(Theme Ninety-One) Prize

(As Prompted By) astraphobic kisses & iliasc

"What's that?" asks the girl dangling from the top of Ty Lee's bunk bed.

"What's what?" Ty Lee asks, setting down her hairbrush.

She is currently away from Kyoshi Island, helping protect dignitaries at the slowly forming embassies in the Fire Nation. Her lodgings are not quite the palace Zuko offered, but she would rather – as much as she loves them – not be with her old friends day and night. They come with painful memories, just like the stuffed koala-otter that Miko is pointing at.

"Oh," Ty Lee says, smiling and blushing involuntarily. "It's just a little memento."

"Ooo, it's a romance thing." Miko drops down from the bar she had been doing pull-ups on. "Tell me more."

Ty Lee shakes her head. Her voice cracks as she says, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Bad break-up?" Miko asks.

"You could say that," Ty Lee whispers, licking her lips nervously. "I really should've gotten rid of it years ago, but I found it at my old house and it's really comforting, you know?"

Miko nods. "It's really cute."

Ty Lee can remember getting it. It was a prize on Ember Island, the day a carnival was held on her and her friends mandatory vacation. Azula turned everything into a competition, and, well, given that it was Azula, the only time she was beaten was when Mai threw darts and won a rigged game with them.

Her princess gave her the prize she wanted. At the time, it felt like the biggest romantic gesture in history. Ty Lee knows better now, but every time she holds it to her chest, she can feel that same rush of her secret lover winning her a gift and holding her in her smooth, perfect arms. Kissing her with soft, flawless lips. Biting down without even restraining her teeth.

Ty Lee got drunk on the beach that night. Azula did not. Ty Lee wishes she had been sober to hold onto those last moments before it all went wrong.

"Thank you," Ty Lee says after too long zoning out.

Miko gives that sharp nod once more, and Ty Lee lies down on her scratchy blankets, the koala-otter plushy resting on the inside of her elbow.

.

Three days later, Ty Lee is out cold in an infirmary after being injured in an attack by the New Ozai Society. The hospital is one built for war and soldiers coming home, and the healers are experts at their craft. The herbs save her and knock her out so she does not have to face the pain. Visiting hours are over, and she had more visitors than the head healer had ever seen before. Popular, pretty young thing.

How did she get there? A violent explosion at the Earth Kingdom embassy. It would have killed a lesser being.

As soon as the halls are deserted save for a few healers making tired rounds, someone walks inside. The dark red hood over her makes her look like an assassin coming to finish the job, but she does not have a weapon or poison in her hand.

She has a stuffed koala-otter.

Ty Lee's eyes open when she feels it being set beside her on the multiple pillows. She sees the person above her, the girl who haunts her dreams, and knows Azula cannot be real.

"I thought you might like this," whispers a very real woman who was involved in the attack. A very real woman who is grappling with feelings she has never experienced before after her spectacle of terrorism hurt Ty Lee.

"Az…"

"Shut up." Azula frowns faintly. "Uh, or, please be quiet and just accept your gift."

"Azul…"

"I hope you get better soon…" Pause. Azula swallows the lump in her throat. "You really should have chosen your side more wisely, of course. But I wish you only the best."

She speaks so regally and so coldly. Like she is talking to her subjects and not a girl she thinks she might still harbor feelings for. Which is a terrifying thought.

"Why…?" are you here. Azula figures out what the slurred word means.

"I…" Azula bites her lower lip and Ty Lee remembers the kiss when Azula won the carnival circuit that sparkling night. "I love you," she says very quickly before opening her mouth to take it back.

"About time," Ty Lee slurs and a shocked Azula jabs her thumb into her broken rib.

Ty Lee screams and Azula realizes she should not have done that. She can hear footsteps and her stupid ex-girlfriend won't stop cursing about the pain.

"That wasn't what you were supposed to say," Azula hisses under her breath.

Azula stares at Ty Lee for long, awkward seconds. She kisses her on the numb and bruised lips before fleeing into the night, leaving no trace of her existence save for a carnival prize.