"What do you mean she's gone?" Ty Lee asked, her fingers digging into her skin, trying to keep grounded, trying to keep afloat.
Zuko was unsure what to say, unsure how to voice it to her. It was not as if Ty Lee cared, he thought, he supposed. There were stolen glances and cold caresses and quick kisses but none of that added up to anything. Mai left Zuko and they had more than Azula and Ty Lee ever did.
"I don't... obviously she didn't care that much if she just ran away," Zuko said and he immediately regretted it. But Ty Lee just shook her head, relatively used to it at that point.
She got up and started to leave and Zuko lunged to stop her.
"What?" Ty Lee asked sharply, unsure what else he could want. Unsure why he wanted her to think about this more, to think about Azula more, to think about how it all went wrong and Ty Lee did not know how to cope with that fact.
"Don't..." and Zuko was silent again.
But Ty Lee left anyway. She did not know why she was waiting for Azula anyway.
It could have gone another way, though, crept into her mind.
888
Ty Lee lay in bed on Kyoshi Island and tried to replay every moment in she and Azula's relationship over and over again in her mind. First touch, first look, first kiss. Years upon years that could have been a thousand more, in another world.
Alright, let's say...
888
Zuko did not leave during the eclipse. He stayed home and faced the future in front of him. Everything worked out. Everything worked out.
The night after the eclipse, Azula just undid her hair and slipped into the bath to rinse off the sweat from the brilliant things she did. Ty Lee crept inside and refused to leave. Her fingers slipped along Azula's body and she moaned and they did not hide it.
"I loved you. I always loved you," Ty Lee whispered and Azula narrowed her eyes at her for a moment. In a world that was not a construct of imagination Azula would have laughed cruelly and dipped further into the water. Or maybe she would not be so bared in the bath and she would have ordered Ty Lee away.
"I loved you first," Azula murmured, reaching forward, through the steam that pressed against their bodies. And her sharp nails brushed cold against Ty Lee's warm cheeks, her lips following suit.
Their lips met, and they made love and it was not cold, casual sex. Casual sex that left Ty Lee riddled with so much confusion. But it had poignancy, like that night after the bonfire on the beach, the scent of embers and sand in Azula's hair and Ty Lee damp with the incense from the candles she tore from the ceiling.
Later, the war was won. Ty Lee was at Azula's side, with Mai, and they defeated the stupid water girl and Zuko kept the airships running, somehow... Ty Lee was not sure how Zuko managed that feat himself, but maybe he was more powerful in this world. Maybe in this world Ozai showed his love like Azula did, and it was alright.
The years passed, and maybe Azula was Fire Lord... Ty Lee thought she was. Because Zuko stepped aside and he went to Ba Sing Se. No, no, that made no sense. Azula was Phoenix Queen and Ty Lee was beside her, among the city Azula conquered with her own hands, as Ozai retired on Ember Island quietly and Zuko wore the crown.
And maybe they sometimes went on vacations to pretty places, Ty Lee and Mai and Azula and together raised their children who would one day rule the world.
Rulers of the Universe...
Eventually, everyone forgot about the pain. They died a day apart. Azula never ran. Maybe they never let go of each other's hands.
The people never tried to bring Azula down, because she was beautiful and fearsome alike.
888
Ty Lee loses herself in that ridiculous fantasy. She has faint memories of Azula showing her a notebook of exquisite drawings that she made in the shadows of the night, in the light of her own fire. Azula said, quietly, confiding in Ty Lee for the first time, that sometimes fantasy was easier than reality.
And then the other possibility flowed through Ty Lee's mind, searching for something more believable...
888
In Ba Sing Se, Azula struck down the Avatar and the lightning bolt truly killed him. Her promises were no longer empty, and she and Zuko went home as heroes, but this time it was not an hourglass with too little sand, moving too quickly with no one to turn it over and give a second chance.
When Ty Lee moved to kiss Azula in victory, Azula accepted instead of turning away and leaving Ty Lee's lips dragging across her cheekbones. Their lips met and it feels warm and right.
And then nothing hurts. Nothing hurts.
888
That one was more plausible, but Ty Lee still could not fully lose herself in it. It still felt wrong somehow, in a way Ty Lee was not quite sure how to explain.
She felt the sun starting to peek up above the horizon and she did not want it at all. The night needed to last forever, so Ty Lee could dream, awake, and let herself rule that dream-world.
Okay, the next one had to count. It had to.
888
Twelve year old Azula collapsed into Ty Lee's arms after lifting up her hair and showing her best friend the bruises that in reality, Azula hid and lied about and refused to admit. Ty Lee held her and she whispered, "Run away with me. Let's run away together."
And Azula, instead of speaking about how she owed her people, that she was the last remaining heir to the Fire Nation empire, they ran away together.
The history books forgot about them.
888
That one, Ty Lee liked the best.
888
Years later, Azula wound up at home. Ty Lee did not know if it would ever happen, and the thought utterly terrified her. The way she knew, later, after killing her fantasies and focusing on being a Kyoshi Warrior, that she could have remedied their tragic romance was by visiting her in the asylum.
That was the only thought that occasionally caught up with Ty Lee as she threw rocks at the cold water, watching elephant koi and thinking deeply about how things could have gone if Ty Lee had bothered to visit all of the times she promised herself that she would.
Ty Lee was not sure, then, that when Zuko said Azula had asked for her and demanded her in exchange for cooperation, that she had not just sunk into her fantasy permanently.
Azula kissed her until the morning light. There was rage and anger, but it felt perfect.
Ty Lee feared it was a dream, but she did not care.
If it was a dream, she never wanted to wake up.
A/N: I now disclaim that this is a songfic of "Samson" by Regina Spektor (sort of) but I didn't want to say that in the top author's note because I tend not to read songfics, admittedly. I was listening to it and I just thought this is so Tyzula I can't not write about it.