Chapter 20: Party Preparations
The morning came as fast as the night fled, leading into a new day for the citizens of Ba Sing Se. The sun had not fully risen yet, but the oncoming orange hue of the sky gave promise to its arrival. Few people had woken up, so the city had not yet been subjected to the sounds of daily life. Those who woke up early either tended to their morning duties or took quick strolls around the town.
Accelerator still remained up on the roof, almost like a statue with his unmoving poise; beside him, or rather, elsewhere on the roof, was a quietly sleeping Ty Lee who had gradually fallen victim to sleep during the night. She slept silently atop the roof as Accelerator took the job of 'lookout' for the rest of the night. Hearing a sudden sound from the other side of the roof, the esper turned his head to see Azula headed his way. The two of them hadn't talked since the conversation that transpired the night before, which probably gave both teens time to think.
"Morning," Accelerator greeted.
Azula simply nodded back at the esper in acknowledgement; she now wore the same expression that he was used to – unimpressed, cold…dull. Her eyes glanced over at him, but it was almost as though they didn't register his presence; they simply looked through him. Lowering her head, eventually noticing Ty Lee on the floor, Azula gave a slightly irritated look. Gently nudging the sleeping girl with her foot, Azula watched as Ty Lee grumbled at the attempt to wake her. Opening her eyes, Ty Lee saw the image of Azula looking down on her with hands on her hips.
"Have any good dreams?" the Fire princess asked with narrowed eyes.
"Heeey Azula!" Ty Lee sang with a sheepish grin.
Sitting up, the brunette tried to think of something to say, "uhhhh…nice day, isn't it?"
"You're supposed to be lookout. Why are you sleeping?" Azula noted, ignoring Ty Lee's attempt at brevity.
"Well, I was gonna do that, but Accelerator said that he would be willing to take over for me," the girl responded, gingerly scratching the back of her head.
Azula looked over at Accelerator, "Is this true?" she asked.
"Yep," the esper answered straightforwardly.
"…I see," she said, after a short pause.
"Well then, be that as it may, you should've informed me of this decision beforehand," she said with a hint of anger.
"Sorry, Azula," Ty Lee apologized, lowering her head to the ground.
"I wasn't talking to you," the Fire Nation princess said through a lowered brow as she stared directly at the esper.
"Wait, me?" he asked, pointing to himself.
"Yes - You. I admit, you are quite powerful, but that means nothing to me if you cannot follow simple orders," she chastised.
A sudden and familiar twinge of rage momentarily shot through Accelerator's body as he glared back at the princess. The two of them locked eyes, neither one of them refused to look away.
"Do you understand?" she asked, although it didn't sound like a question.
Staring back at her, the esper said nothing for several seconds as a gentle wind blew over the roof.
"Yeah, whatever. I got it," he finally commented, turning his back on the princess as he returned to looking out over the city.
He was confused; why was she suddenly acting like this? Did it have anything to do with what he said the night before? Honestly, the way she was acting right now wasn't too offset from her normal personality, but it was weird to him that the change was so sudden. Well, whatever. Why were girls so weird?
Meanwhile, with Aang…
The group had gotten a goodnight sleep, despite the sudden appearance of that white-haired kid the day before. By now, all of the members had woken up; the first one up was Aang (usually due to his time in the air temple), followed by Katara, Sokka, and a very grumpy Toph. The slight light of the morning sun peaked through the window slits and served as the start of the day. Aang focused on some stretches to prepare his body for the day, while Katara wandered outside. Sokka immediately jumped back to the scrolls and continued to read the rest of them; Toph mainly sat up in her bed/mat and rubbed at her eyes until she no longer felt drowsy.
Sokka glanced up from his scrolls momentarily to see Toph's messy morning hair.
"Wow," he said, wide-eyed, "just wow."
"What?" Toph asked.
"It looks like your hair got attacked by a Platypus Bear," the water tribe boy noted, trying to hold back his laughter.
"You're lucky I can't see what you look like in the morning," Toph retorted as she delicately patted the ends of her hair.
"Hey, guys!" Katara called out as she entered through the door, "check this out!"
"What is it?" Aang curiously asked while in the middle of his stretches.
"We got something in the mail," Katara informed, holding up a piece of paper.
The first thing that the group noticed about the parchment was that it looked pretty important; none of the edges were ripped and the words on the paper were very neat and precise.
"*ahem* Dear recipient," she began after clearing her throat, "You are hereby invited to a party held for the Earth King later on tonight. The gathering will begin at 8:00pm, please wear the proper attire. Thank you."
"A party?" Aang wondered, "tonight? Well, that's sudden."
"Actually…this could work for us," Sokka said with a thoughtful expression as he stood up.
Walking around the room slowly, the water tribe boy held his finger to his chin, "If the Earth King is attending the party, then maybe we could find a way to talk to him."
"I guess it's possible," Katara said as she watched her brother pace back and forth, "I mean, it couldn't hurt; it's definitely much better than waiting a whole month."
"That's true," Aang noted.
"Alright, then it's agreed. Looks like we're going to a party, baby!" Sokka exclaimed as he pointed into the air.
"In your dreams…" muttered Toph from the other end of the room, "This party is going to be full of high-society people. They'd smell commoners like you from a mile away."
"Ummm, What does that mean?" Sokka returned, feigning ignorance.
"Look at you guys. You've got no manners. You're have no idea how to socialize with the wealthy," Toph explained as she picked the inside of her ear.
"'Manners'?" Sokka said, staring at the blind girl as she wiped ear wax onto the rug, "you're one to talk."
"I can choose whether to have manners or not," Toph stated, "but you guys were never even taught the basics of proper etiquette."
"Oh yeah? Well, I know how to chew with my mouth shut," Sokka bragged.
"…Good for you," the blind girl said, unamused.
"You two are a lost cause. The only one who has a chance at all is Katara."
Upon hearing those words, Katara flashed a smile to an irritated Sokka.
"Hey, what does she have that I don't have?" he asked.
"Functioning brain cells," Toph bluntly retorted, causing Aang and Katara to slightly giggle.
Sokka gave the blind earthbender an annoyed look before quickly succumbing to the laughter of the other two.
Back with Accelerator…
The white-haired teen hadn't moved since the last time he spoke, and his eyes had been firmly set on the outstretch of the city as he contemplated several thoughts that had bothered him as of late.
Hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, Accelerator lazily glanced behind him only to look up to the Fire Nation princess. Azula stared down at him, her eyes were calm but there seemed to be a fire behind them.
"Get up. We have plans that we need to discuss in regards to infiltrating the Earth King's party," she said.
The esper gave her a studied glance as he looked her up and down; his traveling gaze made Azula glare at him even more.
"Is there something you wish to say?" she demanded, placing her hands aggressively on her hips.
Accelerator shifted his weight to his palms as he pushed himself off from the ground and slowly stood up straight; although they were fairly similar in terms of height, Accelerator's slight size advantage was highlighted as he peered down at the princess.
"I could ask you the same question," he said in a monotone voice.
Azula stiffened her jaw and straightened her back slightly in response to the esper's statement, "I have nothing to say to you," she said.
Accelerator's expression remained motionless as he scanned the details of the girl's face, looking for any sign whatsoever. After letting out a quick sigh, the esper made a clicking sound with his tongue as he passed by the still princess and headed to the edge of the roof.
"Jeez, what's with this attitude all of a sudden? Didn't your mom ever teach you manners?" he passively said as he continued to walk away from her.
"…what did you say?" she silently whispered after a few seconds of silence.
Ignoring the princess, perhaps because he didn't quite hear her, Accelerator continued to walk away, increasing his distance with every stride.
As the esper continued to near the edge, he felt a sudden yet intense wave of heat wash over him; familiar specks of blue embers danced around his body. Curiously turning around, he tilted his head in confusion upon seeing Azula crouched down into an attack position. He had turned just in time to see the remaining flames that she sent in his direction before they dispersed into the air.
"Hey, what the hell are you –", he began, but he didn't have time to finish before Azula rushed directly at him.
"TAKE IT BACK!" she growled.
Engulfing her own hands in fire, Azula sprinted towards the esper and stopped once she got close enough. Balling her hand into a fist, she let the flames flow in between her fingers as she reached for Accelerator's face; narrowly missing her target, the princess watched as he quickly dodged her attack.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" the white-haired teen asked.
"Don't ever mention my mother again," she muttered, shooting Accelerator with the most shock-inducing glare he'd ever seen.
Quickly jumping up into the air, allowing her feet to leave the ground, Azula rotated her body as she flew closer to him; kicking her legs out – first the left one, then the right one – she continued the momentum as she delivered the attacks. Easily blocking each of her kicks with his ESP field, the esper focused on her movements as she spun in the air. Landing on the ground, Azula immediately swept her leg close to the floor in a circular fashion as she aimed for Accelerator's knee; feeling the solid pressure from the esper's field once more, she grunted in annoyance. Rotating her body once more, the Fire Nation princess spun on her toes as the other leg delivered a round-house kick to the side of Accelerator's face. A grin spread on her face, but it immediately disappeared after realizing his hand had moved up to block the attack. Taking a few steps back, Azula let out an angered growl of defeat.
"DAMNIT!" she cursed, smashing the ground with her fists.
Accelerator stared down at the enraged princess, both out of shock and confusion; allowing her hair to droop down over her face, Azula remained quietly on the ground for a few seconds, not making a word.
The esper continued to look down at her, wondering what the reason was for this sudden outbreak; he admitted, things had gotten pretty heated earlier, but he didn't think she would straight-up attack him.
"Jeez, what is your problem?" he said, confusion evident in his voice.
The girl before him remained motionless and refused to say anything back to him. Seemingly, several minutes passed as Accelerator waited for some kind of response from Azula.
"I've made up my mind," she said as she stood back up.
The thick, black locks of hair still hung over her face, but now Accelerator could see her eyes as they glared back at him.
"You're nothing but a distraction," she continued, "Just a waste of time. I have a mission to complete, and you're getting in the way. So, I've made up my mind….I've decided that you are no longer a part of this team. – I have no use for you. I am hereby cutting off all of your ties to the Fire Nation effective immediately. Have fun on your own."
Her final words came out like daggers before she turned back around and headed for the edge of the roof.
"You're useless…" she said as she jumped off the side of the roof from the esper's line of sight.
Accelerator had no words that he could possibly say – he couldn't think of any. So, there, for the next few minutes, the esper stood in absolute silence as he angrily starred down at the ground before him.
End of Chapter 20
Author's Note: Comment. Just comment.