Chapter 2

Azula closed her eyes and leaned her head against the bars of her cell, hair surrounding and shading her face from the guards who backed away to wait for Dr. Liu. The blood from the cut on her forehead oozed down her face and dripped slowly onto the floor in thick drops. She could taste its metallic tang on her teeth.

Maybe she shouldn't have gone that far. But no, it was right. Her heart was racing, chest heaving as her breathing steadied under the work of the sedative. Azula was elated and she laughed.

The irritating sound of something screeching down the hall covered her laugh of insanity. Ah, and here comes Kai. She straightened herself up and retreated to sit pin-straight on her bed, knowing what was to come. No need to resist tonight.

Seconds later, the doctor walked in the room dragging the source of the screeching: an evil looking metal chair. There were loose straps to be tightened around the patient's legs and arms, binding them completely to it. Several notches on each of the four legs locked directly into corresponding shallow holes in the middle of the floor of Azula's room, rendering it and its occupant immobile.

Kai coughed and cleared his throat. He unlocked the barred door and sent in the two guards to stand in front of Azula. They grabbed her bound arms and stood her upright. The chair grated against the metal floor as Kai pulled it into the room, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. He could at least try to pick it up, the idiot. Or they could invest in an actual wheelchair. With a loud latching sound, it was locked into place.

Wordlessly, the guards maneuvered Azula into the chair and began strapping her legs in. Her arms were already bound tight against her, making the chair's arm restraints useless at the moment. Kai glanced at Azula for the first time and as he studied her face, a puzzled look crossed his own. She didn't look on the verge of the breakdown he thought Ty Lee's visit would cause, she was oddly calm. He withdrew an alcohol wipe and bandage from his satchel to dress her wound.

"You really put on a show for her, didn't you?" Kai made a clucking sound with his tongue. He knelt before her, preparing a bandage. Azula said nothing. She merely stared at him as he wiped the blood from her face. Such an ugly shade of brown eyes. The alcohol on the cloth wipe stung impressively and Azula clenched her jaw against the jolt of pain it sent through her head, but she didn't make a sound.

The doctor inspected the wound closely, assessed that it wouldn't need a healer's attention, and gently applied a disinfectant and bandage. How many times had he done this before? He discarded the bloodied materials into his bag and pulled one of the guest chairs in front of Azula. Her eye twitched at the screeching sound it made. She'd grown to hate metal almost as much as she hated water.

"Any particular reason for the outburst tonight?" Kai spoke with a practiced patience. Four years as her doctor, he thought he knew how to approach her.

Azula glared at him. For all the gentle undertones in his voice, he'd never done anything to really help her. She hated him like water too, "I should think that would be obvious to someone who claims to know everything about me."

"It is. I thought I might give you a chance to share first. It seems to me that you still believe Ty Lee betrayed you at the Boiling Rock. You haven't seen her since that day and so finally expressing that outrage must have felt liberating."

Her body felt heavy from the sedative, "I've told you, I don't believe she betrayed me. It's a fact that she did betray me. She betrayed her princess and country by stopping my actions. I did the right thing by tossing her into prison. Such a shame she didn't have a longer stay." She paused, "If only I wasn't bundled in this wonderful jacket, I could have shown her the full extent of my outrage. Now that would be truly liberating."

The doctor sighed. Azula knew he was a little bored with this routine. She was sure hearing the same answer over and over wore him down, though she didn't quite understand why, when it was a truthful one.

The sedative worked remarkably fast as usual. Idiots, how do they expect to hear anything from me if they jab me with needles at the first sign of a problem? Azula's eyelids fluttered as she gave in to the weariness coursing through her body. She knew she would sleep soundly tonight; the dreams never came after the drug application.

Distantly, she heard Kai sigh again and suddenly the tension from the restraints relaxed. The guards pulled her to her feet and roughly pushed her to the bed. Her head knocked against the wall, sending a fresh wave of pain coursing through her. She shut her eyes reflexively and heard the guards unlock the chair and screech it out into the hall. She wished the chair was alive, so she could kill it.

The awful sound faded soon and Azula opened her eyes to find her room bathed in darkness. She knew the two guards were still there, could easily sense their presence, and decided to give them a piece of subtle advice to pass along to their friend Niko.

She rolled onto her side and muttered just loudly enough for the men to hear, "That brat… hasn't grown up one bit, probably still fawning over turtleducks like a child… Circus freak." Azula threw that last one in there for herself.

No response as expected, they weren't exactly encouraged to speak to her. But she could tell by the barely audible whispering that they had at least heard her.

As a child, Azula sometimes enjoyed feeding the palace turtleducks with entire loaves of bread, much to Zuko and Ty Lee's displeasure. One afternoon while playing with Mai and Ty Lee, she accidentally roasted one while showing off some new forms. It managed to plunge itself into the pond, but Ty Lee never quite recovered from that sight and since then, reliably burst into tears every time she saw one of the poor things. Azula smirked before she finally gave in to the sedative. Stay the course and this could work.

Ty Lee met with Zuko after her visit with Azula to discuss what happened. He was not pleased that she went to see his sister without telling him first.

"You should have said something!" Zuko had just finished meeting with his generals before Ty Lee rushed into the room they occupied. He pulled off the outer heavy robes he wore and sat down at the head of the table, massaging his temple with one hand. Though he'd only been Fire Lord for a few years, the job had clearly taken its toll on him. Zuko looked much older than twenty one. Tiny creases were beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. His hair had grown long and he wore it in the usual topknot style accustomed to the Fire Lord. The poor man looked quite exhausted.

"I know and I'm sorry. But I thought that you might not let me go," Zuko opened his mouth and Ty Lee, knowing what he was about to say, cut him off. "Or at least, you wouldn't let me go alone." He closed his mouth and frowned.

Ty Lee continued warily, "She wasn't that bad. Sure, it was… scary seeing her reaction, but I think she'll get better. Dr. Liu said she hadn't had any visitors in a long time but—" At this, Zuko couldn't stay quiet.

"I can't see her as often as I should. It's been so difficult trying to reshape the mentality of our nation and deal with factions loyal to my father. I-I just, haven't had the time," Zuko's voice trailed off as he looked slightly ashamed.

"Zuko, I'm not questioning how many visits you make! That isn't what I meant! I'm sure you'll see her when you can. I just thought that maybe her reaction to me was so negative because she hasn't been able to speak out in a while."

This didn't reassure Zuko at all. His face reddened as he opened his mouth to respond, but Ty Lee kept going.

"I'm going to keep seeing her."

Zuko looked about twelve years old as a flash of incredulity crossed his face, "What?! Ty Lee, if she wasn't restrained behind bars, she might have killed you! After four years, she still wants your blood. Do you really think she's going to change?"

"I have to! Or what? Give up on her? Forget she exists and leave her totally alone in that cell forever? I can't do that Zuko! And I don't think you could either, she's your little sister. No matter the awful things she's done to both of us, we still love her, right? Even with everything she's done, even if she scares me… I can't stop," Ty Lee stood with her hands clasped across her chest, vision blurring from withheld tears.

She looked away from Zuko at the surrounding room. She, Mai, and Azula used to sneak around the palace looking for entertainment when they were kids. The meeting rooms were a frequent choice of Azula's. Even as a young girl, she would draw herself up to her full tiny height, sit at the head of the tables, and pretend she was the Fire Lord addressing her generals. Ty Lee's chest tightened at the happy memory that was destined to fail, and the tears fell.

She smiled sadly at Zuko, "I have to try."

He returned her smile half-heartedly and walked over to put a hand on her shoulder. Even if he denied her access to Azula, he had a feeling Ty Lee would find another, perhaps more dangerous way to reach her.

"I know, I understand. You can still go, but if she continues to react the same way, we'll have to come up with another solution. Let me know if she acts out," He looked down at Ty Lee wiping the tears from her face, and nudged her chin to meet his eye.

"Be wary of her. Dr. Liu has sent several concerning reports to me lately," he spoke with knitted brows.

Ty Lee wanted to ask why he didn't go see her if that was the case, but held her tongue. Instead she simply nodded and thanked him for letting her visits continue.

"I don't really get why you're coming to me about this."

Mai set her teacup down on the table at the café where she agreed to meet Ty Lee for breakfast. It was a fairly large place, very simply decorated. The cherry tables were handmade and polished to a rich sheen. Plain deep red tablecloths adorned each one. There were a number of generic paintings and pictures hung throughout the place, mostly depictions of the countryside or some yummy looking foods. The two were seated outside in a small courtyard by themselves. Surrounded by tiny shrubs and hanging fire lilies, they were in a good position to be unheard.

"Look, I just wanted you to be aware that I was gonna start to see her a lot. I didn't want you to find out from someone else and get… upset," Ty Lee shrank away from the daggers Mai shot at her with her eyes. "I'm not asking you to come with me!"

"Good, I don't want to. I'm fairly certain if I did, she would find a way out of that straightjacket to murder me on the spot. I don't see why you're giving her a second chance. No matter what you guys might have been at one point, she was pretty awful. Now she's heavily guarded at all times," she shrugged, "seems alright to me."

"She was our best friend and my… I just, I miss her, you know?"

"She was going to kill me."

"Maybe. She was maybe going to kill you. She might have just injured you. But I stopped her."

"She threw us in prison."

"It wasn't for very long, and your uncle treated us well."

"She's insane."

"That isn't her fault."

Mai rolled her eyes and picked at a tray of flaky scones the waitress brought over. She waited until the server was back inside the café before continuing, "How many excuses are you going to make for her?"

Ty Lee smiled at Mai. It had been a while since they'd gotten together to talk. She was the same as ever: long sleeved black and maroon dress, constant air of boredom about her, dingy aura. The only noticeable change was her hair, and even that wasn't drastic. She still had heavy bangs and two long pieces of hair framed her face, but the rest was gathered into a single bun at the back of her head. It made her look older, nobler.

"I just want to try with her. No one else seems to really care and I—" She looked at Mai, "Now that I've seen where she is, I can't just leave her with only her own mind to keep her occupied. How will she ever get better that way?"

Mai sighed and took a bite out of a blueberry scone, "Then why did you wait four years?"

Ty Lee cast her eyes downward. Typical Mai, blunt as ever. But she had a point, why did she wait so long? The easy answer was that she left the Fire Nation altogether to train with the Kyoshi Warriors for almost that entire time. She traveled, she trained, she literally wasn't ever in the area. Zuko had sent a few guard requests to her over the years, but she always passed them off to Suki or one of the other girls. She just hadn't been ready to go back yet.

But after she felt her training and serving with the girls plateaued, Ty Lee came back home. Being on that tiny island for so long was almost suffocating. And she saw that she had fallen into another matched set. The thing she so desperately wanted to avoid. She enjoyed her time with the girls and was happy they accepted her readily after everything that happened, but Ty Lee never could go too long without thinking of Azula.

"I… I'm not sure. I needed the time to do things on my own again. Not being under Azula's leash was nice and I felt free being able to do whatever I liked. But I think the freer I felt, the more I thought of how not free she was. It hurt. It still hurts, to think of how she used to be and see how much has changed. I guess I didn't want to ignore that anymore," Ty Lee took a breath and sipped her own tea before continuing.

"I was afraid to see her. To actually see how far she'd fallen. I knew how she probably thought of me, and I guess I hoped that the more time that passed, the better a chance I would have at being able to talk to her without being totally afraid she'd kill me. I guess I was wrong about that, but I just want to help her. I think I still sort of love her in a not-friend way."

Mai flicked the crumbs of leftover scone on her plate with her finger. She looked at her friend with a blank expression. Ty Lee met her gaze and couldn't help but compare those darker amber eyes to a pair of vibrant gold ones. She wished Azula could be here with them, all three together like old times.

"You shouldn't still have feelings for her after everything. She treated you pretty awfully most of the time," Mai's gravelly voice shattered the image playing out in Ty Lee's mind.

They'd been over this topic at least a hundred times. And Ty Lee knew Mai was right. Azula really wasn't an ideal love interest. She could be cruel, manipulative, cold, and callous. But Ty Lee knew she was also weirdly awkward with no real social skills because of the way her father raised her. With so much focus on training and the infinite pressure of perfection weighing on her shoulders, Azula had little time to be a normal teenager. Ty Lee felt like she was able to bring that side out of the princess. At least a little bit.

She couldn't explain it. She knew Azula was bad news. She knew she'd just end up getting hurt again. But she always came back. Like the dumb circus girl Azula thought she was.

"I know, but I do. And I've tried to forget her, but I can't," she shrugged and plastered a giant grin on her face to conceal the conflict waging war within herself.

Mai gave her a disapproving glance, "I can't say I feel the same way. But you always were the best person of the three of us. So compassionate, I don't understand it." She downed the rest of her tea, "I won't get in your way, just be careful, alright? Azula is as unforgiving as you are sympathetic."

"Of course I'll be careful. It'll be okay! It might take forever, but it'll be okay."

Mai listened quietly while Ty Lee chattered away about a million different things as they finished their light breakfast. Walking out of the café, Ty Lee couldn't resist asking a certain question that had plagued her mind since that morning.

"So are you and Zuko…?"

"Still broken up, yes," Mai answered quickly, shutting down any opportunity for further interrogation. Ty Lee knew Mai wouldn't reveal anything else, and didn't want to push into her private life, so she let the subject drop.

After a short stroll browsing the various items vendors were selling in the streets of Caldera, they said their goodbyes. Ty Lee promised to inform Mai of any progress she might have with Azula, though she suspected Mai didn't really care if the princess improved or not. I'll have to work on her gloominess next.

Ty Lee set about walking to her apartment situated in an outer neighborhood of the capital, thinking of when her next visit with Azula would be.