A/N: I loved you with a fire red, now it's turning blue. Love and be loved. Read… and review!
Screeching into the Nothing
"What is she doing?" She shouts angrily.
"Uh-nuh?" Ty Lee shrugs.
Azula stands on the edge of the drifting gondola and watches. Mai is fighting every prison guard who gets anywhere near the line. She is actively enabling Zuko's escape. She's letting all of them get away. She watches as some guards finally get the best of her. They grab her wrists and lock her down, incapacitating her and keeping her still.
As they approach the landing, Ty Lee can only look at Azula. Her aura can not be tamed. It rages and flickers across different shades and colors, dramatically switching with force. It goes from golden to dark green to a shade of grey. As they reach their destination though, it finally settles on burning, dark blue. She swears for just a second it was... black.
The two teens hop down off of the gondola and then stand diametrically opposed to the third member of their former traveling party. Two guards hold Mai's hands behind her back. Azula will handle this herself.
"Leave us alone."
They quickly exit without a word of disagreement. Azula stares down her childhood friend, while Ty Lee stands at the side, slightly behind the recently reappointed "Crown" Princess. She narrows her eyes.
"I never expected this from you," she spits out.
Ty Lee looks between the two, her hands clasped in front of her face. They had never been as close to each other as each one was with Ty Lee, but she never thought they'd reach a physical confrontation like this. Her mind races about what could happen and what will happen.
"What I don't understand is why? Why would you do it? You know the consequences."
Mai isn't sure how long she's waited for this moment. It's been silently building for years. Always bubbling, just below the surface, threatening to spill out. She almost takes pleasure in the opportunity to put Azula in her place, even if she knew this was likely the end of their friendship, and maybe her own freedom.
"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do," she tells her without a smirk. "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."
Perhaps Mai says this because she knows it will strike a nerve. Perhaps she is just oblivious to Azula's sore spot. Nonetheless, it hurts Azula painfully. She feels that her entire life everyone has loved Zuko more than they fear her. Her uncle, her mother, and probably even her father. She can not comprehend loving something enough to throw your life away; to risk everything for them.
Ty Lee watches Azula's aura roar into new shades. Dark colors. Painful colors. She remembers what Azula said on the beach. 'But fear… it's all I've ever known. I don't know how to be different. I can't be different.' She does not want Azula to live like this, ruling with fear. And what Mai has said speaks to her. The acrobat's eyes fall to the firebender.
'I love Azula more than I fear anything.'
"No, you miscalculated! You should've feared me more!"
'No, Zula! No!'
Azula readies a fighting stance, her fingers pointed and prepared to attack. Mai returns serve by lifting up her hidden knives. She twists her body to get better torque on her throw. Azula's aura becomes a deep maroon. Ty Lee's memory flashes through the last half-year of moments with the Crown Princess. The memories flood of what the golden eyed girl has said to her.
"I think the most important thing I've learned over the years is that when an important moment comes, you can not hesitate. You have to attack it with conviction."
"Promise me that you'll never betray me like this. Promise that you'll stay by my side, always."
"What if they get sick of me one day and just leave me? Or if I push them away forever? What do I do?"
Time seems to slow down for Ty Lee. She has decided what she will do. With all of the swiftness of the wind she makes her move. The gap between them evaporates faster than water in a boiling heat. Her arms out in front of her, Ty Lee lunges at Azula.
Azula never sees it coming.
Whack! Whack!
"Huh!"
Azula gasps for air. Her body involuntarily falls forward. She can't move her arms, can't brace her fall. She collapses, face-first into the ground.
Crash!
Ty Lee stands over the paralyzed body of the Crown Princess. She almost can't believe that she's done it. Her love lay as a crumpled heap on the ground. She watches the aura cycle through another collection of dark colors. She looks at her hands for a moment and feels her heart beating in her ear.
Ba-thump Ba-thump
She doesn't have time to dawdle. She turns to the black haired beauty standing a few feet away, in complete shock of what she has seen. Time thrusts into full speed again as Ty Lee runs towards her.
"C'mon!"
She grabs Mai's hand and leads her a few feet away.
"We have to get you out of here!"
From the ground Azula shouts, "You're both fools!"
Ty Lee turns her back to the awning roof. She bends at the knees, then places both of her hands, cupped together, on her kneecap. She commands the girl, "Here!"
Mai puts one foot on the hands and Ty Lee swiftly propels her upwards, to the roof. Mai lands and then immediately turns, lies down, and reaches her hand down for Ty Lee to take it.
"Come on! Hurry!"
Ty Lee looks back at Azula. Her feet remain planted firmly on the ground. She looks up and shouts, "Go!"
"What are you doing? Come with me!"
"I can't!"
"What do you mean? Just jump!"
"So take comfort and know this: I won't leave you."
"I can't leave her," she says. She looks around and sees the tops of heads advancing up the stairs. "Besides, they'll cut the line if I don't stop them. You go!"
Mai, bewitched by the entire series of events, stands up and takes off running. She lands on the rope of the gondola and sprints up it, the way Ty Lee had done moments ago. She runs for her life, high above the boiling waters. In the back of her mind, she knows what Ty Lee meant by 'I can't leave her.' She spent months and months with the two girls batting eyes at each other and pussyfooting around. That night on Ember Island was as much about forcing them to interact as it was about getting Zuko alone. If Ty Lee wants to die trying to save Azula, then there is nothing Mai could do to return the favor and save the acrobat.
Ty Lee turns and moves towards the walkway where the prison guards will come from any moment. She passes Azula's body on the ground. She wants to be at her side. Pick her up and explain herself.
'But I can't. If I do that, Mai won't escape.'
Ty Lee raises her fists and bends her knees. She prepares to fight an endless horde of highly trained guards and Fire Nation soldiers. She almost feels bad for them.
A few feet away, face down on the ground, unable to feel her arms, or much of her upper body, the Crown Princess lays in the dirt. She listens to the grunts of Ty Lee fighting. She can only imagine the acrobat dodging, flipping, and smacking, every second buying Mai another crucial moment to escape. She grows furious, lying there, helpless, just listening. She feels a calm settle over her rage. A security comes to her in knowing the truth finally.
It had all been a lie. Everything. All of it. Since the moment they had met again, it was all just a clever ruse to lower Azula's defenses. As a master strategist, Azula has to applaud the effort. Her mind circles around the truth.
'She thinks of me as a monster too.'
The nightmare comes to mind, where Ty Lee would push her down and say, 'Now… fall!' It had all been leading to this.
'I promise I'll never betray you, Azula.'
She can never trust anyone.
'How could somebody ever love me?'
Azula feels her fingers twitch. She is slowly regaining her body. And when she gets up, she is going to destroy that girl. She is going to kill her with her bare hands. No fire, no lightning. She'll strangle the life from her for this.
"Oof!" Ty Lee falls to the ground at last.
Azula hears it. Right behind her. A stampede of footsteps approach. She feels bodies grab hold of her arms and shoulders and lift her up. She rises and faces the brunette. She stares into her eyes with madness. Ty Lee's captors grip her arms tightly behind her back, twisting her arm painfully. Slowly her eyes rise to meet Azula's.
Ba-thump Ba-thump
"What should we do with her, Princess?"
Ba-thump Ba-thump
Azula's aura is bright red.
Ba-thump Ba-thump
'Kill her!'
Ba-thump Ba-thump
Azula stares into the grey-brown eyes for too long. The fury does not subside, but something changes in her. She can't bring herself to say it. She knows it will be done without mercy or hesitation if she just gives the word. They could simply throw her over the railing and into the boiling water below. Yet somehow that prevents her from saying the words. She will bury her for this betrayal, but not here on the Boiling Rock.
"Put her somewhere where I never have to see her face again," she commands. "And let her rot!"
Crown Princess Azula of the Fire Nation hates everybody.
A team of servants gather around her for her morning routine. They are fast at work preparing her for the day ahead. They don't know the details of the day before, but they know she had arrived late in the night and yet was still up before the sun today. The going word was that her airship was stolen and that they had brought back a traitor to be housed in the Capital City Prison. Something scandalous had happened on the Boiling Rock, but those who had gone we're terrified to speak it into the world and face the wrath of the Crown Princess.
Azula's head servant Sayaka, a girl a year or so older than herself with the blackest hair Azula had ever seen, is thinking of how to broach the topic. Every single day no servant speaks before Sayaka. She has been in the service of the Crown Princess for as long as either girl can remember. She will soon be too old and forced out of her role within the Royal Palace.
Due to all of her years surviving working for Azula, Sayaka has become skilled at reading her and knowing how to word things to her to elicit specific reactions. It is why the other servants allow her to be their voice every day. They rely on Sayaka and her turns of phrases to keep them safe.
Sayaka tries her hand this morning, "Crown Princess, we heard your trip to the Boiling Rock proved fruitful. There was a traitor taken prisoner under your custody and returned here?"
Azula narrows her eyes and smirks, "Now Sayaka, who told you that? What are your little birds chirping about this morning?"
The other servants stay on task, filing her nails and toenails, pressing her outfit for the day and the like. Yuzu prepares to do her eye makeup. Sayaka runs a comb through Azula's hair. "The Capital sings your praises at every opportunity."
"I'll tell you what, Sayaka," Azula says sweetly, closing her eyes as Yuzu leans in with a brush. "If I hear you or anyone else refer to it as a 'fruitful' trip again, I shall have my father banish you instantly."
Sayaka pauses before running the comb through her hair again. The other servants all turn their eyes to her while remaining vigilant to their tasks. In all of her years, Sayaka had never heard Azula speak so casually about a banishment. It is not her power to do, but it was well within her influence to make such a thing happen. And in light of Prince Zuko's recent abdication, she is once again next in line to the throne. This is no empty threat. Yet it is a completely different story to wield such power with reckless abandon.
"Am I understood?"
"Of course, Crown Princess. I live to serve." She bows her head slightly and continues combing.
Sayaka attempts to right the ship and change course. "What will you do today, Crown Princess?"
"I must speak with the Fire Lord at some point. What will he be doing throughout the day?"
"He will be engaged for most of the morning and evening in meetings," Sayaka explains. She prepares the good news, "But I know for a fact he will have a break early in the afternoon. I could establish your meeting with him at that time?"
"Excellent. See to it." Sayaka nods. "Was there any Intel waiting for me this morning?"
"Indeed," Sayaka says wrapping Azula's hair into its classic topknot. "General Lee stated that his scouts found what you were searching for. He mentioned it would be about two-days trip with the crew you requested. Would you like to leave today? Perhaps after your meeting with the Fire Lord?"
"No, tell them to be ready to go first thing tomorrow. We leave at first light."
"Of course, I shall deliver the message."
Yuzu backs up, finishes applying makeup, while the other servants around her and Sayaka all stand back. Behind them, unbeknownst to any one else, a seven-year old servant girl positions a mirror in her hands, facing the Crown Princess. She wears a prideful smile, trying to impress with her ambition.
Azula opens her eyes and stands up. Through the gap between the servants she catches the full sight of her reflection in the mirror. The reflection stares back at her. She stands stock still for a moment looking at it. Yuzu turns to see what she is looking at and gasps.
"Huh!"
Sayaka turns but it's too late. Azula springs to life. She steps right through the small gathering and pushes the mirror.
Crack
The young girl holding it tumbles to the ground. She loses her grip and an edge of the frame hits the ground. The mirror cracks and develops a 'spiders web' across it.
"What game are you playing at, girl? Do you want to die right here, right now, on my bedroom floor?"
"No! No!" She yells, terrified. "I-I-I live to serve!"
FLOOM
Azula lights a fireball in her hand and holds it above the girl. She shouts, "Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!"
A tuft of pitch black hair appears between Azula and the girl. Sayaka positions herself between them and quickly kneels before Azula. The fireball is a foot from her face and the heat radiates, causing her to sweat instantly. Her voice is meager and desperate, "Please, Crown Princess, do not blame her."
"Sayaka, are you volunteering to die on my floor instead?"
"Please, it is her first day," she shuts one eye, wincing at the sight of the flame. "I did not explain the way of things to her. Please, take out this transgression on me."
Sayaka closes both eyes and feels the heat grow hotter. She is still a teenager and has much to live for. She is not ready to die, but the girl was almost ten years her junior. She must protect her. She begs, "Me, Princess, not her."
Azula feels her inner flame grow hotter still. The flame in her hand expands. She glares at the girl she has known for most of her life. She wants to burn her down and make her pay. She wants to set her ablaze.
'Push it down.'
Crackle
"Get out," Azula says to the room. The flame has gone out. "All of you."
There is a pause as the women all look at one another. Azula screams, "NOW!"
Yuzu is the first to move. She gathers her tools and makes for the door. The others immediately compose themselves and file away quickly. Sayaka stands and fixes up the girl and rushes her to the door. She follows behind her but Azula speaks out.
"Sayaka."
The head servant stops at the doorway as the others all disappear beyond its frame. She stands, her silhouette encompassed by the door. She turns and faces the Crown Princess.
"Should she or any of your staff make this mistake again," she coos at her. "Banishment will be the least of their worries."
Sayaka nods in acknowledgement and immediately exits, shutting the door behind her. Once again someone walks out on Azula, closing the door and leaving her alone. The same way Chan had done. The way her mother had done. She turns and looks at the cracked mirror on the ground.
'Push it all the way down.'
She pushes the pain further down than ever before. At last, a calm settles over her again.
A small, teenage girl opens her eyes lazily. Her eyelids are heavy and the world turns slowly. Her head sways when she lifts it. She tries to take in her surroundings. Her vision calibrates finally as she finds herself on the floor of a dusty prison cell.
Ty Lee's arms are sore and her wrists are raw from the rope that chafed her the entire trip back to the Capital. She pushes herself up gingerly into a sitting position, her back against the wall. A guard sits in a chair nearby, accidentally sleeping on the job. Through some slots in the door, she can see another guard standing with their back to the door. Azula had told her last week that security had doubled up in the Capital Prison after Iroh's escape.
'Azula…'
She blinks and thinks about her. Her memory replays the sequence. She hadn't known what the right decision was at the time. Looking back, she wishes she had acted differently. Should've tried to talk her off the ledge, talked about it with her on the gondola, convinced her to never go to the Boiling Rock in the first place.
Smack smack
She groans to herself. She lifts her head back and lightly smacks it against the brick wall. "Ugh… I really screwed this up, didn't I?"
The wall softly whispers to her, "If you're in here with us, then yeah, you did."
Ty Lee turns her head to look at it. "Whoa! The walls can talk here?"
The wall scolds her, "No, you doofus, I'm another prisoner."
"Oh," she says, realizing what's going on. She notices a crack in the wall nearby, allowing the voice to get through. She's careful to not speak too loudly and wake up the guard. "Well, um, hi! What did you do to end up in here?"
The wall scoffs and replies, "I'm a Kyoshi Warrior. We crossed the bitch princess and her friends. Now they've been keeping us all separated in this place."
Ty Lee grows instantly self-conscious. She contemplates if she should tell them who she is. Would they stop talking to her? Would Ty Lee really blame them if they did? She tries to buy herself time.
"My name is -" the girl says.
"Can I just call you Wally?" She nervously cuts them off. "Since you're talking to me through a wall."
"Ha, sure." She replies. "So, what about you? What did you do to land yourself here?"
Ty Lee reflects. She takes stock of her circumstance. She tells them, solemnly, "I also crossed the Princess."
After a brief pause the girl whispers, "Well then, that makes you alright in my book. Even if you are Fire Nation."
"How could you know that?"
"You didn't call her a bitch," she tells her plainly. "Just 'the princess.' Only someone who grew up here would do that."
Ty Lee considers the fact that Wally is very smart. They'll probably figure it out on their own if she doesn't tell them. She decides to get out in front of it, "Hey Wally, I have to tell you something."
"Oh boy, we just met. What on Earth are you gonna say already?"
"I am part of the reason why you're in here. I was part of the Princess' team that defeated your group. I'm… sorry."
There is a long pause. Wally says nothing and Ty Lee sighs. She feels that she is always ruining a good thing. She ran from everything she ever had. She fought the Avatar and his friends, she fought Wally and her friends, she got them thrown in solitary confinement, she chased the dragon, and she betrayed Azula's trust. This self-destructive personality trait permeated everything about her life.
"Damn," finally comes the whisper.
Her ears perk at any word. Ty Lee asks, "What? Do you hate me?"
"Oh, absolutely," says Wally. "But I'm just thinking about the whole thing. You helped beat us up and get us thrown in here, then the Princess throws you in here. Either you really did screw up, or that girl is losing it right now."
Ty Lee contemplates this last comment. She wishes she had windows so she could see the rising sun again. Wishes she could talk to Azula. Wishes they could be together again. Wishes she could go back to Ember Island.
'And let her rot.'
Ty Lee wonders if she'll ever see Azula again.
Azula strides into the Throne Room, standing tall. She wears her mask of invincibility and approaches the Fire Lord. Shrouded by flame, he sits waiting for her, knowing she has weasled her way into his schedule for the afternoon.
She says nothing as she silently kneels at the bottom of the steps and bows before him. He begins their engagement. "Stay where you are right now," he says and she remains bowed. "I heard my own daughter was brought to her knees at the Boiling Rock, so this must be a natural position for you. On the ground, bowed before your superior. How embarrassing for me."
Azula does as instructed and remains bowed. She speaks loudly into the ground, so her voice can carry up to him. "There were a number of unforeseen circumstances."
"Perhaps I should marry you off so you must abandon your claim to the throne, and take the one who defeated you as my daughter instead?" He says with a mirthless tone. "It appears that she is a more formidable warrior. Or perhaps you've just finally regressed to your peers."
The Fire Lord threatens her and Azula does not blink. She stares at the ground, head bowed, body almost flat on the floor, shaken by this statement. The fear of becoming ordinary or that others could catch her in skill was always present for her, but the idea of losing her claim to the throne via-forced marriage was one she had not considered. The Fire Lord was not playing games with her.
When Azula says nothing in return, he feels confident his message has been received. "Rise, and tell me what news you have today. I suggest you deliver your best."
Azula gets up off the ground and stares up at her father. "I have made an arrangement with a bounty hunter whom I've heard had run-ins with Iroh. Supposedly she can find anyone on Earth, wherever they hide."
After no questions come, she continues, "I may have some leads about the airship that Zuko stole, but I need more time to meet with the Bounty Hunter first. I'm meeting with her in the Capital around sunset."
The Fire Lord nods. "I see. Bring the Dia Li with you to your meeting. The Imperial Firebenders will attract too much attention in the Capital. The Dai Li can disappear into the crowds."
"If she gets spooked off and disappears then we'll lose any chance of finding Iroh."
Tone growing more hostile, the Fire Lord replies, "Then capture her and torture her until she tells you."
Trying to explain without being condescending, Azula replies, "She's just a bounty hunter, Father. She'll be loyal to coin and coin alone."
He runs his fingers through his goatee in contemplation and finally replies, "Very well."
Azula has no further business so she bows before him. Once again grounded, he speaks to her.
"What have you done today to reshape the world by the Flame of the Fire Nation?"
A question as old as time itself. Ozai would ask this every night before dinner, back when he would actually entertain the company of his family for any sort of personal matters. It was his way of challenging and charging those around him with proving their worth, while framing it in the mind as further progressing their great Nation.
Azula searches for an answer that will satisfy him. She thinks of the quip she had thought of for her trip to see her brother.
"I am chartering a course to become an only child."
He nods and smiles, satisfied to see her on the right path. "This day extracts a heavy toll. But the hardest choices require the strongest wills."
He pauses before adding, "Do not fail me again, Daughter."
Azula stands. She leaves the Throne Room feeling pensive and determined. The calm becomes her.
All throughout the afternoon, people couldn't help but whisper about Azula's collected nature. The rumor had been that she nearly killed a servant girl on her first day in the morning. In one breath it was said to have been over a trivial matter. In the next, it was said to have been over something that every servant learns right way. To that end, Sayaka was receiving a fair bit of speculation and unwanted attention.
Azula was not overly kind to anyone, but she also steeled herself from further attempted murders. After her meeting with the Fire Lord, she traversed all over the Royal Palace. The servants, guards, and even Imperial Firebenders had expected more of a show after the rumors of what occurred at the Rock. Perhaps the rumors had been overblown, many thought. If the girl's friends had truly betrayed her, certainly there would have been more fire about the Crown Princess, both figuratively and physically.
With sunset approaching, Azula walks through the Coronation Courtyard. She feels the eyes on her. She knows the earth bending agents lay just far enough behind her to not be seen nor heard. She knew that the Fire Lord would not trust her. She had counted on it to be the case, providing her exactly the sort of excuse she needed for why the Bounty Hunter 'wouldn't meet with her.'
She walks casually away from the plaza. She slips down alleys and narrow pathways. She doesn't go any faster or slower than she has walked all afternoon. She wanted the Dai Li agents to be accustomed to her speed and gait, so that she can lose them now. She arrives at a run of the mill wooden door. It's positioned against a cobble wall that encircles the royal palace. Knowing that the many twists and turns to get here had hidden her temporarily from prying eyes, she quickly opens it.
Click
Woosh
With no wasted motion, she slips in and shuts the door behind her.
Woosh
She stays at the door, hidden in the shadows, holding it closed, and peeks through the thin slits in the door. After a few seconds the Dia Li agents appear and stop at the door. They whisper to each other about her whereabouts and to her pleasure venture onward, assuming that they haven't caught up yet.
FLOOM
Azula lights a bright blue flame in her palm and turns to the darkness. She walks down the stone steps and ventures forward through the secret tunnel. She walks through the shadows, guided by her own light, for a few minutes. She eventually rounds a corner and climbs up a new set of stone steps. A new wooden door awaits her. She pushes and it opens with ease.
Woosh
She steps through and now she stands in another back alley. The shed she steps through is nondescript. It fades into the background of the world around it, on the outskirts of the city. She locks the gate closed with a simple mechanism, in case anyone happens to find her path and catch up to her.
Click
Azula steps away from her exit. She walks for a few moments and then turns back around. She can see clearly in the distance the high rising Royal Palace. The secret tunnel saved her a dozen minutes or so off the trip, but more to the point gave her freedom to leave Caldera City without surveillance. She turns away from the looming structure in the distance and walks away. She heads for Harbor City and the lush, green forests that surround it.
The vast expanse of the forest emerges into view. Blemished not with the fires and greasy smoke of the nearby industrial sector. The last of the sunset in the distance cast a low, orange glow over the trees which she had often traversed with Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee. The birthplace of many adventures, the origins of many stories.
Happy memories which are a citrus to her now. They felt good to remember, until she thought too long about them and then they became acidic and bitter, filled with regret. She saw ghosts of her younger self chasing her friends through these woods. One by one, each of them disappears. Just as they had in her real life.
She is here, sullying the beautiful woodland of her homeland with the reality of her life now.
Azula finally arrives at a clearing. A wide open field amidst the mountains. She takes in a deep breath as her eyes scan the horizon. The setting sun set the green and yellow of the field ablaze, but it will soon be shrouded in darkness.
She wanders out into the clearing. She has been careful and deliberate. This makes her absolutely confident that she has not been followed. Any hope her father or the Dai Li had to catch up to and observe her was lost with her scattered trip through the forest.
When she feels far enough out, she stops. Carefully she sits down on the plot of land. She sits cross legged, straightens her back, and squares her shoulders. Cautiously she shuts her eyes. She listens to the songbirds in the distance. She feels the wind blow in her face. She connects her thumbs with her pointer fingers to form tiny circles on both hands. She raises them to her side. She breathes in through her nose, and out through her mouth. A river runs through her.
'In through the nose…'
She tries to gather the weight.
'Out through the mouth…'
It slips through her fingers like the sand from Ember Island.
'In through the nose…'
Her memory banks to the Boiling Rock.
'Out through the mouth…'
It's harder to see in her mind's eye than it is to find Ruki's Bird.
'In through the nose…'
She summons all of vitriol for Ty Lee, the traitor.
'Out through the mouth…'
She only sees a tiny girl, younger, smiling at her in the shade of the Royal Garden.
'This isn't working.'
Azula sighs and opens her eyes. When she opens them she catches sight of something. Azula quickly gets on her hands and knees and crawls closer to look at it. Within the shade of a bush she sees a single cream-white flower sticking out. Azula stares at the moon flower, and is enraged by it.
The last of the setting sun disappears. Clouds gather up above. The wilted, Agni forsaken flower begins to rise to life. She rises dramatically and stands in the dark of the forest, holding it. In her heart, the heat burns. It races through her veins.
Crackle
Instantly the flower ignites. It smolders in her hand and melts into ashes within seconds. She clenches her fist and refuses to release. The ash keeps in her hands. All of the memories. All of the pain. It fuels her. She feels the emotions all again. She feels the rage building. She feels the fury bubbling inside of her. She wants it to spill out. It rises up and up. She takes quick, successive breaths, growing more frenzied with each one. Her eyes sting with a pain she doesn't recollect. They grow hot and wet. A voice whispers in her memory.
"Now… release."
CRACK
FLOOM
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Azula shakes her head and the blue fire continues erupting from her mouth. She points it at the ground and the blue fire burns the Earth below. She swings her head from left to right, the fire dragging on the ground along with it. Blue fire escapes from her mouth as she takes more, shallow breaths. She snaps her head back, shooting more blue fire out until she falls backwards.
"Ahhhahaha! Ahhhh! Ahh. Nur-nuh. Nuh."
Azula cries hard tears for the first time in years. She cries harder now than ever in her life before this moment. The clouds above absorb her lightning blast and this charges them quickly. The fire she has burned the forest with catches, and begins to spread. Azula writhes on the ground in pain and uncontrollable sobs. She hyperventilates and can only feel a vague, rising heat of the burning forest. She is powerless to stop it or escape.
CRACK
Lightning strikes above, thunder booms. A supercharged rain storm hails down upon Azula. It extinguishes the fire around her before it can become unstoppable. Azula cries and struggles to breathe. After screeching into the nothing, she released only the calm she had so delicately held together for the afternoon. She is destroyed, and all that remains are the broken pieces.
She cries, "I TRUSTED HER!"
The image of Mai and Ty Lee holding her in the forest comes to mind. She had felt lighter then.
'I think you're afraid to end up alone.'
She thinks of hiding in the shadows of a rock formation on the beach and kissing beneath the moonlight. Holding her hand in bed. Holding something perfect and not burning it down.
She remembers looking down at her disgusting hand and spider-like fingers. How she held a perfect moment in her hands, only for the touch of the sun to turn it to ash.
She thinks about lying on the concrete, face down, while Ty Lee danced around.
How Ty Lee thought of her as a monster.
"She lied," she mutters. Louder now, she screams, "SHE LIED!"
Azula pushes off the ground and gets up, staggering. She stares up into the splattering rain. Time slows down. She catches a glimpse of the nearby full moon. In the empty void of the night sky, it stood as a candle in the abyss.
'She hates me.'
The rage builds again within her breast. She summons all of her power, motions with her arms and tries to strike the moon.
Crack
Her lighting flies up into the sky, powering through the night, getting lost in the clouds. She tries again.
Crack
And again.
Crack
She tries to destroy the moon. She tries to erase the memories of the girl with grey-brown eyes. Strike it from existence or burn it all down. She wants to forget the memories.
But she can't.
She sinks down to her knees, stares up at it, and cries fresh tears.
She wishes she could talk to her. Wishes they could be together. Wishes she could go back to Ember Island. She wants to hate Ty Lee, but right now she just wishes she was here right now so the brunette could hold her. To shield Azula, and stop the explosion of wrath.
Azula hated that little flower.
She hates her mother.
She hates Ty Lee.
She hates… herself.
A/N: This Chapter's OST is "mad woman" by Taylor Swift.
Love always. Tyzula forever.
Notorious