My first Avatar fic. It is dark. Like seriously dark. I'm surprised at the blackness oozing from the words. Words that I have written. Oh well. I need to publish this. It has been calling to me. So yeah. Darkness. This is your only warning. Character is not mine. Review if you feel the need, please. If there are any mistakes let me know, and I will fix it.

Pink Lies

To keep ones' aura pink and healthy, a person must have a positive outlook on life. Enjoy every little thing, from the smallest ant-bird to the largest armadillo-bear. Be happy.

And yet I find that harder to do nowadays.

Everyone expects me to be happy. To be the one eternally cheerful person. To be that ray of sunshine smiling on the world. To be Ty Lee.

But how do I tell them I can't?

How do I communicate just how miserable I am? How horrified I am by the world?

How can I tell them Ty Lee is just a character? Just a figment of my imagination, created in a moment of weakness?

The Ty Lee they know is just a mask I hide my true face behind.

They all think I am the way I am because of my family, because of my need to be unique.

To be honest, I created Ty Lee to save myself.

I had to save myself from the harsh reality that is Life.

It isn't a blissful, wonderful place where everyone gets along, where there is no corruption, no lying, no war, no hate.

No. The real world is a terrible place to live.

I see all that goes on. The bodies of the dead as they are carted back to mourning families. The power-hungry rulers throwing lavish parties in opulent palaces as their subjects starve. The infidelity that has become a normal part of everyday society. The emaciated children huddled on street corners, the rain beating them into submission, begging for one, just one coin so they may buy some food. The lies people must tell each other for Life to simply keep going.

And as I see all this, I realize that I have become a part of this picture. I may look like a cheerful little acrobat, but as I have said before, this is just a disguise. A mask. A character.

On the outside I am pink. On the inside I am black. As black as the ink with which I am writing this.

My insides are rotten with grief, with fear, with hate. Hate for myself, and what I have become.

My friends don't know me. Do they really believe that I love pink? That I see the beautiful side of everyone and everything? That I am happy?

If they knew the true me, the hidden me, they would be confused.

"Who is this imposter? Who is this hiding within the shell of our friend?' They would say.

And all I would be able to do is stand there and watch as they run, run away, far away from my lies and treachery.

I don't think I would stop them. I deserve to be cast away like a broken doll. It would be a fitting end to the lies I have surrounded myself with.

These lies have caused me to lose myself. Whether or not this is a good thing isn't up to me to decide.

I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn't hidden. If I hadn't bundled myself into a dark corner of mind to watch Life through the eyes of a stranger.

I imagine I would be married, to a nobleman, or maybe just a rich merchant. I might have children to run after, and teach the lessons of Life. A house to manage, perhaps with servants to boss around. I would throw parties to entertain all my little lady friends who hide behind fans and fake smiles. Greet the guests of my husband, smiling as I hold his arm and allow myself to be shown off like some sort of trophy. If I was lucky, I would have lived a sheltered life.

But that is not how I chose. I chose to let my father send me off to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. I chose to introduce myself to Azula and Mai. I chose to become their friend. I chose to fun off to the circus, to become a "unique person." I chose to live a stranger's life.

It is a challenge to go through Life as a stranger. I have to watch what I say, because one wrong word and my mask would be shattered. And that would mean revealing the truth. And that can't happen. I am in too deep. Too many people know this stranger Ty Lee.

Ty Lee. The name given to me by my loving mother and my doting father. Did they think that this name would be given to someone else? Ty Lee means extreme strength. And yet I am weak. So weak. I disgust myself. I can't even live up to my birth name.

This stranger Ty Lee can though. She brings pride to the name, with her amazing acrobatics, and with her astounding ability to block chi and render benders useless. This Ty Lee deserves the name more so than I.

And there is nothing I can do to change my situation.

I will grow up in a lie. I will love, and it will all be a lie. I will live my Life, and it will be a lie. When I die, no one will know of the lie.

And they will still believe that my aura is pink.

If only someone knew.