Chapter 18: Hidden Emotions

It had been several minutes since the murder; or rather execution, of General Sung. Azula made sure to get rid of the evidence, taking her time to completely burn the General's remains until there was nothing left but ashes. She, along with the rest of the group, buried the ashes in the ground that surrounded the building. By that time, Accelerator and the others had no further reasons to remain in the palace, so they quickly vacated the premises. Switching clothes in a nearby alleyway, the teens decided to stay out of sight for a little while.

Azula remembered hearing about a party that the Earth King would be attending soon; of course, the event itself wasn't important, but it would give them the opportunity to get closer to the Earth King himself.

As Azula was explaining her plan, Accelerator absentmindedly glanced up at the sky; the clouds looked so free up there in the embrace of the large, blue canvas. The blue, however, was now starting to get overtaken by a mesh of orange hues. Night would arrive within a matter of hours. His thoughts were soon interrupted by the constant sound of a voice in his ear.

"…ello….hello…hey, are you listening to me?" Azula asked as she pointed a finger in his face.

"Loud and clear," he said with labored sigh.

"Good. Then you understand the plan, right?" she asked.

Scratching the back of his head, the esper somewhat sheepishly replied, "Uhhhh…do you think you could say it again."

Azula clicked her tongue in annoyance and rolled her eyes at Accelerator's wandering mind.

"I'm going to send Mai back out of the city to meet with our Fire Nation forces; she will inform them of our current status and about any relevant data about Ba Sing Se. If we don't succeed in our mission, the Fire Nation will at least know enough about the city's defenses and layout to plan a separate attack. Meanwhile, you, me, and Ty Lee will operate undercover as members of the Dai Li to get closer to the Earth King. When the time is right – we kill him."

"It's not going to be that easy," Accelerator noted, "The Earth King is an incredibly important figure, it would only be natural for him to be surrounded by guards."

Azula smiled, "Not if there's a distraction," she said.

"Let me guess: it's gonna be me," the esper stated.

Azula let out a genuine chuckle, "I've seen you in action. There's nothing for you to worry about; you'll be fine."

"Ty Lee, you and me will stay in the background. Once Accelerator makes his move, we have to act fast. Got it?" she asked.

The wide-eyed girl nodded, "Got it!" she affirmed.

"Good," Azula said, now turning her attention to Mai, "you know what your task is, correct?"

Mai nodded as well, "I leave back through the hole we came in from. I'll head in the direction that our troops retreated to: approximately 5 miles to the north. When I arrive, I'll inform War Minister Qin of our status and provide him with whatever information he needs so he can relay it back to the Fire Lord in case you guys don't make it back."

"Excellent," Azula said, "Remember, Mai, it's best to move under the cover of night, so you shall leave once the sun disappears beyond the horizon."

"Understood," Mai returned.

Azula let out a deep breath as she peered up at the sky; none of them really had a place to stay for the night, and simply stealing someone's house was way too risky for them at this point. The best they could do was find a secluded spot and hope that it doesn't get too cold at night.

"Ummm, could I leave for a little bit?" Ty Lee asked, her hand on her stomach, "I really need to use the bathroom."

"Very well – go," Azula said, "but make sure that you return within half-an-hour. I can't have you wandering off."

Ty Lee hastily nodded before walking around the corner of the alleyway; Accelerator watched her leave and couldn't help but feel like something seemed strange about her behavior. Granted, he hadn't known her for that long, but even he could tell she was acting differently than her normal, chipper self.

Sliding his hands into his pockets, the esper also began to wander off, "I gotta take a shit too," he said with a hand wave as he disappeared behind the corner.

Accelerator walked behind the unaware girl, maintaining a steady distance away from her; noticing that she quickly jumped behind yet another corner, Accelerator's eyebrow raised in confusion and curiosity. Picking up the pace a little, the esper finally rounded the corner that Ty Lee had jumped behind. There, crouching on the floor, was Ty Lee; for some reason, she had fallen to her hands and knees, dry heaving as she stared down at the dirt floor. Her intense breathing was soon followed by the sound of something liquid splattering on the ground – she was vomiting.

Accelerator didn't understand. Why was she throwing up? Was she sick or something? What's going on?

The coughing sounds that accompanied her vomiting soon turned into light sobs as she slowly began to cry. Accelerator didn't exactly feel sorry for her, but he couldn't say that he didn't care either – he was just confused. Why was she crying?

Pushing any questions that he had to the back of his mind, Accelerator carefully approached the sobbing girl.

"Are you ok?" he asked as he looked down at her.

Seemingly startled by his presence, Ty Lee practically jumped before she glanced back up at him. His piercing, red eyes that normally read of anger or indifference were now replaced by a look of confusion and worry.

"Oh…hey, I didn't see you there," Ty Lee said through sniffles as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

"O-oh, it's…uhhh…it's nothing," she lied.

Accelerator realized that she refused to meet his eyes with her own; her cheeks had begun to redden due to her crying and streams of tears ran down her face as she stared at the ground beneath her.

A bit uncomfortable with the silence, Ty Lee continued to speak.

"It's just….I…didn't expect to see Azula do that," she whimpered.

Accelerator's eyes suddenly widened in realization; Ty Lee's behavior started to change almost immediately after Azula killed General Sung. He understood now - she had never seen death; or more specifically….murder.

"I…I can't get that man's face out of my head," she sobbed, "did you see his face?"

Accelerator slightly nodded; it was hard to simply forget such a gruesome sight. The eyes that had disappeared; the skin that had melted; the face that had charred; the man that had died. Of course, he had seen things like that before, so he could deal with it. But for someone like Ty Lee, who had probably never witnessed the death of another, it was quite scarring.

"She killed him, and I just stood by and watched…" she whimpered as she clutched her two hands together in front of her.

Accelerator couldn't help but feel a slight twinge in the center of his chest; a sudden sense of remorse flowed through his entire body. The white-haired esper hesitated but eventually lifted his hand up in front of him; he gently caressed the cheek of the poor girl in front of him, causing her to look up at him.

"It'll…be ok," he reassured her. He had never encountered a situation like this, so he didn't really know what to do.

"*sniff* why am I like this?" Ty Lee asked, her large eyes looking into Accelerator's.

"Because you're normal," he calmly informed, "because you're human."

The girl remained quiet and seemed to take in the meaning of the esper's words; the soothing reality of what he said appeared to calm her as her shaking body became more still. Closing her eyes, Ty Lee used both of her hands to dry the remaining tears from her face. He was right; she had nothing to be ashamed of. She knew that his words didn't clear her mind completely, but she could feel herself begin to calm down. After a few seconds of silence, a small smile began to form on her lips.

"Thank you," she said as she gave him her usual, gleeful smile.

A small grin appeared on the esper's face as well, "Sure."

"Anyway, I'm gonna head back now," Accelerator said as he slowly turned around, "You should probably clean up a little before you return."

Ty Lee looked down at her dirty clothes and felt the residual tears on her face.

"Oh, right!" she exclaimed, "Thanks!"

"Whatever," he mumbled as he left around the corner and headed back to rest of the group.

Reappearing in front of Azula and Mai once more, the Fire Nation princess looked up, surprised.

"That was fast," she noted, to which Accelerator just shrugged his shoulders.

Taking a seat down against a wall, the esper closed his eyes and leaned his head against his arms that were situated behind him. Several minutes later, Ty Lee returned with no indication whatsoever that she had been weeping in sorrow.

"Took you long enough," Azula stated with a side-eye.

"Y-yeah, I reeeallllyy had to go," Ty Lee responded, stressing some of her words.

Not wanting to dig any further than that, Azula turned her attention to the plan at hand.

"If we want to work efficiently tomorrow, we should all go to sleep. One person will stay awake and let everyone else know if something comes up; I will take the first watch," the Fire princess said as she stood up.

The others nodded in agreement before they began to settle in for the night. Ty Lee used the Dai Li uniform she wore as a type of blanket and covered herself with it to warm herself; Mai followed Ty Lee's method and proceeded to utilize her own uniform as well. Accelerator remained quietly in the corner with his eyes closed, almost as if he had already fallen asleep.

It didn't take long for the sky to finally darken, allowing the stars to shine through the atmosphere; it had gotten quite cold as well, something that Azula had hoped wouldn't happen. The city itself began to calm down as night arrived; the hustle and bustle of the citizens died down and now silence seemed to fill the air. It had been about 2 hours since the rest of the team fell asleep, and Azula remained awake and vigilant as she carefully examined her surroundings.

Hearing someone approaching her, she whirled around and crouched into an attack position as the footsteps continued; looking up at a blank-faced esper, Azula sighed and lowered her defenses.

"I thought you were still asleep," she said with a sigh.

"I was," Accelerator responded as he took a seat beside the black-haired beauty, "but I thought we were gonna take turns."

"I'll wake you up when I need you," she said dismissively.

Accelerator's eye slightly twitched in irritation, "wow, how thoughtful of you," he growled.

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments before the white-haired esper spoke again.

"Wouldn't it be better to do this from a higher vantage point?" he questioned.

"What do you mean?" Azula said as she turned to him.

"Well, if you station yourself at some place that's above ground, you'll be able to overlook more area," he observed, pointing to the top of a building immediately next to them.

"That would be much more efficient," Azula conceded, "but it might be too high for me to climb."

Accelerator remained silent for a second.

"I can take you up there if you want," he suggested, avoiding the look she gave him.

"Would you carry me up there or something?" Azula joked, "No offense, but even though you are indeed quite powerful, you don't look like you're physically very strong."

Accelerator's eyes narrowed, "Oh yeah?" he said as he stood up, "Is that a challenge?"

"Well, I-" before Azula could respond to the angered esper, she felt his arms suddenly pick her up off of the ground; holding her weight beneath her legs and under her back, Accelerator lifted her off the ground, bridal-style.

She then felt her body being lifted into the air as Accelerator leapt up to the top of the building. Gently landing on the roof, he looked down at the surprised princess. Her eyes peered up at his as though there was something else beneath them, and he could've sworn that he saw a slight blush appear on her cheeks.

"Ok, you might've been right," he suddenly said through a strained voice, "you're pretty heavy."

Quickly setting her down, Accelerator then cleared his throat to cover up his hidden embarrassment.

"You're…..much stronger than I thought," Azula carefully admitted.

Staring at the esper for a bit longer than she should've, the slightly flustered Fire princess set her attention up to the star-lit sky, taking in the large expanse of night. It was quite beautiful, although Azula would never admit it outright; after all, she still had a mission she had to accomplish, or else….

"Hey, you ok?" Accelerator asked, noting Azula's worried face.

"It's nothing," she responded, regaining her composure, "I'll be fine from here. You can just go back to sleep."

"Trust me," the esper said as he took a seat, "You're gonna need to rest soon. Also, I require WAY less sleep than you think."

Azula closed her eyes in thought; perhaps he was right, refusing to get some rest was a bad idea – especially considering how important the events of the next day would be.

Glancing back at Accelerator, who had made himself comfortable on the roof, Azula let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine," she quietly conceded, "I suppose it would be beneficial to get some rest. But I want you to wake me sometime within the next few hours."

Giving the Fire princess a gentle nod, Accelerator agreed as he watched her lay down on her back and look up at the stars. The next few minutes were filled with silence as the two of them quietly sat still; eventually, Accelerator looked over at Azula and was surprised to find the black-haired beauty fast asleep. A small smile appeared on his face as he returned his attention up to the night sky.

End of Chapter 18

Author's Note: Well, it looks like someone is making some friends. Obviously, this doesn't mean that Accelerator is BFFs with Azula or Ty Lee, but it does kind of strengthen his bond with them a little. I'm going to have to think about how this will affect the rest of the story, but I was fairly happy with how this chapter turned out; also, let me know if you've noticed Accelerator's gradual personality change throughout the last few chapters in the 'COMMENT' section. Thanks!