Welcome to my new Tyzula. It was a spin-off of my first Tyzula, but that was a dead end and I abandoned the fic because I lost inspiration, but now it's a unique plot that involves after The Search speculation and some twists. It will not be abandoned again, I swear.
Prologue: Wine and Vinegar
Mai paced back and forth, picking at her teeth with a blade Zuko would never put in his mouth. The metal glittered in the firelight and stung against her tongue, but the taste was soothing to Mai. Azula once joked that Mai must have been given razors to suck on instead of pacifiers as an infant.
"You... want me to find Azula?" Mai asked for the thousandth time. Zuko was quite unsure how he could be any clearer about the matter.
"I know you're probably not in the mood to do me any favors, but no one else is getting any results," Zuko replied in frustration, grimacing slightly after he was finished speaking. Mai just crossed her arms and sighed.
"I do want to help you. I do," Mai reluctantly admitted, although she had no idea where to even start searching for the princess.
It had been almost a year since Azula was last seen, and the bounty on her head was so large that it was getting implausible that she would ever be found. Mai knew her, knew that she could outwit most, which was why Mai was certain that Zuko called her here. She could think like Azula, which no one else could.
Azula was, by most, presumed dead. But that perturbed Mai even more than it did Zuko and Ty Lee. The idea of Azula decomposing in some forest was wrong. She was supposed to have a grand finale, to go out with fireworks blazing.
Mai's only hope was that Azula would rely on her allies, allies who had no need for money. Less of a need for money than even Mai.
"I'm paying you pretty well," Zuko said earnestly and Mai rolled her eyes.
"I'm not even sure I know how our currency works. I don't need money," Mai replied, staring at her feet.
And then an unfamiliar female voice interjected, "Does that mean I can have her share too?"
A woman walked in, having been listening from the hallway. It made Mai feel uncomfortable and exposed, but she remained stoic. The woman was a little older than Mai, by a few years at least, and the kind of hot that made people as afraid as they were aroused.
"Is this your new girlfriend? You sure went through that Kyoshi girl fast," Mai inquired scathingly and the woman laughed at the notion in an amused, confident, almost cruel cackle. Mai decided she did not hate the stranger, at least yet. "Then who is she?"
"She's," Zuko began slowly, looking uncomfortable. Mai already did not like where this was going. "Well, she's really good at finding people."
"I'm not good at finding people," the woman snapped back in a breathy voice. "I'm the best at finding people. Honestly, sweetheart, you're only going to slow me down."
Mai cocked an eyebrow and Jun was relatively impressed by her lack of emotion. "I won't slow you down," was all she said, and beneath her words lurked the desire to explain her military credentials. But Mai was smart enough not to justify herself; it would make her look weak.
"Right," Zuko interrupted, not liking the slight glint of a predator at hunt in Mai's amber eyes, or the mocking twist of Jun's stained lips. "So, Jun is good at finding people. But we need you once Azula is actually found. You're..."
"An expert on her," Mai sighed, not even having the willpower to roll her eyes. It was simply presumed that she knew everything about Azula and could so easily catch her and coerce her to come home.
Zuko grimaced and Mai sighed again. The Fire Lord quickly added, "I think you have the best chance of anyone of getting her to come home."
Mai looked him up and down and supposed he had a point. Not that she and Azula had gotten along well since the Boiling Rock, but Mai knew more about Azula than anyone else, and probably would be able to think of some way to get her to cooperate. Possibly. There was a significant chance that Azula had only become more unstable, which Mai was not thrilled about experiencing firsthand.
"I'll do it," Mai sighed and Zuko smiled hopefully.
"I'm Jun," the girl said and Mai's eyes flickered up and down her body. "You are...?"
"Mai," she replied and said no more as she guided the bounty hunter to Azula's bedroom. It was locked and the door was dusty; Zuko clearly had no desire to go inside. Probably because the memories hurt him.
They walked inside and had their nostrils immediately assaulted by the must and age. Mai felt a twisting in her gut about how she also did not want to be in here. The memories were nasty, more nasty than she wanted to think about.
"What does your Shirshu need?" Mai inquired, walking around the room and hating how perfectly clean it was, save for the dust that settled on everything. Azula had servants and slaves that cleaned up after her, but usually at least something was slightly askew, or the window was open. She always slept with the window open.
"Anything will work. I'm only surprised Zuko didn't ask me sooner. How long has she been missing, anyway?"
Mai pursed her lips and realized she was not instantly certain. "Almost a year," she replied, remembering when Zuko returned from Hira'a and Mai found out through Ty Lee that Azula did not come back with him. Because he was too afraid to tell her, or some bullshit like that.
"Can you find her if she's dead?" Mai knew she had to ask.
"Yup. Even if she's buried," Jun replied as she opened Azula's dresser.
"Can you find her if she's in the Spirit World?" Mai asked and Jun chewed on her lip for a moment before shaking her head.
Mai supposed that was problematic. The most likely place that Azula would wind up would be there, if she was alive. She disappeared without a trace and Mai just... figured. Or maybe she was being too hopeful.
"So why didn't he ask you earlier?" Mai inquired as Jun picked up Azula's bathrobe and deemed it worthy of Nyla.
"It's on me, I guess. I decided to retire after the war and given my, hm, amount of enemies, I decided to disappear for a while. But the reward for that princess is the best I've been offered," Jun replied as she waved for Mai to follow her. "I would be a lunatic to turn that down."
"Hm," was all Mai could say as she came across a switchblade. A birthday gift. Mai averted her eyes and walked after Jun.
She just hoped they would not find a corpse.
Mai took Jun to her apartment before they planned to leave town. She had to grab an address book, had to make sure they stopped at anywhere that could have been of use to the New Ozai Society. Sure Mai knew this chick was the best bounty hunter in the world, but Mai had more faith in herself than a stranger.
"So you and the Fire Lord, huh?" Jun inquired as they settled down in Mai's apartment. "Don't take this as too much of a compliment but you're even more out of his league than the Water Tribe girl."
Mai just shrugged. "We were engaged as kids," she admitted and Jun was surprised that she replied honestly; it knocked off a point in the score Jun was keeping on whether she would try to score with Mai or not. "My parents were horrible people."
"My parents weren't around to hold me back," Jun said with a shrug and Mai did not ask. The usual reason Earth Kingdom parents were not around was because of the Fire Nation, and Mai refused to be apologetic, nor accept guilt by association. "So, you brought me here why? We should get on her trail."
"I need my contact book if... if she isn't dead or in the Spirit World, then there are a handful of people who she might have gone to or might have an idea where she would go," Mai replied dryly as she walked to her room and reluctantly left Jun in the living room. She did not trust the bounty hunter as far as she could throw her, but she was glad to have a Shirshu on her side.
Mai was back after a long two minutes, and she and Jun were on their way.
Outside of town, Mai shivered slightly in the rain, as Jun just let it drip over her body.
"I don't like animals that move," Mai sighed, narrowing her eyes at the Shirshu as Jun gestured for her to get on. "I hate riding animals that move. A mongoose dragon is bad enough, and at least they don't have fur."
Jun cocked an eyebrow. "You're a constant downer, huh?"
"Something like that," Mai replied and Jun smirked.
"Get on, sweetheart. I'll hold you if you're too scared," Jun said and the mocking tone got far too far under Mai's skin.
"You call me sweetheart one more time, you're going to know what it feels like to get your throat slit and your tongue pulled out through the gushing wound," Mai said dryly, her face not even moving at the violent threat.
Jun chuckled. She liked this girl. Zuko was definitely several steps below her on the ladder of romantic equality. She was hotter than him, wittier, and a good deal smarter.
"Alright, kitten," Jun replied with a small smirk. Mai was immovable. "So kitten it is?"
Mai still did not move her face. "I'll get on the fucking fur monster."
It took four days to reach Kaoda, the city that Nyla had the most desire to get to. Jun bit her lip as she stopped there.
"She was here recently," Jun replied and Mai's eyes flashed slightly. It was the first emotion she had shown for the entire journey, even in their hotel stays.
"How recently?" Mai demanded, realizing that they were finally not on the path Azula took on her way to find her mother.
"Couple of weeks," Jun said with a shrug. "Let's shack up."
Mai sighed and slid down from the Shirshu, trying to rub its scent off of her clothes futilely. She decided she would spend a very long day at a spa as soon as she got back to Caldera. The trip had been painful, beyond painful.
And Mai was plagued with nightmares, more than usual. She woke up drenched in cold sweat and was grateful she was good at hiding her pain or weakness. Particularly from Jun, whom Mai was not appreciative of.
They found a hotel and Mai knew she needed to look through the address book. This was a popular stop for rich vacationers in hotter months, the opposite of Ember Island. Azula could have gotten help here easily, bounty on her head or not.
The New Ozai Society consisted of people with too much money to count, whom would rather have a political advantage over the reward Zuko posted, or the favor of their new Fire Lord. Therefore, Azula would go directly to them if she had her wits about her.
She may have been consumed by mental illness, but she could still connive. Mai was more aware of that than she would have liked to be.
The hotel room smelled of old cleaning supplies and strange oils. It was the shoddiest place in town because when Mai offered to stay somewhere nice, Jun looked at her as if she was insane and said that they had to stay somewhere where they would not be noticed.
"There's one bed," Mai said sharply.
"Maybe that's why I got this room," Jun said breathily, layering on the sex in her tone. "It was all they had left. It's apparently vacation season for you rich people."
It made Jun somewhat sick. Oh, she appreciated the perks of wealth; that was why she pursued it. But she was not a huge fan of the Fire Nation citizens buying yearly vacations with the blood of Earth Kingdom children.
"I'm going to go find my dad's friend and interrogate him. You stay here," Mai ordered and Jun opened her mouth to protest before changing her mind.
"I'm tired anyway," she replied, lying down on the bed.
Mai left and went to track down Chan. It felt strange, being so close to finding Azula. But that was before she remembered that Azula was presumed dead by everyone but Zuko. Mai thought so too. She tried to get over it, but it haunted her occasionally.
She blinked for a long time, reminded her that she did not care, she could not care if Azula lived or died. Why would she?
Suki walked into Zuko's bedroom, lacking her make-up, save for the fact that her lips were permanently stained light red. She was in the Fire Nation visiting, knowing that Zuko had at last tracked down Jun and was now hoping he would find Azula. She thought she needed him more than usual.
Zuko felt that sensation of colliding flames in his chest as he saw her.
The sparks began to fly shortly after he returned home. The tension snapped, eventually, when she broke up with Sokka. One thing led to another, and he had never forgotten her kneeling, her hands on his, their skin together. The first time he ever considered a woman other than Mai.
"If Jun doesn't find her... I don't think anybody can," Zuko admitted as she slipped into the sheets beside him.
Suki swallowed. Zuko had been looking for Jun within two weeks, after he realized Azula was not coming home on her own. It took too long to find her, and he was beginning to think that something had happened. Zuko promised he would redeem her, he promised he would help her because she needed him.
He would do anything for her, and he always would have, no matter how much they fought.
"I don't want to be the one to say this," Suki whispered, taking Zuko's hand in hers. She enjoyed his warmth against her cold hands, "but please don't get your hopes up. It's been a year. She... maybe if she were herself I would say she went into hiding. But she isn't."
Zuko just looked at her. Their first fight was over Azula, and he decided that he would hold his tongue about the subject for her sake. Zuko loved them both, and Azula had hurt Suki in disgusting, disgusting ways.
He did not think she wanted Azula to come home.
Mai did not find General Chan, her father's trusted friend, but she found something better. After breaking into his house, of course. A letter, a letter written about a possible discovery of Azula. It was mostly in code that Mai did not have the skills nor energy to break, but it was the best lead yet.
So the New Ozai Society did want her. Of course they did.
"Give this to Nyla," Mai ordered as she returned to the hotel, trying to ignore the fact that Jun had fallen asleep in her underwear.
"Is it hers?" Jun asked, reaching for it.
"No. But I... just do it," Mai said sharply and Jun just shrugged and nodded.
They were probably a terrible pair, given that neither of them gave a half a fuck about anything. But it was somewhat refreshing for Mai. Her old friends she tried to reconnect with all made her slightly sick.
The next day, they were on their way.
And that day, they found something utterly disgusting.
That home was odd, to say the least. It was filled with odd Spirit World relics and artifacts, things that Mai and Jun had never encountered, but knew were not the type of thing that normal, not-creepy people had in their homes. Their weapons never left their sweaty palms as they walked around and saw that multiple people were living here, but no one was there right now, or at least it seemed.
The masks were only the second creepiest thing. And the crazy paintings of what could only be nightmarish demons, and twisted items. One painting drew Mai in particular; it looked like the Tree of Life, a symbol many people had in their homes, especially those who wanted children or had relatives away at war. But it was gnarled and the landscape around it shady and disgusting.
Mai took it and Jun smirked at her.
"Stealing, are we?" she asked mockingly.
"Taking evidence," Mai said before striding into the more lived in section of the house. They passed multiple symbols of the New Ozai Society, and things Mai recognized as belonging to those jerks. Yes, this clearly was some creepy operation of those rich freaks who wanted to kill Zuko.
"Well, I'd say go into the weird Spirit World obsessed serial killer basement now?" Jun suggested as she pointed at the locked door that could only lead down. Mai could feel a chill coming from it that made her skin prickle, but she was not going to let this woman think she was scared.
"Yeah." Mai went first, even though she wanted to shove Jun down. She picked the lock with her knife and opened the door before walking down the creaking stairs and hoping no one heard her.
At the bottom it was revealed to clearly be home of prisoners. Once, it looked like a room where people were entertained at parties, judging by the furniture that was stacked against the walls and gathering dust. But now there were shackles, and the metallic stench of blood. Multiple prisoners. At least six or seven of very similar size, judging by the positioning of all of the restraints.
Empty ones, at that.
"This was deserted recently," Jun remarked as she gestured to burned things. "They took the prisoners and whatever they had. They got what they were looking for already."
Jun sighed and Mai froze as she looked for any answer, anyone familiar she could recognize, and then they heard someone very alive.
And Mai nearly threw up because she recognized the voice.
Chapter One: Azula's Demand
Days later, Mai lingered over Azula's bedside, unsure what she was supposed to do. She looked at the princess and the bandages wrapped around her, how her body seemed so weak and fragile. While Azula fought in her past, she glistened like the sun and transcended being mortal.
But not anymore. Mai did not like seeing her like that, but Zuko was even worse off. Mai was absolutely clueless as to if she should console him or leave him with his sister in peace. She just occasionally glanced up to see if he was doing alright.
Zuko had vomited when Mai and Jun arrived frantically, having gone at a pace Mai did not think the terrifying Shirshu could go at. Azula was between them, barely recognizable as Azula, but definitely her. Both Mai and Nyla confirmed it.
They found her in a basement. A damp, cement basement, bleeding and tortured.
Mai was trying to hide her fear, the knots in her stomach, as Jun was also pretending to give zero fucks. Jun was not the kind of person who got attached to any of her jobs, and she had seen violence, but that was... sick.
They had fallen into a rhythm as the best doctors cared for Azula and Suki tried to get into contact with Aang and Katara. Zuko did not leave Azula's side, and Mai could not bring herself to do it either. Jun was still in town; she felt oddly as if her work was not done until her bounty was delivered alive. She cared about money, but she also cared about doing her job right. Zuko got Mai glasses of water, Mai tried to keep him from completely breaking down... it was working.
"You don't have to be here," Zuko said softly, as the sun set on the second day of Azula's unconsciousness. "She's not your responsibility."
Mai pursed her lips and studied her sharp nails, which as an adult she painted blood red instead of the adolescent hue of black.
"She's done a lot of awful things, but she's still my friend. I don't think I could live with myself if I wasn't here," Mai admitted, rubbing her neck and trying to avoid Zuko's deep, golden stare.
The door opened and Mai and Zuko both jumped in shock. Zuko fought the urge to roll his eyes at the curvaceous woman garbed in dark colors, looking between the Fire Lord and his ex girlfriend expectantly.
"I don't want to be the one to point this out when she's in such critical condition," Jun said casually, although her tone was devoid of any sympathy at all. "But when exactly am I getting paid for saving this girl? Someone hit her through the face and buried her halfway before I caught her."
"I'm not entirely sure you didn't hit her through the face and bury her," Zuko grumbled in frustration and Mai squinted at him, wondering what exactly about Jun made him so bristly.
Mai looked Jun up and down and there was a subtle shift in the bounty hunter's hips that Zuko could not help but notice. It was, he realized in a tachycardia ridden moment, the subtle motion a woman's body made when she was being checked out and she wanted to be checked out.
Zuko just focused his attention entirely on Azula. He walked to the bed as Mai decided to fuck Jun the Bounty Hunter with her amber eyes, the amber eyes that used to focus so intently on him, and made sure the bandages around his sister were fresh.
The Fire Lord was gently touching her lips to see if she needed more water when suddenly teeth clamped down on his hand. He yelped in pain and Jun and Mai were ripped from an overtly flirtatious conversation, eyes lighting up.
"Azula! Azula, let go! I'm not ─ yowch ─ I'm not trying to hurt you!" Zuko screamed and Mai lunged to his side, prying Azula's face away from his hand as Jun cackled in amusement. Azula looked Mai directly in the eyes, and then her face was contorted with the panic of a caged tiger-monkey.
"Ty Lee," was not the first word Mai was expecting out of Azula's lips.
"No... I'm Mai..." Mai said quietly, not putting it past her psyche to have become more destroyed than her body. Azula was impenetrable physically; her lying alive in this bed after what happened to her was a testament to that. But she cracked from the inside out, her own, brilliant mind turning against her with a vengeance.
"I know you're Mai," Azula spat and Mai swallowed her angry words. "I want Ty Lee. Where is she? Bring her to me."
Mai cleared her throat awkwardly and looked between Jun and Zuko. The Fire Lord was barely breathing as he stared at his sister coming back to life, and he only just started to fathom that she was home again, and that perhaps maybe she could be redeemed or helped.
"I'll write a letter to her," Mai said calmly and Azula met her gaze. Slowly, the princess nodded. "What happened to you? We found you half dead."
"I don't know," Azula murmured, looking at them all. Her heart was racing and Mai could feel her pulse on her wrist, wildly out of control. The princess whimpered and Zuko and Mai both knew that the pain must have been excruciating; Azula did not show pain. "I don't know what's going on and I..."
"Do you want something for the pain?" Mai asked as Zuko opened his mouth to speak.
Azula glanced at them, having no desire to be drugged while they were around her. She did not trust any of them for a split second, and her life as a fugitive in the countryside had been something near torture.
Trust is for fools. Those words were familiar and associated with her bitter memories of betrayal at the Boiling Rock, but they seemed so much more like a dream than reality. She wanted to escape; her gaze flicked over to the window.
But then her broken rib rubbed against her and she winced. "Yes. And quickly."
Zuko hoped that Azula ordering Mai around was a sign that she was not entirely gone. Mai left, came back, and soon, Azula was in a drug induced slumber.
"I guess I'll write that letter," Mai sighed. "You pay Jun."
The Fire Lord's right eyebrow shot up at that order, and the bounty hunter smirked.
"I like her," Jun remarked. "So much better than that Water Tribe girl. Though... you're not exactly a catch."
"And you are?" Zuko snarled, surprised at his own vehemence. He was dating Suki and he did not understand why he was so angry at Jun checking out Mai's tits. Mai was a grown woman who could date whoever she wanted, just like Zuko could.
"I think I am," Jun replied with a shrug. "So, my fee?"
Two weeks later, Azula was still receiving medical attention for whatever happened to her. The doctor murmured to Zuko one night that if she were not a princess, they would've just gotten a pyre. It was a wonder that she was not dead, in their eyes.
Dry lightning crashed in the night. It felt ominous, or significant, or something to Ty Lee. She was not sure what, but the sight of it cracking across the sky without rain felt significant. The stars were blacked out by smog. Ty Lee was used to being able to see the strands of stardust and every constellation on Kyoshi Island, but the sky was very dark in Caldera.
She walked back into the palace, taking another deep breath. It was a difficult moment. Far, far too difficult. Azula was here. And Azula was hurt. She was unconscious, drugged by Zuko. They found her half dead, which was not how Ty Lee wanted her to be found. Or maybe Ty Lee did not want her to be found.
No, no, Ty Lee was glad Azula was home. Whether Azula would be glad about being home was another matter entirely. Ty Lee walked to Zuko, who had not left the bedside of Azula for the entire day.
"I'm glad you came," Zuko said and Ty Lee had no immediate response. She still felt slightly in a daze. "I know things weren't, uh, so great last time you saw her. But she'll be happy to see you."
"I find that hard to believe," Ty Lee said quietly and Zuko cleared his throat. "But I couldn't not come."
She had been waiting for this letter. Deep down, she knew it would never come. But, lo and behold, it did. And she was the first person Zuko told, before Ursa or Ozai or Mai. As if it would do something, as if it would matter. Ty Lee did not know what to think and she hated it. Not thinking was always easier.
"Can you stay with her? I'm... I need a break," Zuko suggested and Ty Lee nodded sharply, like a little bird. Fire Lord Zuko smiled faintly at her, though the movement of his muscles was forced, and headed to the bathroom.
Ty Lee sat down on the mattress. It creaked slightly as she gazed at Azula for a moment. She looked very peaceful. Ty Lee did not think she had ever seen Azula sleep so peacefully. And for a moment Azula looked like a corpse to her and her heart leapt with panic.
But she did not break her stare. "You hate me. I know you hate me. But I missed you."
Of course Azula could not hear. She was in a drug induced slumber, and she probably would not be listening to Ty Lee even if she were awake.
Agni, she looked terrible. Needless to say, despite how powerful you are in combat and sharp your tongue is, when you don't know how to comb your own hair, the outside world is not the place for you. And Azula was not ready for life on her own or life as a fugitive.
Nobody knew what happened. They just knew they found her. And she was alive.
Azula's eyes flickered open and Ty Lee momentarily panicked. The princess squinted it at her for a moment.
"What are you doing here?" Azula asked dizzily and Ty Lee was not sure Azula even knew what 'here' was. "I missed you." Evidently she was wacked out and dazed, because last they spoke they were far off from the teenagers in adolescent love they once were.
But Ty Lee ignored her morality and better judgment, leaned forward, and kissed Azula on the lips.
It felt right.
tbc...