So after a very good point brought up by a reviewer I decided to give a new chapter instead of revamping the old. I hope you enjoy.
I do not own ATLA... Or else I would be rich
Ty Lee lay in the gorgeous canopied bed of her Fire Palace room and hated it. She hated the canopy. She hated the mahogany vanity. She hated the rich black marble floors. She hated the red ceiling. She hated the gentle lulling of the fire-crickets that wafted in from the royal gardens below. She hated the lingering smell of burning cinnamon bark. And she especially hated the pink painted walls. But what she hated most of all were the memories.
After seeing the Princess for the first time in a year, Ty Lee had freaked out. A nasty voice in the back of her head that sounded like a very irritated Zuko thought it was fitting that the circus freak had well…freaked. The rest of her did not find the scenario nearly as funny. And now she couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened.
"What did happen anyways?" Ty Lee huffed at the bloody ceiling.
She couldn't figure it out. Why had all of this happened? It shouldn't have happened. Not to Azula. She was strong. Ty Lee was the weak one.
Where had it gone wrong?
Ty Lee had been wracking her memories ever since she had arrived back to the palace a blubbering mess. It was lucky that Azula had shown her all those secret tunnels that not even Mai or Zuko knew about. It was one of their secret adventures, and just another memory that plagued Ty that night.
She had collapsed under the weight of those memories as soon as she had successfully navigated her way through the secret passages that allowed her to cry without interference from any of her celebrating friends. It was after all the first night of the official celebrations and she did not want to bring her friends down nor did she really want company. All she wanted, all she did was to curl up into a sobbing ball in her once beloved canopy bed, and hate everything.
She had to hate. She could not admit to herself that she needed to remember. Hating the things that brought on the painful memories was so much easier than thinking about them. Feelings were always more important to Ty Lee anyways. She had to block out the pain. She had to forget. She had to move one. She had to hate…
But hating was never something that Ty Lee could really do. It went against everything she was.
She tried anyways. Scrunching up her eyes to glare at the room, she wished she could incinerate the offending objects with her expression. Her eyes shifted from spot to spot burning away the memories attached to each location until her eyes landed on the pink walls.
That memory was too strong for her. Cooling tears soothed the pitiful attempt at fire in her eyes as she traveled back to another time.
"Oh 'Zula! Isn't it perfect?" A thirteen-year-old Ty Lee exclaimed.
A rather unimpressed thirteen-year-old Princess rolled her eyes before asking the most obvious question, "Ty Lee where did you even find such a ridiculous shade of pink?"
Ty Lee laughed at her grumpy friend. She always was a stick in the mud anymore, but Ty Lee just knew that painting her Fire Palace room would get Azula to bust out of her grouchy bubble she appeared to have moved into.
"Oh come on 'Zula, you promised you'd help me paint the room whatever color I wanted."
"Yes I did, but I don't even think that's a real color." Azula glared at the offending shade of garish pink in the paint bucket before turning her eyes back to Ty Lee. She really should have known better.
Ty Lee pulled out her infamous pout before simply whining, "You promised, 'Zula"
Oh how Azula hated that pout. She really could not understand how it managed to work. Perhaps one day she could figure out a way to weaponize it. Then the Earth Kingdom would bow before her.
"Ok ok a deal is a deal I suppose. Just remember you are not to annoy me for the remainder of the week about how I do not spend enough time with you."
Ty Lee smiled extra wide to hide how much that statement had hurt her. It was a very painful deal to make, but one did not get anything from Azula without giving something in return…at least not anymore.
She had not meant to annoy her Princess, but she had been so busy lately. The Fire Lord had been getting more and more pushy in Ty's opinion, but Azula enjoyed it. All she wanted was for Azula to laugh with her like they use to. She was gambling that this little painting session would remind her friend of all the fun they had had together over the years, and she would come back to her.
"Okie dokie smokey, let's get painting 'Zula!"
Ty Lee pulled two rather large paintbrushes out from behind her back and threw one at Azula. Azula deftly caught her brush and sighed as Ty began to dip her brush into the…paint, if it could be called that.
"Alright let's get this over with. I have important documents to get back to."
Ty Lee swallowed the lump in her throat. This would work. It had to work.
The girls worked diligently for a couple hours smearing the brightest pink that Azula had ever had the misfortune of seeing on the once blood red walls. Personally Azula had enjoyed the red. Red was the color of power and victory. She never did understand Ty Lee's slight dislike for the color.
Azula pondered on it for a while and finally decided to ask. After all they had barely said anything and Azula was extremely bored. Why not learn something?
"So Ty Lee, not that I don't appreciate your…interesting choice of color scheme, but what exactly was wrong with the wall color before?"
Ty Lee was delighted that Azula had volunteered to start a conversation herself. Ty had been failing at it for well over two hours. Maybe her plan would start to work now.
"Well there wasn't anything wrong with it. I just felt like changing it and well you know how much I love pink…"
Azula smirked at that. "Oh really? I had not noticed." Rolling her eyes, Azula continued, "But really now Ty, why do you love pink so much more than red?"
Ty Lee sucked on her teeth as she executed another graceful stroke of the brush. She had never really had a very long awkward phase of growing into her body. Grace was her nature, but multitasking was not.
"Um… What'cha say 'Zula?"
Azula rolled her eyes again. She so hated repeating herself, but this was Ty after all.
"Why do you like pink more than red? I mean red is one of the colors of the Fire Nation."
Ty Lee stopped painting so she could think clearly. After all the real reason for this painting session was to get Azula talking. She had to pay attention and give Azula an answer that wouldn't bore the easily disinterested girl. However, truthfully she had not really questioned her color choices. Pink was the color of her aura when she was happy, but she guessed it was more than that.
"I guess that's kinda why I don't like it."
"What?" Azula's brows scrunched together into a confused scowl as she expanded on her primarily shocked question, "You do not like the Fire Nation? That is rather unpatriotic of you, Ty Lee." Azula did not like the sound of Ty's answer, and she knew her father would like it even less if he found out.
Ty Lee giggled a little at the dumbfounded expression on her friend's face. It was not a look she got to see often.
"No no, silly! I love the Fire Nation. It's just that red is everywhere, you know? I like things that are unique. Like pinks and blues…"
Azula internally sighed in relief and relaxed her face back to its normal smug neutral expression before she realized that Ty Lee had said a second color. She had not known that Ty Lee liked blues. She never wore any after all. It was a mystery and Azula only liked mysteries if she was behind them.
"Blues? Why blues?"
Luckily Ty Lee had turned back to the wall or else Azula would have seen how well her blush matched the still red ceiling. Ty Lee cleared her suddenly blocked throat and answered her Princess in her fakest indifferent voice, "Um well yah… Well you see it's the color of your fire, and well I've never seen anything else like it. So um yah it's unique and everything. So yah that's why I like blues."
If Ty had not been attempting to stare a hole into her freshly painted wall she would have seen something almost unbelievable. Azula was blushing.
"Ahem… Well I suppose that makes sense."
They both then lapsed into a strained silence as they continued to work. Every so often one would stare at the other only to look away quickly when their eyes met. Azula scolded herself each time it happened. Mai might have been the stealth specialist of their group, but Azula was no slouch. She knew better than to look away so quickly as it would draw attention to the fact that she had not just been innocently glancing, but instead staring at the back of her friend's head as if she expected the answers to her new questions to leap out of Ty's braid.
Finally they had finished the walls, and Azula was more than happy to beat a strategic retreat. However Ty Lee was not about to let her plan be ruined by a stumbling block. She was a tumbler after all.
"Well that was fun. Now if you don't mind, Ty Lee, I must get to that paperwork."
Ty Lee thought faster than she ever had before. Something told her that if she let Azula walk out the door right now she would never again get to see her friend like she had before all the Fire Lord's work had driven them apart. She couldn't let that happen.
As Azula grabbed ahold of the doorknob Ty Lee screamed at the top of her lungs, "Azula wait!"
The Fire Princess nearly twitched, but her superb muscular control did not let her. She needed to get back to work, not get her ears blasted out by her suddenly very confusing friend.
"What Ty Lee?" A very cross Azula came very close to raising her voice, but she had not done so in a long while...not ever since her mother had left.
Ty Lee wringed her hands together and looked up to pray to Agni for an idea. She guessed Agni was listening as an idea hit her upturned eyes. She grinned so wide that Azula feared that she had finally come unhinged.
"The ceiling!"
Azula looked at her friend with concern as she realized that there was no need to fear. Her friend was completely crazy.
"Yes, Ty Lee. That is the ceiling. Now if you don't mind…"
Azula nearly rushed to her friend as the sound of Ty's laughter filled the room. She had cracked more fully than a lychee nut under the pressure of her finely manicured nails.
Ty grabbed her sides when she saw the horror-struck expression on Azula's face. Her friend had not been this expressive in ages, and it was all too much. Finally Ty Lee settled down and explained herself.
"I know, silly. That's not what I meant. I was saying that we still need to paint the ceiling."
Azula looked around the room for a ladder or some other device that would get them to the ceiling. She, of course, found none.
Azula gripped the bridge of her nose and forced her annoyance down a little before deciding that she needed to put Ty Lee back into her place. She had obviously been too over-indulgent of late if Ty honestly thought that Azula was going to paint a ceiling; let alone do it without a ladder.
"Ty Lee, I have work to finish. By Agni woman I am not about to paint your ceiling. Even if you had a ladder I would not do it. Painting the walls was a job for servants as it was. I am a princess damn it, Ty Lee! I do not do remedial labor. I fulfilled my end of the bargain. Now it is time for you to do the same."
And with that Azula whipped around and wrenched the door open. As she lifted one booted foot to cross the threshold she heard a very disturbing sound, a sound that ripped at a hollow spot in her chest.
It could not be.
Azula turned back around to face her worst fear. There, with her head down and a watery substance dripping down her face, was a sobbing Ty Lee.
Ty Lee had tried to hold back the floodgates, but it was all too much. She had failed. She had failed so utterly and completely. It was hopeless and she now knew it. Her friend was not her friend anymore. That sweet misunderstood girl in the garden that told her that she needed her didn't need her anymore. Ty Lee the acrobat had lost her center of gravity. What was she suppose to do now?
Azula sighed, shut the door, and readjusted her bangs. She had no clue what she was supposed to do. All she knew was that she had to make that sound stop. She had to shrink the rapidly growing puddle of tears on the black marble back to nothing, and quickly.
She took a few hesitant steps toward the sobbing figure of her best friend, and did something that surprised them both: she gently grasped Ty Lee's chin. Ever so slowly she lifted her friend's face until gold gazed into gray. Careful of her talons, Azula lightly brushed away the tear trails on Ty Lee's face with her free hand. She couldn't stand the sight of those tears, not on her face.
"Hey there Ty." Azula smirked at her friend softly and was reward with a small hiccupping laugh from Ty.
"I'm sorry. I'm just under a bit of stress, you know? Father expects so much and I cannot fail him. I should not have snapped at you. Now how exactly do you want us to go about painting this ceiling?"
Ty Lee sniffed one last time, and then her smile came out like the sun after a storm. Azula had apologized. Azula never apologized. Maybe everything was going to workout after all.
"Well I thought maybe you could balance on the chair while a balanced on your shoulders. I figured it could be like a bit of training as well. I know how much you love to train."
Azula shook her head at her foolish friend. It was a bad plan, a very bad plan. However Azula didn't want to hurt her friend anymore, so she did the only thing she could.
"Which chair?"
Ty Lee fiercely hugged her friend and quickly leapt back to grab a chair, leaving a blushing Azula in her wake.
"Here! This one will work perfectly."
Azula stared at the wing-backed armchair and seriously doubted that it was perfect for anything besides being next to the tiny fireplace, but she had already committed to the plan. She might as well go all the way.
Azula leapt onto the back of the chair balancing perfectly on its high curved ledge. Ty Lee, not wanting to unbalance her Princess, carefully climbed up the chair and then her friend. They both embarrassedly looked away from each other as Ty accidentally rubbed up against Azula as she was climbing her friend with bucket and brush in hand. Once Ty Lee had made it to Azula's shoulders she reached down into the paint bucket and pulled out her brush.
As Ty reached up to begin her first stroke the chair gave a mournful creak as if to apologize for what came next.
The chair was too old to hold up the two youngsters and the back legs gave out with a crack. Azula might have been able to save her pride by flipping of the back of the chair if Ty Lee had not been on her shoulders, but as it was Azula began to fall with the chair. Ty Lee who had just touched the brush to the ceiling left a streak of pink as her arm flailed in a futile attempt to regain some form of balance. Her acrobatic instincts kicked in literally as she pushed off of her failing platform that just so happened to be a Fire Nation Princess in this case, which propelled Azula faster towards the unforgiving marble floor. To add insult to injury Ty Lee's next automatic reaction was to let go of the paint bucket and brush so she could land into her body's planned handspring. The paint spilled all over Azula as she dazedly gazed at what she had thought was the most repulsively colored cloud she had ever seen.
Ty Lee landed on her hunches a good five feet away from the scene of destruction. She quickly turned to take in the aftermath. The wing-backed chair had been totaled, which was sad, as it was now a very nice shade of pink. Ty Lee then noticed that the pink paint was everywhere including on a weird shaped log on the floor. When the log groaned Ty Lee felt a rush of panic flood her system. She had just possibly killed her friend…and that same most likely dead friend was not going to be happy about the shade change.
Ty Lee ran to her now pink friend and grabbed what she assumed was Azula's pink head.
"Azula! Are you ok? Speak to me!" It was one of the few times that Ty had ever given an order in her life and she had never wanted it to be obeyed like she had now.
The pink Azula formerly known as the pink log simply groaned before sitting up.
"Damn it Ty Lee. That is the last time I ever let you talk me into a bad idea."
Ty Lee had to stifle her giggles as her friend turned to look at her.
"Tehehe… Ahem I mean are you ok 'Zula? Ha!"
Azula glared at her strange friend before answering, "Please Ty, I've had worse than that. Now what is so funny?"
Ty Lee could no longer hold her laughter back and she collapsed into a giggling pile of goo. Azula stared at her friend as the world started to come back into focus. As it did Azula began to notice a very unpleasant feeling as if she was coated in something wet and sticky. Fearing for a second that her forehead was bleeding and that's why Ty had dissolved into hysterics, Azula haphazardly stood up and zig-zagged her way to the mirror. What she saw there was worse than any bloody wound.
"Damn all the spirits and Agni! I'm pink!"
Ty Lee who had slowly been regaining control of herself broke down once again. Azula narrowed her eyes at the laughing acrobat.
"Do you find this situation funny, Ty?" Azula's sickly sweet tone dripped into Ty Lee's ears like acid. She knew she was in big trouble.
Finally regaining control of herself at the sound of Azula's threatening tone, Ty Lee sat up and gulped. This would not end well.
"Ummm…A little?"
"Oh really?"
"Yes?"
"Well let's see how well you like it."
And with that Azula launched her paint-drenched body at Ty Lee who barely had time to stand. When Azula's tackle made contact they were both flung into Ty Lee's gratefully sheet-covered bed. Azula pinned Ty Lee's arms down to the bed and growled above her.
"And how do you like it, Ty?"
Before Ty Lee's brain could even process what had just happened or where she was her mouth answered for her, "Very much."
Those two words sobered Azula and allowed some of her reasoning skills to return to her. She suddenly noticed the predicament her temper had led her to. Maybe Mai was right…Her temper would be her downfall.
Azula attempted to get off her friend as fast as she could only to realize once her face had managed to land on Ty Lee's quickly maturing chest that her legs were quite tangled up in Ty Lee's. This was not good…Was it?
Ty Lee looked down at the top of Azula's head. The sight was definitely not unappealing. However, she did not want Azula to kill her so she figured she should help her friend up. As she tried to shift Azula off of her so that they could free their wayward limbs, Ty overcompensated her balance and ended up rolling on top of a very stunned Princess.
Not knowing what to say to diffuse the very confusing situation, Ty Lee said the first thing that came to mind, "Ummm… Hello there Azula?"
Azula very slowly came out of shock. Those gray eyes so close mixed with the warming pressure of Ty's body on top of her own had sapped the last of her intelligence. It was all too much. It was like she was seeing her Ty for the first time in a long time, and it unsettled her to the core.
"Hello Ty Lee."
The soft voice that answered Ty's strange greeting was so different from what she was use to hearing leave Azula's mouth that Ty took a moment to really study the Princess. It was after all both the best and most inappropriate time to do so.
The Princess' usually indifferent and closed off face was different. Her defenses were down for once in a very long time. Ty Lee could finally decipher the golden orbs that so distracted her waking thoughts. There, hidden in the molten depths, was both fear and need. They were locked in a struggle for dominance and the fear was obviously winning.
Ty Lee was losing. She had to do something and she had to do it now.
Desperation overrode Ty's brain and worked directly with her body. She leaned in to drown the fear. Azula needed her and she would give Azula everything she needed.
Their lips ghosted across each other, a light touch that would haunt them forever. It was the faintest trace of pressure, but it was enough to trigger the trap of Azula's mind.
Azula shoved against Ty Lee, but Ty was not about to lose. She could not lose this fight simply because it was not her fight. This was Azula's fight and she would not let her Princess lose. After all Azula had already lost her mother and her free will. Ty Lee would not let Azula lose her heart to the fear, and if she relinquished her hold on the need in her eyes Ty knew that's exactly what would happen.
Ty Lee deepened the kiss and poured her soul into the embrace. Ty felt Azula shift her hands from pushing on her shoulders to pulling on them. She shuddered as she allowed herself to be pulled tighter against her Princess' lips. She closed her eyes and let Azula's lips tell her more than the hidden depths of her eyes would ever give away.
Azula's mind had surrender when she felt Ty Lee intensify the kiss. The only thing left for Azula to do was to let her body do the thinking. It felt like all her nerves were on fire. She burned, and she loved it. There was only one thing wrong with the situation in her body's opinion.
Suddenly Ty's world rolled around much to her stomach's delight. She could feel the soft yet firm plush of her bed under her back and the delicious weight of her Princess bearing down on her. It seemed as if Azula had decided that she would be in control of this burning embrace.
The only sounds in the room were the gasps of sharply inhaled breaths whenever one of them would run out of breath and low moans as they gave into the fire. Unfortunately, two short raps on the door all too soon interrupted those sounds.
The knock managed to knock Azula's brain back into function as she quickly shoved her panting friend away from her and looked down to adjust her clothing. Flinching at the pink-coated cloth, Azula determinedly strode to the door and flung it open.
Standing in the doorway was the Fire Lord's head manservant. Azula knew she was in trouble.
The servant rose a quizzical brow at the paint soaked Princess before bowing. With an imperial wave of her hand, Azula dismissed the gesture and allowed the man to straighten his back as far as his advanced age would allow.
"Princess Azula, the Fire Lord requests your presences at once."
Azula hid her grimace with years of practice as she answered in her most disinterested tone. "Very well. I will be there shortly. Allow me to change into more suitable attire and then I will seek my father out in his study as I am sure that is where he is. Please relay the message as such to the Fire Lord."
"Yes, that would seem advisable under the present…circumstances. I will do as instructed. Farewell Princess Azula."
And with a final bow he strode out of the doorway toward his master's study leaving tension in his wake.
Azula sighed and grimaced down at her ruined outfit one last time before she began to turn around to face the source of all her current troubles. She struggled to keep composed as she saw the happy, vulnerable gleam in her…friend's eyes.
The silence engulfed Azula as for once she was at a loss for words. Ty Lee saw her Princess struggling and immediately bounded to her side to comfort her. She put her arms around Azula's neck and felt her Princess stiffen against her embrace.
"Ty Lee…I have to go."
Ty looked into Azula's eyes and saw that the fear was back and winning again. Maybe she was wrong to think that a silly kiss would change anything.
Ty Lee had lost.
Ty let her Princess go and said the only thing she could.
"Ok 'Zula. I'll be here."
Azula merely nodded her head. And with that she spun on her heel and left a devastated Ty Lee in her wake.
Ty Lee came back to herself to find that not much had changed from that fateful memory to this moment. The walls were still coated in pink and Ty was still smothered by a loss.
In fact the only real change in the room was that someone had to have covered up the pink swath across the ceiling in much the same way that Azula had covered up herself after that one intimate moment. Ty Lee remember how after that kiss Azula went out of her way to ignore her, only standing her friend's company if cornered. It was the final straw for Ty Lee.
Looking around the room now Ty's eyes fell on a small wooden box decorated in a fire lily motif. Forcing herself out of her bed, she made her way to the vanity the small container was perched on. Undoing the latch slowly, Ty Lee gently lifted the lid and gazed down at the material manifestation of the cause of everything.
It had been an especially cold winter night in the Palace. There had even been excited whispers going around the Palace staff that there might even be a rare frost overnight. Azula couldn't understand what they were so excited about. She hated the cold as any good fire bender would.
Oh yes, she hated the cold as it was the reason she had been having so much trouble sleeping of late.
That was a good excuse, but not the real reason and Azula hated the truth even more. What had really been keeping her up on those cold winter nights was the thought of a certain gray-eyed acrobat and how much warmer it would be to snuggle up next to her.
But such thoughts were strictly forbidden, as they would only serve to distract her from the work her father entrusted her with. Azula absentmindedly rubbed her finally healed shoulder. She had already paid the price for giving into them once.
Still the knowledge that she had been hurting her little acrobat by constantly ignoring the girl was a price all of its own. It was this knowledge that kept her up at night as she struggled to decide which payment was higher: her father's disapproval or Ty Lee's pain?
She had finally come to a decision the night before all the whispers about Agni's punishment to fire benders: the accursed frost. It was time to set things to rights with the little acrobat and she hoped the object tucked away in her sash would do just that. Now the only problem was getting it to her and having time to talk to her uninterrupted. That left a late night stealth operation as her only option.
Azula crept through the secret tunnels that her and Ty had explored as children and finally reached Ty Lee's room.
Azula, not wishing to alert the guards, skipped the formality of knocking on her acrobat's door just this once. Instead she reached for the handle only to find it was locked.
A cross Azula whispered some choice words that she had picked up from spying on the kitchen staff. Of course this would be the one night that the normally trusting-to-a-fault acrobat locked her door.
Azula sighed and glanced around. There were no guards on either side of the hall, so Azula decided to risk knocking on the door instead of trying again some other night or more likely just melting the door handle.
Azula lightly tapped on her friend's door. Luckily, Ty Lee was apparently up and awake as the door quickly swung open. Not so luckily, Azula was surprised when a well-aimed chi-blocking blow came dangerously close to her face. The Princess managed to lean into a low backbend just in time to avoid Ty's powerful knuckles. Had it been anyone else Azula doubted they would have been able to dodge such an attack.
Azula let loose a smug smile as she let gravity take control. The little acrobat lunged through the thin air where she could've sworn a palace guard had been before. Azula caught the weight of her own fall with her hands and forced her body into a forward mule kick. The Princess' legs found the center of the intended target and forced Ty Lee's outstretched body into the opposite direction of her lunge. The momentum of the kick carried the little acrobat to the center of the room as Azula gracefully flung her body into it as well.
Crouched on her hunches, Azula quickly rose and shut the door behind her. The entire exchange had taken place in a split second, but the Princess was not going to risk being caught by a guard now.
Ty Lee lay on her back staring up at a swath of pink against a red ceiling. She was completely winded. Azula would not be pleased to hear how a lowly palace night guard had defeated her. Slowly she rose from her spot on the floor. She would not be beat that easily.
When the acrobat had finally picked herself up and found her would-be victim, the air from her lungs left her again.
"Azula! What are you doing here?"
There the Princess stood against the door inspecting the nails of her left hand.
"It's good to see you too, Ty Lee. I especially enjoyed your greeting."
Ty Lee blushed before she stuttered out a reply, "Ummm… I thought you were a pa-pa-palace guard. You, you aren't supposed to be here. Not tonight."
Ty Lee looked from the still leaning Princess to the wide open window and back again. Azula noticed right away that her Ty was, well, not her Ty at the moment. She followed Ty Lee's wayward glance towards the window and spied the unassuming bag on the floor. Suddenly it was hard to breathe.
Azula pushed herself away from the door and slowly stalked across the room. Finally she reached her prey. Bending down, she lifted the offending bag off the floor and merely stared at it. Suddenly she didn't feel like the predator anymore.
"I never thought you'd actually do it," Azula gazed at the bag in her talons as she continued to softly muse to herself. "All those years talking about running away to the circus and I never thought you'd do it."
Swiftly Azula threw the bag against the wall. The muffled thump was soon followed up by mumbled words.
"You weren't even going to say goodbye…Just like mother."
Ty Lee's mouth went dry as the Princess began to cackle. There was something off about the laughter that was spilling uncontrollably out of Azula's mouth. It was too hard and cold, like ice shattering against a rock.
Finally the laughter stopped, but the silence did not last. Azula spun on her heel and marched toward the stunned Ty Lee. The hard heels of her boots and ragged breathing filled the silence.
She came face to face with Ty Lee who instinctively began to back away, but with the speed of lightning Azula struck outward and trapped Ty's wrist in her claw. She drew the acrobat to her.
Eye to eye at last, the Fire Princess breathed in and breathed out, "Are you leaving me?"
Ty Lee was shocked. She could not understand the swiftness of the world around her. She had told no one of her plans tonight. The circus was in town for the last night and this was her only chance. She had not thought Azula would come tonight. She had not thought Azula would ever come again. She had thought she'd lost her, but here she was eye-to-eye, face-to-face, almost lip-to…
"Are you leaving me!"
Azula's eye's blazed over as she roared out her question. She snapped Ty's wrist backward, forcing the young acrobat to her knees. The Fire Princess raised her other flaming fist.
"Are you LEAVING ME!" She bellowed like a beast. She had to know.
"Yes," came the quiet reply from the bowing girl in pink.
Abruptly the sounds of harsh breathing and hissing flames were swallowed up by the plop of tears hitting the marbled floors. Ty Lee balled up her free hand against the cold and now wet floor and threw back her head to give her captor a watery glare the Princess would never forget.
"Yes, I'm leaving, but I'm not leaving you. I can't leave you, Princess, because you've already left me. I've waited and waited for you to come back…But you never did and now I know you never will."
Azula looked down into Ty Lee's stormy grey eyes and saw emotions swimming in them she had seen a thousand times before: fear, pain, and anger. She knew this pattern. It wouldn't be too much longer before hatred overflowed those slate orbs. It had happened to everyone she knew except Ty Lee.
She couldn't take that look from her, not her.
The Fire Princess was use to people hating her. They thought she was a monster to be feared and these pathetic people always hated what they feared. Even her own mother hated the monster, but Azula didn't mind. She enjoyed being feared and hated. She reveled in her monstrosity because it was what gave her power.
But now that the monster had finally tamed the last human in its life, Azula didn't feel powerful. On the contrary, she felt small and weak.
Gazing into Ty Lee's eyes something inside Azula snapped. Her fire died out and her knees failed her. She could no longer look into those eyes. She feared that at any second the hatred would rise to the top of Ty's eyes, and she could not stand it if she hated her.
Ty stared in amazement as the Princess' fire went out. She had thought for sure that her little speech had earned her a lasting scar. As Azula's knees slammed to the unforgiving marble floor, followed quickly by the release of her bruised wrist, Ty Lee could not help but raise her eyebrows. Her face had no expression for what came next.
Slowly, as if Azula was waging war with her stiffened posture, she placed her finely manicured hands and then her feverishly hot forehead on the cold floor. There, in front of the acrobat's stunned eyes, was the Fire Princess bowing prostrate before a lowly noble. Besides her father, Azula bowed to no one and yet here she was in the lowliest form of prostration in front of an aspiring runaway.
"Forgive me, Ty Lee."
If the bowing had stunned her mind those four words shocked Ty's heart into stillness. Azula rarely apologized and those rare words were always enough to earn Ty Lee's grace.
Slowly Ty Lee inched her hand forward until her fingertips gently brushed Azula's sculpted chin. The wetness she found there surprised Ty Lee so much that she nearly yanked her hand away. She had never seen Azula cry before.
Ty Lee drew in a settling breath and gently raised her Princess' chin. After what seemed like an eternity their eyes finally met. The tears fell down from gold and grey eyes alike. A gentle smile dawned upon Ty's face.
"I forgive you, 'Zula."
And with that the little acrobat drew her Princess into her and held her tight. It was one of the only moments of peace Azula had ever known. Her mind quieted and her heart sang. She had never felt like this before. She wanted it to last forever, but after a few minutes reality began to set back in.
Azula now knew that she could not live with Ty Lee's hatred. Unfortunately, she also knew that if she forced Ty Lee to stay with her the acrobat would eventually come to hate the Princess. There was only one thing to do.
The Fire Princess reluctantly pulled away from Ty Lee's embrace and pulled them both to their feet.
Still holding onto her acrobat's hands, Azula swallowed her fear and said, "Well then...The circus?"
Ty Lee looked down at the puddle still on the floor made from both their tears, "Yes, Princess. I need to get out of here. My mother is pushing for me to start finding suitors like my sisters, father can't tell me apart from my sisters, Mai is too busy moping since Zuko, and well..." She paused to look into Azula's eyes. It was clear to them both that the next person she was going to list was the Princess. She continued, "Besides, it's what I've always wanted and this is my last chance. Please understand 'Zula!"
Azula sighed as she looked at the begging face of her acrobat. She knew what she had to do.
Putting on the falsest smile she would ever wear, Azula squeezed her friend's hands and said, "I understand, Ty Lee. It is time for you to leave, but before you leave I have a small token so you won't forget that you are a noble amongst commoners."
Azula dropped one of Ty Lee's hands and pulled her gift out of her sash. She presented the present to Ty Lee who took it into both her hands and marveled at it.
It was a gorgeous finely wrought choker necklace made by two elegantly thin strands of silver and gold looping around each other. Inlayed within each open loop between the two strands were alternating sapphires and pink rubies. Ty Lee ran her fingers lightly along first the gold band then the silver, stopping at each gem to trace its outline. It was the most breathtaking piece of jewelry she had ever seen let alone owned.
Azula watched as the still stunned acrobat turned the necklace over and over again in her hands. It was overwhelming and yet again the Princess was losing her emotional balance in front of her Ty Lee. The silence was too much so she had to speak.
"The royal jeweler can do magnificent work rather quickly when he has the right incentive."
The awe easily flowed from Ty Lee's voice as she asked, "You had this commissioned?"
"Well of course I did. I wanted the silver for your eyes and the gold for mine. As for the gems, you did say blue and pink were your favorite color. My idea was perfect, so obviously I had to have it commissioned." Azula looked at Ty reproachfully for such a stupid question before she sheepishly asked, "You like, do you not?"
Ty Lee's smile broke out in its widest rendition to date, before she answered, "Yes! It's perfect 'Zula! Can you help me put it on?"
Azula nodded stiffly and took the necklace from Ty Lee's hands. They both walked to Ty Lee's vanity and stood before it. Azula quickly swept Ty's braid out of her way and clasped the necklace into place. It was stunning as it hugged her acrobat's graceful neck.
Azula's hands lingered on Ty's neck for longer than they had to and they both knew it, and so Ty Lee turned to face her Princess. She stared into the still glistening gold eyes and leaned forward to capture Azula's lips. Azula wrapped her arms around the acrobat's lower back and pulled her into her own body. Ty Lee's hands fisted into cloth of Azula's shirt.
They stayed that way for an indeterminable amount of time, but finally Azula sighed and pushed away from Ty Lee. Picking up the once thrown pack and handing it to Ty Lee, Azula said, "It's time for you to go, Ty Lee."
The surprise and confusion were written all over the acrobat's open face.
"What do you mean, 'Zula?"
Azula grounded her teeth together as she forced herself to keep her composure.
"The sun will be up soon, and you need to be out of the palace before then if you plan on ever making it to the circus."
The look of surprise and confusion turned into to one of deep hurt as the acrobat asked yet another question, "You want me to leave to go join the circus?"
"Well of course. That is what you wanted, is it not? I won't stop you. Besides, it's for the best. You are just a distraction and I can't give you what you want."
Azula's heart broke as the tears fell from Ty Lee's face yet again. She knew she was hurting the little acrobat, but it was for her own good. Soon she would grow to resent and hate Azula. The only way to keep her Ty Lee was for Azula to let her go.
Ty lee, completely oblivious to Azula's inner dialogue, felt completely lost. She had felt the love in Azula's kiss. She knew the Princess loved her, but these other words and actions were too much. She had to leave.
Ty Lee walked up to Azula's outstretched hand and took the pack. She walked past Azula and hopped onto the windowsill, but before she jumped she turned back one last time to stare at the back of her Princess.
"I love you, 'Zula."
And with that she jumped from the ledge and into her life as a circus acrobat.
With Azula's back turned to her she never did see the tears streak down the Princess face as her heart burned up for the last time.
Ty Lee traced her hand over that beautiful necklace, and sighed.
It had taken her many months to understand Azula's strange behavior on that night, but she had finally understood. Azula had been afraid to love her and so she had let Ty Lee go.
Leaving that night was Ty Lee's single greatest regret. She had given up on her Princess that night, and it had changed them both forever.
Ty Lee slammed the lid shut on the memory and made a vow to herself.
She would not fail Azula again. She would see her Princess through this. She would return to the detention center tomorrow, and she would stay for a full visit.
She had made mistakes, but she was going to fix them.
She would fix Azula.
Well it sure has been awhile. Hope y'all enjoyed.
R&R if you will.
Peace!
