Chapter 3
Who's the Traitor?
Ty Lee's focus was brought back as Mai tugged an her pant leg. "Put… a tourniquet… behind the knee… and groin…"
"R-right!" said Ty Lee as she used one of Mai's kunai to quickly rip two strips off the bed sheet and tied them as tightly as she could to cut off the circulation from Mai's leg.
Just then, Zuko burst into the room. "What's going on in here!" he demanded.
"…um…I…i mean Mai…that is…i didn't mean…" sputtered Ty Lee guiltily, her arms flailing about as if to try and pull some innocent explanation for this grim tableau out of thin air.
"Mai!" gasped Zuko as he saw his collapsed and bandaged girlfriend. "What happened to her Ty Lee!" growled the Fire Prince as he started to rush to Mai's side.
"WAIT!" commanded Ty Lee as she held up her hand in warning, then pointed it toward the shards of glistening glass, the thought of even more victims spurring her to coherence. "Watch out for that glass! It… it might be poisoned!" she warned, quickly backing away from Mai and Zuko. With the corner of one eye she glanced toward the door that was the only exit from the room.
"Poisoned?!" exclaimed Zuko as he made his way to Mai's side. His concern was now enough that he was barely distracted by his girlfriends state of undress, instead quickly zeroing in on the spike impaling her foot. With Zuko focused on Mai, Ty Lee began slowly backing toward the exit.
His eyes narrowing in suspicion, Zuko spun around, catching Ty Lee with his glare, causing her to gulp. "How'd this happen Ty Lee? And why are you trying to sneak out?"
"I, was uh, just going to get help. It was an accident Zuko! Honestly, she dropped the spike on herself!"
"Liar!" accused Zuko as he stood up, a jet of flame arcing out angrily half way toward Ty Lee. "Mai would never be that clumsy! She may have said back at the airbase that we could depend on you, but I know you two have been arguing since then. You did this to her, didn't you?!"
"I didn't mean to! …oops" Ty Lee immediately covered her mouth as she realized she kinda just accidentally confessed.
"Traitor!" roared Zuko, the flames around him flaring up. Ty Lee cringed before the Fire Prince's barely contained fury. This was bad. Zuko wasn't being fair at all. I mean, hanging out with the Gaang had been a lot of fun and all (they certainly were a lot less strict than Azula), but she'd never said she'd started playing for the other team. She'd only helped them attack the air base just in case… Ty Lee halted that train of thought, not wanting to believe it. It wasn't till they'd started heading toward the capital with an army and Aang started having issues about killing the Fire Lord that reality had rather rudely broken through Ty Lee's happy shiny world where she was getting to make lots of interesting new friends and everything was hunky dory.
If anyone was a traitor it was the Fire Prince and Mai. No, it wasn't Mai's fault; Ty Lee couldn't blame her for following her heart. None of this would have happened if Zuko hadn't forced Mai to betray Azula. And why wouldn't he listen to her that it had been an accident? Panicking, Ty Lee bolted for the exit.
Running straight into Suki. Ty Lee bounced off the fully battle dressed leader of the Kyoshi warriors, falling back toward Zuko and barely missing the shattered glass. "You may have fooled my girls, but I knew we couldn't trust you," declared Suki with contempt as she looked down on her past and once again present enemy. Blocking the doorway, Suki pulled out her sword, wanting the weapon that would put the most distance between her and Ty Lee's debilitating pressure point strikes.
"Unfair sniff… you're both so unfair…" whispered Ty Lee as she crawled back onto her knees. "I didn't want any of this to happen." Why was the universe and everybody being so mean to her? Covering her face in her hands, Ty Lee started to sob.
Zuko paused awkwardly in his advance, momentarily caught off guard by Ty Lee's tears. "Would you spare us the melodrama Ty Lee," said Suki in exasperation as she lowered her sword slightly, "you could at least surrender with some dignity."
"Who said anything about surrendering?" warned Ty Lee as she parted her fingers, revealing the bitter smirk behind her hands. Leaping off her hands and into action, she caught both Zuko and Suki flat footed.
"She was faking?" gasped Suki as she swung her sword, but she was to late to stop the acrobat from getting airborne. Spinning a whole rotation in the air, Ty Lee's hands struck down on top of Suki's shoulders, paralyzing them as Ty Lee squeezed the pressure points. By the time Zuko was ready to let loose a fireblast, Ty Lee had already flipped back to her feet behind Suki, providing her cover.
"No, I'm always honest about my feelings," whispered Ty Lee bitterly into Suki's ear. She then shoved Suki forward, toward a charging Zuko… and the shattered glass. Without pausing to see her rivals fate, Tylee bolted for the stairs. Before she could reach them Zuko rushed out into the hallway, determined not to let the acrobat slip away again.
"Halt!" ordered the Fire Prince in warning. Ty Lee ignored him. Focusing all of his anger into a small area of his palm, and then expanding it all at once with a sharp exhalation, Zuko unleashed a cone of flame, which widened out to fill the whole cramped hallway as it sped toward Ty Lee. This time she had no cover, and no room to dodge. So Ty Lee dove through a window.
Arms crossed in front of her face, Ty Lee only got a few cuts as she broke through the glass. Unfortunately for her, the building that bordered the other side of the alleyway did considerably more damage when she lowered her arms just in time to see and smack face first into it. Stunned, the acrobat fell two stories, landing in the trash that the hole-in-the-wall inn carelessly dumped into the alleyway.
"Oh, gross," moaned Ty Lee as she brushed herself off and regained her bearings. To her surprise, Zuko hadn't shown up yet. At least something was finally going her way thought the fugitive as she ran off into the night.
Still, she grimaced at the thought of what Zuko was going to tell the others. That she was a traitor who'd killed Mai. Darting into another alleyway, Ty Lee paused to catch her breath. They were all probably going to feel betrayed and hate her now. The Kyoshi warriors whom she'd befriended in prison. Katara, her former rival who'd been wary of her at first, but had started to warm up to her when they'd fought together at the airbase. Sokka, with all his awful jokes and who'd got so cute and flustered whenever she'd flirt with him. All those potential friendships, surely being destroyed this moment by Zuko's slander. Starting to tear up, Ty Lee couldn't bear the thought of it, and started back toward the inn to defend herself.
No. What am I thinking? Thought Ty Lee as she stopped in her tracks. They'll never listen to me over Zuko. He may be jumping to conclusions, but it doesn't change that he's right about the most important thing; it's my fault what happened to Mai. pleasedon'tletherbedead pleasedon'tletherbedead. It's unforgivable. But what do I do now? I just want to curl up in a ball and cry!
Ty Lee knew she had to keep moving though, wandering aimlessly through the capital, her last argument and it's tragic consequences playing over and over in her head. "You're too innocent. If you have misgivings no one will think less of you for not joining the battle. For your own good you should leave the capital. Go rejoin the circus."
"We could at least try talking to her Mai! Deep down I'm sure she wants to forgive her friends and brother."
"You seem to be forgetting that you're on her shit list too. She's been getting more ruthless and unhinged… you'd be a fool to expect mercy from a heartless bitch like her."
"I'm sorry Mai," apologized Ty Lee as she looked up toward the caldera where the Royal Palace sat. "I know you were trying to look out for me, but I'm going to be a fool again. I guess I don't really have many, or maybe even any, friends left. But I can't stand by while another one of my closest friends is in danger."
Azula may be getting more dangerous and unhinged, but that's my fault too. It must have hurt so bad when I turned on her to protect Mai. She's all alone now, just like me; everyone's betrayed and abandoned her. That's why she needs a friend at her side more than ever! Her resolve regained, and ignoring the little voice in the back of her head whispering that Azula was quite likely to try and kill rather than forgive, Ty Lee took off toward the Royal Palace, hoping she'd be in time to… well, she wasn't really sure what she was hoping for, just that she was hoping, and hopefully that would be enough.
Boring Author Notes: This chapter benefited immensely from revising, so I'm glad I didn't try and rush it out. I think, at least for now, that I'm going to try and pace myself at a chapter every other week. RL leaves me with only marginal time for writing practice like this, though I've been pretty good about making daily progress, because I want to get better at writing, and you need consistent practice if you're serious about improving.
Now that Ty Lee's interlude is done, the action will shift back to Azula and Katara in Chapter 4: Showdown's Stage. I hope you look forward to it, and thanks for reading. Reviews and constructive critique's are much appreciated.