There were a lot of things that she could have done differently. There were many times during the day when the scene flashed over and over again in her head, playing out all in the same way.
Each time it did, she stopped, standing completely still, waiting for it to play out again in her head and then pass away from her mind.
And then, she danced. She danced because she did not know what else to do, and because she had nothing more to do, and because it just felt so right to her. So very right.
Spinning on her heels, showing off her acrobatic talent to no one but herself, letting her body revel in the prowess of it. Dancing forever in the prison cell, the bare walls fading away into nothing more than an empty background color. And in her head all the space in the world was spilled out before her.
She stopped her dancing once more, bringing her leg down from the high arch, and waited. Ty Lee saw the scene playing out within her head once more, and as always she watched and waited.
Mai, her best friend, and Azula, like a lover to her, nearly about to kill each other. And the flash of her fists, her knuckles pounding into the spots that would immobilize her, and Azula falling to the floor, stunned and angry. The look on her face was one that she would never forget. Never could forget.
Azula, collapsing to the hard metal ground, and Mai stunned beyond belief. It was a choice, a terrible choice that she had had to make. Azula or Mai? But she knew the right choice: Azula. Azula had to be the one to go down, and not Mai.
Azula, whom she loved, she had to take her down for the sake of them all.
It had not been an easy choice, but it had been the right one. So that now, every time the scene played out in her head, intruding upon her thoughts no matter how hard she tried to push them away, she simply stood and let them play out.
Reviewing in her head for the thousandth time, she could see that she had made the right choice.
She had made the right choice, and that was what Ty Lee kept telling herself.
As she began to move her body again, letting the motions flow through her like water, and her body fueled by some steely fire, she danced more. Ty Lee moved her body in all the ways she knew how, and in all the ways that made her happy. Spinning and arching and twirling, slowly.
Ever so slowly.
Just as time was passing before them in the prison cell, she was moving as slowly as the time that she perceived. However long it took her to finish her dance, and move onto the next dance, she did not know. And did not want to know.
Let time pass how it will, she figured.
Arching her leg up above her head once more, bringing it around in a large sweep of circular motion, arching her body backwards, still swirling herself, moving in long fluid motions. Let the time pass how it will.
Let it simply pass.
Her brown braid kept spinning around in the air, spinning, smacking her shoulders repeatedly. Perhaps that smack was the only thing that kept her grounded. Truly grounded, that is. She already saw the prison walls melting away before her, but the smack and spin of her braid reminded her where she was.
She did not know why. It had never bothered her before, the smack and spin of her braid. Not even when she was in the circus had her long hair caused her to focus in and zone out like it was now. It simply was what it was, her hair. A long braid that she knew how to handle, and nothing that kept her one way or another.
Smacking into her neck again as she spun around, Ty Lee kept turning, hyper aware of the braid wrapped around her neck. Leaning back, it fell off her body, falling between the space from her head to the floor.
Bending back upright, smacking her in the back. No, more like a tap.
A tap that said, 'I am right here. I am tapping you, like your friends always did. I am right here, letting you know where you are.'
It seemed a wonder she was still sane, even after all this time had passed. Or at least, Ty Lee still believed herself to be sane. She did not feel herself any different from the person she once was, but it was hard to tell.
Consumed by the dance as she was.
Her hands fluttered out in front of her, and with a wide sweep arched above her head, still fluttering in delicate motions. It was supposed to resemble a butterfly, or a bird, but to Ty Lee it looked nothing more than flying hands. Closing her eyes, she pictured her butterfly soaring down into the air.
Opening her eyes, she pushed her hands onto the cold metal ground, not minding since she felt her body aflame with all her exercise. Lifting her feet up off the ground, and slowly bringing herself up and onto her hands, stiff and still in the air.
For how long, she did not know.
Gracefully splitting her legs apart, bending them however she wished before landing back down onto her feet once more, and spinning.
Her braid tapping her once more.
And then she was lost in her thoughts once more. The scene with Azula and Mai dancing before her eyes, materializing in the empty air and consuming her vision. Once more, Azula's anger, Mai's defiance. And determination, a determination so hard and raw set into both of their faces.
They would have killed each other, no doubt.
She had thought about that much, too, in her time in prison. What if all they had done was seriously injure each other, and not try to kill one another, much less succeed? But even as that thought danced around her head, she was happy that she never chanced it.
She had seen what both Mai and Azula could do. To think of the injuries the two could inflict upon one another… it was not something she was going to let happen.
She spun once more, flipping her body over, cartwheeling in the small space. Her braid smacking upon against her fevered skin.
Memories flooded Ty Lee once more. Suddenly lost in visions of her home life, her sisters, all mirrors of each other, constantly tapping her on the shoulder, trying to make her feel like she belonged there but never succeeding. Tapping her on the shoulder, speaking, then leaving.
Always like that.
With another tap of her braid, she was back into the dance. Simply consumed by the dance, and never letting the dance falter. With a pause, she would let the scenes play out, Azula and Mai, but never did the dance falter.
Ty Lee wondered where Mai was. Probably in the next cell over, she figured. She imagined one night that she could hear her voice, or hear her nails upon the walls. Perhaps she had dreamed that those piercingly sharp eyes had burned through the metal walls of the cell, and were watching her as she slept.
Like maybe she was trying to contact her.
What would she want? To know how Ty Lee was feeling, how she was handling life within the small cell? To make sure she was not sick or dying? Make sure that she was still sane?
With dreams like that, it was hard to tell exactly what their emotional value was. Almost every night, similar dreams would return to her.
Admittedly, she thought about Mai a lot. With each flick of the wrist, or a pronounced spin upon her toes, she thought about Mai. Mai would be fine, she told herself. As she thought those thoughts, she had to fight back tears.
Never had she wanted this. She never wanted Mai and Azula to fight. She never wanted to have to make such a decision. But if it were between Mai in a prison cell, and Mai dead, she had made the right choice.
Mai crossed her mind again, and she wondered how she was. What she would have given to seen her, talk to her, make sure she was okay. Run her hands along Mai's skin, feeling to make sure that she was well. No feverish burn, no bruises hidden beneath the cloth, and no scars.
No fresh scars, that is.
Mai would be well, Ty Lee told herself. Mai would be well, because she was strong. Strong and stubborn, and paced. She knew how to pace herself. Though she could not firebend, Ty Lee could see a flame within Mai. She could always see that flame that burned within her, strong and steady.
Never wavering.
She would survive this, outlast this.
Back, far back within the dark recesses of Ty Lee's mind, she knew that this would not last forever. How she knew, she didn't know, and did not care to think about. But she knew that she and Mai would not be in prison forever.
Not even for that much longer, the subconscious thoughts told her. It would feel like forever, but it would not be long. Not long at all. They would not have to break out, either, thought the thoughts.
And so Ty Lee danced with more fervor, continuing on and on, never faltering. Pausing but never faltering. Her thoughts cascading into one another throughout the days and the nights, mixing and melding together till she found a stoic peace that she would never again know in life.
Time kept passing, slowly, with each turn of the dance.
Time passed, dreams colliding with her subconscious thoughts, and turning them into conscious thoughts at the front of her mind, each of them fighting for space in front of her eyes.
Time was passing, and when she and Mai were let out, she could not express what it was she felt. To be honest, she didn't know what she felt. Her aura, the thing that she had believed in so strongly and that had governed a good portion of her life, she did not even know if it was still there.
What color it was would be beyond her perception for months.
But she ran to Mai, embraced her fully, and Mai embraced her back. They spent their time, checking to see how one another was, how they were feeling and if they were sick or hurt. But no, they were completely fine, though their moods a little worse for wear.
Mai had spent much time checking Ty Lee, feeling her skin over and over. She had said it was feverish, from the first touch upon her forehead. She had tried to coax her into medicine, but Ty Lee refused at first.
She needed to know Mai was well, that she was not hurt. She had risked her life for her, she did not want to know that everything had been in vain because of some twisted fate. Ty Lee handled her for the next days that passed.
Was she okay? That was what she kept asking. Was she okay, was she okay? No illness, no injury. Still sane.
Ty Lee recovered, fully. Joined the Kyoshi Warriors. Began again her life, fully sane and well, and leaving the dance far behind her.