Princess Azula has taken Caldera. Ty Lee stands with Zuko and Mai, locked in the back of the palace. The shrieks of spirits and Ryzu and the metal of the armies Azula gathered pound against Ty Lee's ears until she hears nothing but fear.
Acrid smoke permeates the air, and so the trio can barely breathe. Zuko sits silently, feeling he will throw up if he even moves. It pains him to see his empire fall, the one he tried to rescue, the one he formed to restore balance and right wrongs.
They hear footsteps in the hall and Ty Lee grabs onto Mai. Her best friend stands perfectly still, as expressionless and cold as a statue. Ty Lee knows she does it to hide her fear.
Now, the moment of their demise has arrived. None of them comprehend how powerful it will be. The door unlocks. Ty Lee expects a flood of soldiers to slaughter her.
Instead, one person walks inside.
Azula.
She looks at her former friends and forgets about the love they once had. It was a long time ago, and they broke it when they all betrayed her. The chain of destruction needs to be avenged, in her mind, but she does consider it wise to give them an opportunity.
"Join me or die," she says calmly, considering herself quite generous for offering anything but death by lightning. Ty Lee wonders if Azula even notices the blood and ash staining her skin, hair and clothes. Maybe she wears it like war paint, like make-up.
Zuko shakes his head. "You can't take the throne. It doesn't belong to you. You're not the rightful Fire Lord."
He chokes on his words. Azula smirks, pleased with herself.
The havoc she wreaked on this world ends and begins here, in the final city she must conquer. She knows he has felt deep dread as he tried to save the world and failed. All he could do is wait in his tower, locked up like she was with her son, and wait for his death to come.
"No, I am not, ZuZu. They call me Dragon Queen now, and I quite like it. It has a better ring to it than Fire Lord. However, I would very much like the physical throne. You are in no position to defy me," Azula says with a sparkle in her eyes. After her words, Ty Lee hears the metal footsteps getting closer and closer. The army is here.
"No," says Zuko, regaining some of his courage.
But it is not enough to deter his baby sister.
Mai slowly begins to walk towards the Dragon Queen. Azula holds up two fingers, ready to strike her down. But Mai says, "I don't have anything here worth dying for. I'll take your offer."
Azula winks at her brother. It infuriates him, but what can he do?
"I knew you had it in you to make the right choice for once," Azula says.
Zuko and Ty Lee are still in shock.
"Azula, you can't…" Zuko begins, although he does not know. He could fight her. He should fight her, and so his fingers begin to smoke.
"Ty Lee," Azula says, locking eyes with her as Zuko approaches. "Ty Lee, you always wanted to rule the world by my side. I have learned forgiveness from the spirits and I will give you another chance to be with me."
She holds out one hand. Ty Lee gazes at it and thinks about the life she once dreamt up. No, it is dead now that she is older and wiser.
Zuko strikes his sister and singes her hair. She grabs him and stifles the fire, throwing him to the floor. Azula touches her smoking bang, stunned that he snuck up on her. She glares at Ty Lee and sets her foot on her brother's neck.
Just in time, a water whip grabs Azula by the arm and pulls her down onto the stone floor.
Mai draws knives and pins Katara to the wall. Katara begins to break free as her brother enters. Azula slowly rises and fights him and Zuko at once.
No Avatar.
Azula realizes what that means. He is outside.
Ryzu is outside.
"Mai, take care of them," Azula orders, dodging three warriors and running to the city.
She sees the Avatar beginning to rise into the air. Azula runs to her son, to free him, to give him life even if she is defeated.
Then the dark tendrils of the spirits rise and grab him by the arms and legs.
He does not fall or die or electrocute like she saw once.
Avatar Aang vanishes into thin air.
What a reprise.
Azula turns to Ryzu and touches his bloodied scales. It is not from his own injury, and she runs back to the palace, relieved.
When she arrives, Mai leans against the wall.
Zuko, Ty Lee and the water peasants are gone. They fled.
"I hate water," Mai says, fighting against the ice.
Azula melts the prison.
She looks around. "Which way did she go?"
"They ran through some passage," Mai says.
Dragon Queen makes her decision. She walks to the throne room and lets the city burn and be reborn as her Capital.
###
Ty Lee sits in the courtyard in the morning after asking to be taken out here again. Her body hurts terribly from the scratch, but she focuses on nature. She wishes Aang were around. He would know what to do about the spirits.
Maybe they deserve to reclaim this world after the Fire Nation so recklessly destroyed it. Ty Lee does wonder, however, if there are good spirits and bad spirits. She always imagined that they were all fairly neutral on the morality scale, but what they do now is definitely bad.
Mai approaches Ty Lee. "Are you thinking? I didn't know you did much of that."
"It's hard not to in times like these," Ty Lee says. "I just wonder how things got to be this way."
"The world?" Mai asks, a brief nervous look in her eyes.
"No, not really. I mean, yeah, sure, but I mean how they got to be this way between me and Princess Azula. Uh, Dragon Queen Azula," Ty Lee states unwaveringly, shaking her head too many times.
Mai laughs. Ty Lee has only heard that about five times in her life, and so it instantly cheers her up. Even if Mai is laughing at Ty Lee, she still wants her best friend to be happy. Or at least slightly less bleak.
"You really love her, don't you?" Mai asks. Ty Lee stands and looks at her old best friend. Mai has her hand pressed against her lower back and dark circles under her eyes that are not made of depressing make-up. Her lips are pallid. Her eyes lack luster.
Ty Lee did not know. She did not know that it is bad for everyone, and that Azula is not the only person inflicting pain upon the world. It is not just Azula's revenge; it is bigger than that.
"Yes," Ty Lee whispers, a single tear dropping from her eye.
The Dragon Queen emerges from the gardens. Ty Lee looks up, blushing from embarrassment.
"So, you still love me? How sweet." Mockery. It hurts Ty Lee.
"I've always loved you. I was only with Zuko because he comforted me in my… my grief."
"You were not grieving so much when you destroyed my chance at the throne."
"Well—you—you do have the throne now."
"Yes, but not without undue suffering that you inflicted."
"I was hurting even before then. The minute I was put in my cell, I started to mourn you."
"That was your choice."
"Yeah, and I, and I'm not really sorry, I guess, but I wish it was different. I wish it was all different, you know?"
Azula slowly breathes in and out three times. Ty Lee sweats and shakes.
"We all do." Azula looks away from her old flame. "You never stopped hoping we would have our happily ever after?"
"No, because I will love you until the end of the world." That may have already happened, but Ty Lee means it.
"You always loved me."
Ty Lee softly replies, "Always."
Again, Azula flees what could be beautiful. Ty Lee does not expect anything else, but the words she said softly but meant to scream all made her think that maybe she had a chance.
Mai looks at Ty Lee with pity. "You won't change her. I know you think you see the sweet insane girl who just felt unloved, but you're not going to fix her. No one can. Even you."
"I don't want to fix her. I just want her back."
"Too little, too late." Mai begins to walk her way, but turns back to Ty Lee. "Thank you for saving me. I know I made a different choice this time, but I wish you nothing but the best."
Ty Lee does not know if Mai is making fun of her or not, but she just lets the guards help her back to her room.
Her wounds hurt.
Her head hurts.
Her heart hurts.
She takes the pain syrup to fall asleep.
###
Ty Lee sits with Mai.
"How do you feel? Are you okay with the baby?" Ty Lee asks, reaching out to take her best friend's hands. Evidently they are not best friends anymore, because Mai recoils the moment Ty Lee's skin brushes against hers.
"I feel impartial, and the baby is fine. It's a vicious one," Mai says, words she never thought she would talk about a baby like that. She never thought she would have a baby in the first place. "Nothing is out of the ordinary."
Ty Lee sits and plays with her braid. She used to be able to talk to—well talk at—Mai for hours. Now she feels like there are no words to be said.
"Vicious how?" she asks, a bit nervous about it.
"I've felt it move. Vicious like that," Mai says.
Ty Lee just nods.
###
Ty Lee finds out just what vicious means the next day.
Mai expresses pain, which Ty Lee has seen maybe once or twice in her whole life. She reaches forward, ignoring her own soreness, and touches Mai's arm. Mai holds back the tears and scream, she leans back against the wall and breathes deeply.
"What's wrong?" Ty Lee asks, taking Mai's hands in hers, desperate, pleading for her friend to confide in her for once.
"I think my rib is broken," Mai whispers. Ty Lee adores that honesty, but she keeps herself from looking happy. "It's nothing. I'll be fine."
Ty Lee forces herself to not frown. "It's not nothing, and I know you'll be fine, but I don't want you to be hurt."
"Well, what am I supposed to do about it?" Mai asks, carefully keeping her words intonationless. "I'm stuck with this, but it's temporary. You need to stop getting involved in business that is not yours."
Ty Lee nods, about to back down, before she changes her mind.
"It's my business. You're my best friend, and so it's my business. I don't want your baby to kill you. Or anybody else. It'll probably kill a lot of people," Ty Lee says, taking Mai by both arms. They feel weak. Mai always has been so extremely strong, but now it seems that the people Ty Lee loves have wasted away at the same rapid rate that the entire world has.
Mai shakes her head at Ty Lee.
"Just stop. You're in way over your head already. You haven't seen anything while playing hide and seek with your husband," Mai says. "I should have never let you escape."
"Mai!"
"She wouldn't have killed you. You know that. Maybe you would be stuck with all of this if I had just done the smart thing and didn't help the Avatar's stupid girlfriend and my stupid ex-boyfriend and you."
Ty Lee curls into herself. She has never heard Mai angry at her. Irritated, yes. Angry, no.
"You're my best friend. You've been my best friend forever."
"Shut up," Mai says. "No, I haven't and we both know that. You have much better friends, and we stopped being close a long time ago."
"You. Have. Been. My. Best. Friend. Forever."
"And so you're going to try to help me out? When have you ever cared about me?"
"Always."
Mai turns away, her hand still on her ribcage.
Ty Lee averts her eyes.
She just wishes everything could be okay again.