Chapter Two: Blue Crush


Azula is not thrilled to go back to school, but she does not mind it either.

She wakes up when it is still dark out, changes into workout clothes and makes herself look presentable. After that, she walks down the stairs, goes outside and starts her run. The neighborhood is an easy circuit; it does not take as much planning as a park. But it is somehow a colder plunge than when she does winter laps in their pool.

It hasn't been seventy degrees in two weeks. And people say her family is causing global warming.

Her beat up white Prada sneakers thud against the pavement as she runs faster, faster, faster. The world disappears until the sun rises and she goes inside to quickly finish the workout with strength training that manages to make her ache even after all of her practice.

The morning routine is robotic. She spends a little too much time on her appearance, but Ty Lee wakes up this early to do her perfect braid wrapped with ribbons, and Azula spends the time training herself for… everything.

And the next step is to cross the street and wake up Mai so that they are not late. Because Azula's father could hire someone to drive Azula, but Azula chased away nannies since the moment her mom left and her dad had no idea what to do with her.

He still doesn't trust her – but he trusts no one – and so Mai's parents swooped in and snatched up the opportunity as fast as they could. Everything they do is pathetic, so it is not surprising.

Azula knocks in the door and rolls her eyes. She should have people for this.

The door opens and it is Mai's mother, looking frazzled but as plastic as usual. Plastic in every sense of that word.

"Do you want breakfast?" she offers. "Coffee? I have –"

"I am perfectly fine, thank you. Is Mai ready?" That question should be rhetorical. Of course she isn't.

"She should've woken up," croaks the woman in front of the small almost-sixteen-year-old-girl who she looks at like she is Doctor Doom.

"I will wake her. Do you have that coffee?" Azula tries not to laugh when she sees that Mai's mother cannot put two and two forever and then brings Azula coffee exactly as she asks for it. Which is exactly seven teaspoons of sugar and a tablespoon of vanilla cream.

And she can tell the difference.

People will feel her wrath if it is not to those specifications.

Azula does not say thank you before walking up the faux-rococo staircase to Mai's bedroom. It is still lavender themed and has not changed since she was a child.

"Mai, wake up before I pour this on you," Azula says and Mai makes a small sound in the back of her throat. "I'm going to count to three. There will not be a four. One, two –"

Mai sits up and knocks the half tipped cup out of Azula's hand. "You would have enjoyed that," she says before getting out of her bed and picking up her uniform off of the floor.

"Yes, yes I would have." Azula snickers.

[X]

The girls in Diamonte's tenth-grade English Lit class all have ribbons in their hair. Of course, there are slight variations; for example, Ty Lee raveled them in her braid and tied another at the top. Mai refuses to wear any but Ty Lee tied one so tightly around the strap of her backpack that she just sighed and gave in to that adornment.

How did the ribbons become so popular? Because those three girls wore them one day, and, suddenly, lo and behold, everyone started wearing ribbons in their hair.

The Sperries were Azula, the navy heels were Azula, the current trend of powder blue socks… is Azula. People hate her and want to be her, but only two people like her.

"Azula, I can't decide what color to copy your homework in," Ty Lee sighs as she looks at the pack of gel pens on her desk.

"Write it in pink," Mai interjects. "That's your favorite color."

"No, pink isn't her favorite color," Azula says and Ty Lee looks exalted. "She favors pink, but her favorite color is rainbow because she doesn't want to hurt the other colors' feelings. That's been her favorite since we met her."

"That's true!" Ty Lee chimes brightly. Mai gives Azula a glance that goes right over her head, as usual.

Ty Lee decides on blue before it is time to focus on class. She hates it. They're studying Hamlet which Ty Lee cannot even handle. Azula finds it funnier than Macbeth, and Azula adores Macbeth. She was Lady Macbeth in the play her freshman year.

"You were amazing," Ty Lee squeals as Azula holds the roses from her father. "The lights were all red and you came out all unhinged and crazy saying… those words! I liked it when you looked at your hands and… said more words!"

Ty Lee is in more pictures with Azula that night than anyone actually in the cast.

While the teacher talks, Ty Lee thinks about the mental love triangle that has been haunting her all of break. Especially at Azula's house. In her room, on her roof, wherever.

She is totally in love with her boyfriend, but her first crush never went away.

It cannot be healthy to be in love with the girl-next-door for eight years.

[X]

Ty Lee opens her locker and reveals the glittery decorations and cute pictures of her and Haru and tries to find her French binder. It's the cute one with the Eiffel Tower and little poodle on it, but her book, folder and binder stacking skills are not magnificent. She sucks at Tetris too.

She feels big arms around her and squeaks and laughs and he turns her around. There he is, the guy of Ty Lee's most recent dreams. Ty Lee thinks she might hold onto him until Valentine's Day at least, because when he kisses her it is warm and dreamy.

"Hey," Haru says, studying Ty Lee's locker. "You looking for something?"

Ty Lee averts her eyes before nodding. "My French binder. It's in there somewhere."

Haru nods and starts sifting through it.

"I like the picture you gave me for mine," Haru remarks and Ty Lee looks to her glitter glue adorned locker and sees only two pictures of Azula, her and Mai. The first one makes her feel pure remorse when she hears Haru talking to her, because Ty Lee had never been happier in her life than on the day of that picture being taken.

It was a big deal ballet. They were doing an all-female Swan Lake. Azula was a stunning Odette and Ty Lee was Prince Siegfried. She was Azula's love interest, and everyone commented on how the stage lit up with their chemistry. But it probably wasn't real for Azula; she has made that clear over the years of Ty Lee's crush.

Ty Lee is technically over her. She dates. She always has a boyfriend. Before she breaks up with one, she has another one ready. But she really wants her lifelong crush. She wants Azula. Ty Lee doesn't mind being showered in hot male attention, however.

Haru hands her the binder, tidies up the books as if they were light sheets of paper, and smiles at her. She kisses him on the cheek and he kisses her on the lips. Her eyes drift to that picture of Ty Lee and Azula still in their make-up. Even while disheveled Azula is perfect.

"I've gotta get to Calc. I'll see you at lunch." Haru squeezes her hand and leaves.

Ty Lee has a sick feeling in her tummy about this. She's never had a boyfriend who she liked enough, or who she was serious about, but that crush is always there. Usually, when Ty Lee has a crush, she leaves whoever she is with and goes after him.

That doesn't work so well in this case.

There's Azula, there's Azula, there's Azula…

"Hi," and Azula opens the locker next to Ty Lee's.

Ty Lee smiles and wishes she had put that concealer on in the bathroom while Azula was in her American Government class. She doesn't really get why she cares so much about how she looks in front of one of the only two people who have seen her without make-up. Or that they're been friends since they were eight.

"Do you have a minute? I wanna ask you a question," Ty Lee says in a too-serious tone.

"Yes," Azula replies, shrugging. She shuts her locker and leans against it.

"Is it normal to have a crush on more than one person? Like to have a mental love triangle going on?" Ty Lee asks breathlessly.

Azula is disinterested. "I have no idea. I have never had a crush on anyone, much less a mental love triangle."

"Not anyone? Azuuuula, you should date somebody." Something growls inside of Ty Lee when she says that. It tears at her throat and she swallows.

It feels so bad.

"Well, I've been thinking about someone," Azula lies and Ty Lee looks crushed. That is exactly how Azula likes it. Azula has been thinking about this someone because it would cause the most damage to the girl she has had a crush on for eight years.

Azula does not fall for the girl-next-door. That's absurd.

She permanently devastates the girl-next-door for not being interested in her.

"Who?" Ty Lee squeaks.

"Someone. You'll find out," Azula says, smirking.

Oh, Ty Lee will suffer for never making a move with Azula.

[X]

After cheerleading, Ty Lee still feels gross about her girl-next-door. And livid that Azula is going near anyone else. So, the minute she sees Haru. Ty Lee kisses him. And hugs him. And tries really hard to forget about Azula being interested in someone. It made her head hurt even worse than math. Being in love with Azula is more confusing and hard than math!

"You're so good! I liked it when you threw that ball!" Ty Lee says and Haru laughs. He always blushes despite being so big and strong with these arms he can wrap her in.

Ty Lee has pretty strong arms too from all the walking on her hands, but she likes being held better. That's why she likes Haru. And the other football players she dated.

Mai clears her throat and Ty Lee realizes she has her ride, her eyes wide as she slips out of his affectionate embrace.

"So, I got a text from Azula. She got asked out," Mai announces and Ty Lee makes a strangled noise.

Because the sky has fallen and squashed her like a bug. "Who asked her out?" Ty Lee screeches. "For gossip purposes, obviously!"

"Hahn. At their little rehearsal," Mai says with a small trace of a sadistic smirk on her lips. Ty Lee's eyes bulge.

"When they're naked together?" Ty Lee screeches.

"Not actually naked," Mai dryly corrects. She mentally counts to three before Ty Lee loses her cool.

"SHE WEARS A GLORIFIED NUDE BIKINI!" erupts the cute cheerleader.

"Uh, Ty Lee, you okay?" Haru asks after a moment of hesitation. He was not sure if he should interfere until this moment. "Do you like this Hahn guy?"

Ty Lee finishes her deep breaths and collects herself. "No. I don't like him. At all. Azula just lied to me today and I'm mad. I'm super mad I had to hear it from Mai instead of her!"

"She didn't tell you because you'll tell everyone. I just told you because I want you to realize the ramifications of holding back…" Mai says and Ty Lee does not have to know what ramifications means to know that she is talking about her crush on Azula. Mai adds, "She said yes. But she has to run it by her dad first… so…"

Ty Lee breathes an open sigh of relief and Haru looks very confused. Poor boy has no clue. Mai almost pities him.

"He'll totally say no," Ty Lee says before hugging Mai tightly and then stepping back. "Thank you for warning me."

Mai crosses her arms and replies, "Oh, I wasn't warning you. I just couldn't wait that long to watch you freak out about it."

Rehearsal will be amusing to Mai.

It will be torture to Ty Lee.


Chapter Two: Welcome to Fantasy Island


Ty Lee stares at the two tattooed killers in Azula's living room.

"Hi, I'm Ty Lee, nice to meet you! I like your tattoos," Ty Lee says, grinning at them. The man gives her a slight smile but the woman does not bother.

"We're here to escort you to dinner," says the woman, standing up and adjusting her leather jacket.

"I thought you made coffee," Azula says sweetly, which just makes Ty Lee more nervous.

"We didn't make it for you. I was just telling you that you're about ten hours late and so we pretty much broke your coffee machine. It was dated anyway," the woman replies and Azula mentally throttles her. "Let's go. Tao. You both like Chinese food?"

Ty Lee opens her mouth to ask them about if yakuza are even allowed to eat that before changing her mind. She definitely could ask Azula that later when she isn't literally shaking in her boots under the gaze of these two people.

The man could snap her in half in an instant, and the woman has this terrifying, paralyzing gaze.

"I guess no diner toast?" Ty Lee asks weakly.

[X]

Ozai's goons, of course, do their best to intimidate Azula's fiancée for the entire drive. And the traffic is slower than molasses. Azula thinks that the dinner could not be any worse, until she follows the waitress up the stairs and is forced to reconsider.

Because the first thing Azula hears when she brings her poor, quavering fiancée into the upper floor of Tao is the dry, familiar voice of Mai Shinohai saying, "… but would you rather hunt humans or pandas? You'd hunt the humans. Anyone would hunt the humans instead of the pandas."

Ozai replies, "I would never hunt pandas or humans and I'm beginning to regret buying it for you."

"I'm just joking," Mai says, but it sounds fairly insincere.

"I have never seen you look excited before, and that alone means I shouldn't trust you on your new island. I want to make you happy. It isn't that I wouldn't hunt humans, but it would be a PR nightmare. Although, I do believe we'd be better off from a PR standpoint if we hunted humans and not… pandas."

"Forget about the pandas," Mai snaps. "It's not like anyone would survive to expose us. I saw this awful movie on Netflix – because you know I like movies about human hunting – and it sucked, somehow all of the actors were terrible, but the principle was great. They harvested organs, so it was basically charity."

"That is not basically charity," Ozai growls before Azula and Ty Lee reveal themselves.

Ozai is dressed in his most intimidating suit and Mai, as usual, is wearing sunglasses inside. They look like terrible people. Which, Azula supposes, is because they are terrible people.

Mai looks up and deadpans, "Ty Lee, you look like Bambi and are unnaturally nimble. Want to come visit my new island?"

Azula speaks before Ty Lee can start rambling and giggling, "Mai, you are the only person who would see Bambi and want to hunt him. Father, did you honestly come all the way out here from Los Angeles, hire yakuza to intimidate my fiancée for an hour, in order to elaborately catch us off guard at this restaurant?"

Ozai laughs at the notion. "No, not at all. We never went back to LA."

"She's crying. This is all you promised it would be," Mai says into the wine glass touched to her lips.

Ty Lee squeals, "You could have warned me. I gave you my phone number!"

Mai shrugs. "I wanted to see you cry from terror. It's why I took you to that haunted house every Halloween for seven years straight, and it only gets better when you're an adult."

"And not punching that poor man in the hockey mask," Azula murmurs and Ty Lee glares. Azula tosses her coat onto one of the chairs and addresses her father. "What happened to business at home?"

"I lied, evidently," Ozai replies casually. "Both of you sit down and join us."

Ty Lee leaps into a seat as fast as she can move. Azula sighs, because of course she knows that Ozai is testing her tonight. He already shook her up with the freaks and now shocked her with being here.

Nervously, Ty Lee grasps at straws by asking Mai, "So, you got an island for Christmas? I don't remember you unwrapping that."

"You never got me an island for Christmas," Azula complains, diverting attention from her fiancée.

"She asked," Ozai replies.

"Why would you ask?" Azula demands.

And Mai explains, "My only family member not in prison or my mother, my weird aunt, inexplicably gave me all of the Twilight movies for Christmas. And a fruit arrangement, but that has nothing to do with it. I watched them all. Then I watched every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. It was a trip, but I knew in my heart what I wanted most in life after that."

"Ignoring the Predator part… So, is it called Isle Mai then?" Ty Lee inquires.

Mai shakes her head. "No, it's called Isle Vicki Vallencourt. Unofficially."

"Who?" Ty Lee chimes and Azula gives her a look.

"I don't want to know why. Don't tell me. Don't even hint at it. I don't want to know why," Azula snarls with fervor.

"Unofficially," Mai says, adjusting her sunglasses. "It has some stupid tropical name, and I am not a tropical person. Woah, woah, wait, wait, wait, I have a better idea than the human hunting reserve. A reality tv show."

Ozai pauses and sets down his drink. "I'm listening to wherever horrible direction this is about to go."

Mai clears her throat before launching into her pitch, "Right, so… we hire a bunch of actors. And one regular douchebag who belongs on Jersey Shore. He doesn't know about the actors. We take him and the camera crew and those actors to our island – no, we don't hunt them – and we start out nice and normal. Exaggerated fights, making out in hot tubs, but then, suddenly, we stage the zombie apocalypse. This guy totally freaks out and we film his reactions."

"PR disaster," Ozai states and Ty Lee giggles. She feels hope that his bickering with Mai about this island will keep the focus off of her.

Mai waves her hand dismissively. "No, millions more dollars. Everyone would watch that show."

And Ozai retorts, "I can only envision that going in some horror movie direction."

And Mai replies, "Better suggestion. We make that into a movie premise—"

Mai is cut off by her husband demanding, "Ty Lee, if you had an island what would you do with it?"

It's a pop quiz! It's a test! It's a pop test! Ty Lee panics the minute she realizes that.

"I would build a spa," Ty Lee squeaks before offering a huge smile that would open any door. Except the one into Ozai's living room, because he seems unimpressed. "I like spas. And I'm totally certified to do both acupuncture and reiki. My parents said I should've gone to veterinary school instead."

Yeah. She thinks she just failed.

"Neither of those things are real," Ozai says, "but I give you credit for following your dreams."

Azula isn't certain if she heard that right. That is not something her father says, and, therefore, it must be part of his larger plan to break Ty Lee.

Mai is just as alarmed, and so she takes her opportunity to interject, "Azula would hunt people on it."

To which Azula corrects, "No, I'd make them hunt each other like in Battle Royale and watch the bloodshed from my beautiful personal resort."

"None of you should ever get an island," Ozai remarks.

"Yeah, what're you going to do with it?" Mai asks, sliding her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know yet, but none of those things," Ozai says and Mai sighs.

"My island."

"I paid for it."

[X]

Seven Years Ago

Mai buys new clothes for her dinner date. She has never cared about how she dressed before, but she has realized that her grunge phase of the past three years has severely limited her amount of formal garments.

She fondly remembers her mother crying when she cut up a Chanel dress into something she would not be ashamed to wear. Mother did not believe that 'all the kids were doing it' when Mai lied.

Unfortunately, she thinks it is a size too small in some places and a size too large in others, which makes her deeply regret not just breaking into Azula's house and stealing something of hers. Then again, robbing the man waiting for her would make a piss poor impression.

She already got caught breaking into his house to kill his son for breaking up with her over text. Well, not actually kill him. Just frighten him a bit.

"He's waiting for you," says the waitress and Mai cocks her head to the side.

"How do you know who's waiting for me?"

The waitress rolls her eyes. "He can see you and you've been standing there for like five minutes at least."

"You don't have to be a total bitch about it," Mai says and the waitress looks stunned. "Don't act like no one's ever said that to you before."

The disgruntled waitress guides Mai to an isolated table out of plain sight. Mai knows well enough from her long history with Azula that people like to gawk and take pictures if they follow the news in the slightest. It is exceptionally weird to Mai that a family of businesspeople manage to be celebrities too.

Mai remains standing as he greets her.

"So, let's clarify up front. All I do is have this date with you, just a date in this restaurant place, and then you make the problem disappear."

"Yes. Unless you change your mind."

"I'm not changing my mind." Mai sits down across from him and lets her purse fall onto her feet. Ozai watches as it stays there and stays there and he realizes she is not picking it up.

"That's fine." He waits for her to get settled and watches her halfheartedly examine the menu. "So, you're going to college nearby?"

"Yeah. Well, I'm probably dropping out to deal with my parents' horrible mistakes but I don't really care."

"I figured you didn't. What were you studying?"

"Stuff, or whatever. I want-wanted to be a surgeon," Mai says and Ozai waits. She imagines he is asking for a justification. "I like the sight of blood and scalpels arouse me."

"That's a good a reason as any."

"I tell everyone I'm going to study for the FBI. Since they're all criminals. I think it's funny to watch their expressions. But, no, I was going to med school before my father made the mistake of getting caught and my mother ran off to her parents and didn't answer my calls."

"How many times did you call her?" Ozai inquires.

"I haven't yet," Mai replies honestly.

"I thought you said she didn't answer them."

"Yeah. She can't answer calls I don't make, can she?" Mai asks and he cannot argue with that.

He enjoys that response.

[X]

At Tao, Ozai orders for everyone, which no one finds uncomfortable except for Azula. She has definitely ordered food for her girlfriend before, despite it being controlling, but she does not like the idea of Ozai having the advantage in this dinner.

And when they are halfway done with that meal and Ty Lee has been quizzed as if she is guilty of murder, Ozai shatters Azula's plans for the near future.

"We're staying with you," he says and Azula laughs.

"You're kidding. You can go to any hotel you please. I will kick out whoever is in the nicest suite. Mai can torment room service to her heart's content. I have only one guest room," Azula says, trying not to look as frantic as she is.

"You have two," Ozai corrects coolly.

"Bunny," Azula explains with double his level of ice in her tone.

"But it doesn't matter anyway because we didn't bring anyone else," Ozai says in his intimidating voice. "You tolerated being snowed in with your mother, you can tolerate your dear, beloved father for four days."

Azula looks as if he said four months, but she quickly rids herself of that expression and clears her throat. "Are you certain you don't want a hotel room? We're moving Ty Lee and Bunny in which is… a Sisyphean task, given the fact that she is a worse hoarder than Uncle. Why not take more than one hotel room?"

"We will help you move Ty Lee in," Ozai says and Mai takes her sunglasses off. She is very unhappy when she does that, even by Mai standards.

"You know as well as everyone at this table that he wants to make sure Ty Lee is worthy of you and so he's going to stay with you 24/7 while you two are at your most chaotic," Mai says smoothly and Azula glares.

"No one needed to say that out loud," she hisses.

[X]

When Mai and Ozai arrive at Azula's apartment, Ty Lee helps with luggage, because she is strong and it means she doesn't have to interact much with her soon-to-be father-in-law. She then goes into the guest room to catch her breath and aid Mai with unpacking.

Azula and Ozai are still talking over coffee and cigarettes and Ty Lee has never been so relieved about Azula not paying attention to her.

Mai does not scare her the way Ozai does. It is so refreshing to not be on her toes for a few moments. Mai sits on the bed and halfheartedly helps while Ty Lee throws herself into the work to escape the reality of the situation.

While pulling a robe out of Mai's suitcase, Ty Lee gushes, "That is the prettiest robe I have ever seen."

"Yeah, it's not ugly so I wear it a lot," Mai says and Ty Lee smiles at it. "It goes best with black pajama shorts and a black tank top. I look sexy, apparently, but it's not like I care."

It's silk. Purple and flowy and probably too long with a dragon pattern embroidered on it.

"Yup, yup, yup." Ty Lee grins.

"What happened to you?" Mai asks and Ty Lee sighs. "You just vanished the minute you left. Azula and I didn't hear from you once until you and Azula apparently found each other."

Ty Lee wrings her hands. "I just made some choices that didn't work out for me. I'm sorry for leaving you two. You both are still my best friends and I can't wait to spend four days with you."

But not Ozai.

Mai does not care enough to pry further into Ty Lee's mysterious vanishing for seven years.

"Is there anything not boring to do in this city?" Mai asks as she picks up the fifth black shirt and passes it off to Ty Lee.

"I like it here," Ty Lee says, smiling.

And Mai rolls her amber eyes. "That's not a very good answer."

Before Ty Lee can say anything, a small voice shrieks excitedly, "Mai, Mai, Mai, Mai, Mai, Mai!"

Mai slowly turns to look down at the small girl still bundled in her winter clothes. Her cheeks are ruddy and her eyes are wide with excitement.

"We're going to have to do something child friendly tonight, aren't we?" Mai sighs.

"Diner toast!" Ty Lee sings and Mai almost smiles at the idea of Azula and Ozai in a plastic booth being served fries.

Oh, now that is not nearly as boring as Mai thought tonight would be.