables. The circus comes to town and the master offered to pay anything to acquire the majestic invention. He does not recognize her. Nobody does nowadays. The world does not even have a place for her memory anymore.
The circus master attempted to trade coins, whores and even a platypus bear. Azula tries not to think of acrobats that would be better exposed in the improvised lighting, balancing over a tightrope under a burning safety net, grinning a grin that is brighter than any light Azula has ever conjured.
But when clowns and comedians reach the remote village, it does not take too long for the less desirable crowd to crash in. The New Ozai society makes their headquarters in the town, unreached as it is with the influence of the Capital. Smoke and Shadows, they call their army, standing in front of masses and speaking about power and potential, about the divine right of the Fire Nation to rule. They cite her lamp as an example, goes over the smoke being the result of the works of the shadows. And they demand for the man behind this marvel to be presented to them and before the village could protest that it is in fact, a young woman, Azula steps forward.
They kneel in deference, stunned.
And the mad sister of the Fire Lord comes into play once more.
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When Zuko comes to apprehend her, he almost ruins her plans to overthrow the rebels from the inside. She never had a doubt that Fire Lord Zuzu, however strong he might have gotten is still too weak for anything that she used to thrive on. She was once a shadow, a dark apparition hiding behind palace walls as she listened to the glory of war and the brilliance of fire. She will be a shadow who once vanished with a roar of thunder but who will come back having tamed lightning. Perhaps she has always been destined to play behind the scenes, to be the elusive figure that does the Fire Lord's dirty work as he maintains the immaculate modicum of justice. She did it once with her Father. She figures Zuzu would be no different.
So she shows her frustration with her fists, feeling her brother's bones break under her knuckles. The Fire Lord skids down, caught offguard. The Avatar ("…and friends.") came in front of the undignified heap that struggles to keep himself upright. Mai (Wait, did they not break up?) and Ty Lee follows behind, faces the same as the defiant glare that they gave her the last time they mattered….
(The universe is telling me…)
She is reminded of that one instance that she is pushed back in a corner too. Traitors and enemies, finding one that they can all unite against. But this time she does not pretend to raise her hands in surrender, does not plan to hit anyone with a quick burst of flame.
She hisses threats and admonishments and Zuko eyes widen as if realizing.
Zuko is always the only one who ever understood. ("This place is depressing—")
The only one who ever felt ("No matter what, you will always be my sister—")
… how it feels like to be their father's child. ("Why didn't you burn it when you had the chance?")
Positive and negative.
Positive and negative.
Zuko and Azula has always been different, like the two ends of electricus but they will always be the one who saw through each other, like the energies converging to generate brightness.
He stands upright, steps forward, puts a hand on the Avatar's tensed shoulders and verbally stops Ty Lee from springing forward. ("Have you ever been chi-blocked?")
"Can you help us Azula?"
She glares at him and huffs indignantly. "I might as well."
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When the threat of the shady society is finally eradicated, Zuko begs for her to come home. Smoke and Shadows perishes in the aftermath. Her lightning and lights become its final blow. The usurpers and heroes settle their difference and for the first time, the truce between two parties promises long-lasting peace. Around the dinner table, her lamp blares white. Moths circle all around. The group stares, transfixed. Azula stands idly.
"You did all these?" That's Katara's brother. Boomerang guy, she remembers. He studies the rather crude device, taking note of each mechanism. The filament blares below the glowing glass and Azula smirks in satisfaction. "How long does it last?"
"Seventy-seven hours. Give or take a few minutes."
"That's amazing!" The water tribe warrior exclaims then as though remembering that he has not forgiven her yet, falters. "I mean, I have never seen anything like this before. Maybe your genius could be put somewhere productive."
"Exactly my idea." She responds shortly. This surprises everyone.
"So…" Zuko ventures, sounding hopeful. "Azula…"
"This does not mean I can go back to the palace." She ponders briefly, brows creasing. "Or maybe I can. You being generous and all. But maybe, I just don't want to."
"Mother would really want to—"
"Please." She cuts in, raising her finger in the air dismissively. She feels the air tense, their stances frigid in their seats. She observes, waits, poised for action. She catches Ty Lee's eyes, her wide-eyed gaze that brought memories of her time when her adoration meant everything to the forever insecure Princess. When the compliments of being the best used to drive away that taunts her that she was never good enough. Azula looks away. "Just do not talk about her."
The whole crew is set to leave the next day, for now huddled inside three of the guest rooms that the townspeople loaned her after her considerable contribution. Azula thinks that she might win in the next election. When it used to bring the familiar surge of elation that she once savored, she just thought that for sure there is something more for her than leading a small town into short-lived greatness. In the streets of Hira's, the Azulights burn freely. She wonders how it would look like if the whole world lit with them.
"Azula…" A voice breaks in her reverie and she turns her gaze away from the window to set her eyes on the speaker. Ty Lee is more recognizable this time, red and white now cleaned off her face. She looks older, more mature. But perhaps this is because she is looking at her, talking to her for the first time in several years. Azula imagines that she has changed as well.
"How are you?" she greets softly and this small reciprocation of their awkward cordiality makes Ty Lee beam brighter than any incandescence that her lamps could glow to.
"I am still with the Kyoushi Warriors" the acrobat replies, fidgeting from one foot to another. No eagerness surface on her features. She sinks to herself, as though she wants to dissolve into nothingness. "I'm just on leave, you see. I came to visit Mai in her aunt's flower shop. She broke up with Zuko y'know? But they got back together now which is absolutely wonderful. They told me Kiyi would be the flower girl. Can you imagine?"
And the Princess drowns out the rest of what she said about a million other people that Azula could not care less about and listens to every tilt and jump in Ty Lee's mindless chatter, the one that used to keep her awake at night during their adventures in the Earth Kingdom, the reassuring distraction before the Day of the Black Sun, the lies spurted before the Boiling Rock.
She did not hear it in the Comet, in the asylum, in her days of self-exile in Hira'a. Azula hears what she wants to listen to and as she stood through Sokka's latest meat joke and Appa's shedding fur (Clumps! Clumps!), Azula tries not to think of when she made herself forget of yearning such a wonderful sound. Her favourite sound in the world.
Her name on Ty Lee's lips.
"… I am just really happy you are back Azula." Ty Lee finishes, holding Azula's eyes. This time, neither looks away. Azula holds her tongue the whole time. Ty Lee has always been good to pretend that the oppressive silence does not exist.
"I have a house in Republic City." She mentions as though it is the most perfunctory thing in the world. Ty Lee does not step closer, does not take the Princess' hand as she would have at another time when time had not widened the lines that separated them. But her words are heavy, with implications that she somehow wanted Azula to hear. "It's a nice place that Aang ang Zuko are making. It's like a new beginning for all of us. If you think you no longer have a place in the palace… no."
Ty Lee straightens herself and Azula's drowns in her protuberant, gray gaze. Sparks crawl in her chest, freezes her veins. She makes a mental note to study what kind of electric current that is later, frowns that she cannot make sense of it.
(You are not making any sense, Azula.)
"If you no longer want your place in the palace…" Ty Lee pauses, stares and smiles. And for a moment, five years of estrangement and betrayal falters in their reconciliation. Maybe, it has always been inevitable. Azula wonders when exactly has she forgiven Ty Lee. "Then you can always find a place somewhere else. If Hira's is no longer enough for you—"
Your destiny lies somewhere else.
'Does Republic City sell sweet Sugar Cakes?" she asks, speaking for the first time and Ty Lee chuckles, snorts and it grows into a full-blown laughter. Five years does not matter anymore.
Time flies.
"You haven't changed at all 'Zula!" she guffaws, holding her bare stomach. Azula looks at her dispassionately like she used to and in that moment, the fact that they have not talked in years no longer matters. Nothing does. ("You know what they say, 'Zula. Opposites attract.")
Positive and negative.
Positive and negative.
Maybe this is the reason why the cold, calculating Princess of the Fire Nation once befriended the grinning, pink outcast.
"And where's your place, Ty Lee?" she finally asked and she revels at the lack of hesitation when Ty Lee responds.
"With you."
Azula called a little louder.
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When Azula lets the acrobat take the seat beside her, she feels like she has moved a step forward, a progress more exhilarating than when she discovered the practical uses of touching a copper wire with a lightning-infused finger. Ty Lee is reluctant when she moves closer, takes a second too slow as she places herself beside the Princess. Azula pretends not to notice.
And maybe this small act of consideration bridges the gap between two worlds. Ty Lee crosses the boundaries that five years of distance and insanity forged between them and Azula allows her.
Her dark world brightens, the gleaming bulb in her oblivion.
They talk about callings, destiny and the things that matter most.
Ty Lee speaks. 'I used to think that I will be the one to find you."
"Hn. Were you looking for me then?"
"No." She admits and Azula does not let herself be consumed by the void of abandonment once again. "But I always planned to do so. Maybe I am a coward. Maybe I am really terrified of you. But I never managed to."
"But would you look for me eventually?"
"I would have." She replies, twirling the more grown-up version of her braid. Azula restrains the urge to touch it, to feel the strands caressing her cold skin. "You always called a little louder. I might have counted Mai in too."
"A lot of things changed."
Ty Lee nodded in agreement. 'Right."
She moves to take the Princess' hand—sparks, sparks, sparks—and they try to ignore that both of them obviously feels it, the telltale memories of who they have been, of who they could have been.
Azula sighs, stands. 'And I would not have it any other way." She whispers.
She walks away but does not forget to bid good night this time.
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When she rushes towards the white beast and throws her few belongings (mostly her prototypes) towards the saddle in one heave, she does not comment harshly about inadequacy and incompetence of Sky Bisons anymore. Appa does not growl at her and the rest of the crew no longer fires her a glare.
Ty Lee smiles, waves. And she is as bright as the sun.
"Brother…" Azula addresses the perplexed Zuko who only stood frozen as the sister he had dreaded leaving came willingly before him. "About Republic City. Any chance you and the Avatar could fund my research?"
It is not a carefully-veiled demand nor does it sound like a demanding request but Azula crosses her arms, exudes the authority she once lost when she slipped away from the reality she did not want to be aware of. Now she feels dandier that she ever had. Positive and negative. Positive and negative. Perhaps, this is the balance that the Avatar in all his inane and naïve philosophy, is eternally promoting.
Azula does not let them ask questions until they said yes.
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(END)