Disclaimer still applies: I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and any ocs.
Fractured Minds
Chapter 5: Spirits, Auras, and Monsters
Her journey to the spirit world was like falling asleep but waking up in an orchard wasn't the sight that she expected to greet her. Huh...this is odd, pretty but odd. It feels like I'm not supposed to be here.
Shaking her head of her thoughts she decided not to worry over it and explore the orchard for a bit. She was debating on which direction to go, left or right, when a voice that reminded her of the Royal Palace's gardens stopped her, "Spring is much more colorful. Although I hate to admit that this place isn't so bad, the reds, oranges, and yellows are quite striking. What do you think Ty Lee?"
It was a moment before she realized that the speaker was addressing her and as she turned to face them, her knees gave out but before she hit the ground, the woman caught her and steadied her. And when the woman stepped back, she saw that the woman had the same uniform as she did and the woman's face paint was flawlessly done.
"S-Suki?"
The woman closed her eyes and had to look away, for she couldn't stand to see Ty Lee's face as she said, "I'm avatar Kyoshi. The one you love won't be joining you for quite sometime I'm afraid."
"I know and I'm glad for that." Her smile was as fake as the one she wore on the day she first set foot on Kyoshi Island, knowing that she would forever be a faceless, shapeless Kyoshi warrior. It was her way of paying the noble warriors the respect they deserve from her, for her part in Azula's plan to conquer Ba Sing Sei.
Kyoshi wasn't fooled by her smile. "I too gave up my life for another. But I was unable to tell her that I loved her one last time. Nor did I get to see her."
The longest lived avatar sensed movement from Ty Lee and was surprised. For a moment, indecision warred and then she returned the hug. As Ty Lee pulled away, she said, "That must have been awful. But you get to see her now, don't you?"
Her lips twitched but she suppressed the impulse to frown. "On the solstice days. Even in the world of spirits the avatars have a duty to guide others to where they are meant to be. I suspect that when the next Earth Kingdom Avatar is born and dies, I will see her more than I do now."
"Kyoshi, what are you doing here?" Her voice startled Ty Lee and as she spun to face the new speaker, she was shocked to see an airbender. The airbender's eyes traveled the length of Ty Lee's frame and loosed a disgruntled sigh, "Right I should have known that where you go, you're fan girls eventually follow."
Kyoshi glared at her as the airbender starting walking closer to them. The airbender was unaffected by her gaze and once she was no more than three feet away, she continued, "Never the less she is an airbender and as such, is my responsibility to guide."
Ty Lee's eyes widened in disbelief. Airbender...what's she talking about?
"Yangchen, Kyoshi, neither of you should be here, as Ty Lee is my responsibility." All three of them started when he'd spoken.
Yangchen was the first to recover and as she spun to face him, she spat, "Really Roku, since when are airbender's from the Fire Nation your concern?"
At this the fire avatar bristled but remained silent as he felt the presence of another spirit. He signaled Yangchen and Kyoshi to take up defensive positions. The three avatars formed a triangle around Ty Lee as a black bird-like spirit materialized in the orchard. The spirit hovered above them. "Don't stop on my account. I'm just here to take Ty Lee back."
A huge boulder was sent flying into the air as an answer. But just before it would've hit the bird spirit, the spirit shifted into a human form and a blade of ink cut the rock in half. The spirit, now human, was then sucked into a fire tornado but the fire started flickering until it faded out.
"Are you quite finished?" the spirit's question wasn't answered right away as the three avatars stared in shock, they'd never encountered a spirit capable of withstanding their attacks before.
"Who are you?" Ty Lee's voice was little more than a whisper as she asked the spirit her question.
"Like I said," The spirit slowly lowered to the ground and ignored the tension that it felt from the three avatars. "I'm here to bring you back to Suki."
A veritable earthquake shook the ground as the earth rose up and attempted to swallow the spirit whole. "Go back to your master, servant of Koh, Ty Lee doesn't want what you're selling."
"Stop. She isn't working for Koh. And she isn't lying about taking me back." Three sets of eyes bored into Ty Lee as she defended the spirit.
"There is no way of knowing this. Its a trick of some short."
"But I do know. Auras don't lie and her's hasn't fluctuated once since her arrival here." At this the fight and vigor drained out of Kyoshi.
"It seems as though he was right." Kyoshi's words confused the other two avatars and as she tipped her head to the spirit, she said, "Go on then Ty Lee."
"What the-"
"Kyoshi-"
She held up a hand to silence her fellow avatars. "Two things before you depart girls. Ty Lee, tell Suki that she wears the uniform well and that I'm proud she is of my blood. Please ask Aang if he'll teach you airbending; whether you choose to believe it or not, you are an airbender. And Raven, if you ever find that you have more questions than answers, Wan Shi Tong requested that I pass on a message; the words of home and a collector's trove of paper and ink will bring you through the well."
"I'll be sure to tell Suki the first chance I get." Ty Lee said as she walked past the other two avatars to stand beside the spirit. A black mist surrounded the two and just before they vanished completely, the three avatars heard, "Message received Avatar Kyoshi."
The wall of ink had fallen but none of the villagers dared to step into the square for they had no idea of what would greet them. But when most of the warriors, whom arrived shortly after their sisters had vanished behind the wall, heard their leader shout they rushed into the square. The sight that greeted them was impossible; the blue glow surrounding Ty Lee had disappeared and then the gathered Kyoshi warriors, Aang, Katara, and Iroh, watched in open mouthed shock as the previously dead acrobat started breathing again.
Toph tapped the ground twice and dug a finger in one ear, checking to see if what she'd heard was really there; the heart beat of a corpse. While everyone's attention was on the acrobat, Gar had rushed forward to catch Raven; she'd collapsed as soon as her soul-self had returned to her. "You really did a number on yourself this time, Rae."
Upon hearing what he'd said Suki tore her eyes away from the newly alive acrobat, whom would need protection from a murderous Zu later, to the woman responsible for giving the acrobat back to her.
"Dai please help," she gestured to Gar and Raven, "those two to the infirmary, Bo, Zu, you're in charge of getting Ty Lee there safely as well."
Did she do all of that to save Ty Lee? How? There's no way she could have known. Could she? Regardless I'll need to keep an eye on her.
"Katara I trust you know your way to the infirmary by now." Her voice was subdued and it pulled the waterbender from her thoughts. Katara noticed the tear tracks on Suki's face and elected not to bring up anything to do with Sokka or the twins just then.
"Aang will you?" Before she'd even finished her question he was already bending four slim poles out of the ground. Once he was satisfied with what he made, Aang removed his red cloak and cut it in half with a blast of wind, by now Shenzi and Tan Jin realized what he was doing as they each stepped forward to catch the pieces of his cloak and secured them to two of the poles; creating two makeshift stretchers.
As the seven of them took off for the infirmary, Suki turned to issue more orders to the rest of them. "Aang, Toph, Iroh, I want you in charge of extinguishing the fires. Kan, Kai, Kelu, Ade, Reina, and Zhaji! Front and center."
The six benders she called for ran from the crowd of stunned warriors, who'd seen the dragon woman bring Ty Lee back to life, and stood at attention before their leader. "Reina, Zhaji, help Aang. Kai, Kan, you two are with Toph. Kelu, Ade, team up with Iroh. We need those fires out as soon as possible."
As they rushed off she continued, "Zu Len, Jikai, Moei, and Tu Sei, get a head count of the villagers that are outside the square. Get a list of who's missing and then start searching.
Tan Jin, Kou, Buku, Usenna, and Zerlu start transporting the injured to the infirmary." As the named warriors left the square at a run, Suki turned to the remaining nine warriors, not including herself, who were the least visibly injured of her troops. Her face became as hard as stone as she issued her final orders, "Shenzi take, De, Entu, Ren, and Jin to the Unagi nest, she'll either be dead or was knocked out. If she's dead find the eggs. As for the rest of you, you will come with me to the watch tower to check for survivors and then we'll secure the island."
"Raven what was that?" She turned away from him and ignored his question in favor of waiting for the two ex-villains to exit the courthouse.
"Hey pay attention to me when I'm talking to you." His emotions were starting to give her a migraine.
"Why should Jinx be the only one to get a second chance? And don't give me empty excuses Robin, we both read the H.I.V.E files. It was supposed to be a mercenary training facility. Then Brother Blood happened." She could tell that he didn't like what she'd said.
"And when they infiltrated the Tower?" He thought he had her but she surprised him.
"Slade hired them for a job, nothing more, nothing less. Besides I know Jinx misses her friends." She said and she brushed past him, he grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Raven are you sure about them?"
"I'm sure about Jinx's trust in them." With that he let her go and watched as she approached Gizmo and Mammoth hoping to convince them to join the Titans.
It was quiet in the infirmary and there were still several people that needed daily sessions with Katara, sleeping fitfully on their beds. Chaz Zu was still on bed rest for her broken ribs and Dai's left arm was still in a sling. Suki wanted to forget the whole attack on the village as quickly as possible but she couldn't. She had trouble sleeping because every time she closed her eyes, she relived everything; Ty Lee's death and the deaths of the two marauders she killed. As she walked through the emptier rows of beds, toward the exit she thought about the confrontation between Gar and Katara that she walked in on three days after the attack on the island.
The waterbender's shouting had drawn Suki from the dojo to the building next to it."She's not injured and we need the room. She can catch up on her sleep somewhere else."
An ominous hiss was the only response and when she entered the building, she saw a huge creature coiled in front of the doorway leading to the isolation rooms.
"What is the meaning of this?" The creature and the waterbender looked in her direction.
"Suki his," she waved her hand at the creature, who hissed threateningly at her, "friend is taking up precious space for people who are actually injured."
"Gar could you change back and speak to me." She said, partially ignoring the waterbender who'd been particularly nasty towards her in the last year or so; not believing that Sokka was responsible for their break up.
"She wants to move Raven and I've been trying to avoid explaining why that's a bad idea." He said while leveling a glare at Katara and she could hardly blame him, as the waterbender had expressed her opinion of Raven rather vocally a couple days ago; she was an evil monstrosity.
As Katara looked to be about to say something, Suki cleared her throat and cut across her, "Katara, I don't know what your problem with the Dr-" she stopped short of using the title that the village elders had given the woman, "with Raven is and I don't care. Please go take a walk."
Katara huffed and walked swiftly out of the infirmary. Once she'd left, Suki turned her attention to Gar, whom had immediately pitched in to help the others find and locate missing villagers as soon as his friend was resting comfortably. He also shocked everyone when he demonstrated that he could turn into a lot of strange creatures and not just the one they'd seen him assume the form of during the attack. Then when Shenzi and the others returned with news about the Unagi, he volunteered to care for her until the sea serpent got better.
"Explain it to me then." She said and when he still looked weary, she sighed, "Whatever you have to say about you're friend will go as far as Ty Lee, Chaz Zu, and Dai. Ty Lee's the reason your friend is probably here in the first place, Chaz Zu and Dai are the first and second in command after me."
"Raven doesn't heal like Katara does. Normally Raven can absorb the pain of a wound and induce rapid healing in the other person. But when she has to bring them back to life, the price is higher. The pain of the wounds becomes two times what it should be and the wounds themselves are transferred onto her. But they don't bleed." He didn't sound like himself as he recited the words.
"And that means?" She prompted when it didn't look as if he would say anything further.
"When Raven brought her back to you, Ty Lee was healed completely. For Raven it means she'll be affected by Ty Lee's wounds until they would have healed naturally, had Ty Lee survived. Raven's going to be physically weaker, suffer the effects of severe anemia, and will be more sensitive to the pain of wounds with a similar nature for the next four months. That doesn't even take into account her prior exhaustion beforehand." His voice was little more than a whisper as he finished his explanation.
"How can she be more sensitive?" She asked as her mind was still processing the information.
"She can feel other peoples' emotions." He said fighting back a yawn but he dared not fall asleep as Katara would be back any minute.
She filed away that little tidbit for later and said, "I hate to say it but Raven needs to be moved, if only to get her away from all of the wounded people."
He was already shaking his head. "She can't be moved or it will disrupt her healing trance. And if we do that, she won't wake up for a week."
"Let me put it this way. Would she want to prevent the people that she worked so hard to save, from receiving medical treatment, just because it will cause her problems?"
"No she wouldn't. But where else is there?" His question elicited laughter from her.
At his incredulous look and when she got control of her mirth she said, "The elders are calling her the Dragon Lady. I'm sure that if you were to ask anyone whose house is still standing, they'd trip over themselves for the honor of helping her."
This surprised him as even the people who said Raven was their favorite Titan were afraid of her after she went full Red Menace on villains. They'd had to give some explanations over the years as to some of the incidents and each time the media monkeys had a field day at Raven's expense. It didn't help that her teammates, himself included, walked on egg shells around her after each incident.
"But me and you can move her to one of the girls' rooms in the dojo." She said, there was already a fan club for Avatar Aang on Kyoshi and one was plenty. Though she wouldn't put it past the elders to plan a statue to go next to Avatar Kyoshi's, in the village square, of the Dragon Lady.
"Ty you know what they say about a watched pot." She said once she'd made it to the room where Ty Lee was keeping a silent vigil over Raven. The acrobat's gaze never wavered from the sleeping woman.
"I was there when Gar told you that it would be a week before she woke up. So you can't tell me you didn't hear him." She saw a small smile on Ty Lee's face as an answer to her words; it was a sad smile.
"I heard him. But he's busy helping to rebuild the village and besides Iroh, Gar is her only friend. I just don't want her to be left alone." Her voice was as sad and as small as the smile on her face.
"Why is that? I'm really grateful to her but you've been coming here everyday after you woke up, to sit with her for a couple hours." She would be lying if she said she wasn't confused and just a little jealous of the attention that Raven was receiving from her partner.
Ty Lee breathed deeply, before saying, "To answer that I have to bring her up and I know how much you hate it when I do. Raven reminds me of Zula." She shook her head to clear it as she clarified, "Azula."
The sharp intake of Suki's breath made Ty Lee flinch but she would never regret talking about her friend; Azula was still a sore subject for Suki. A tense silence settled into the room. But to Ty Lee's pleasant surprise she heard Suki speak, "I'm listening."
"No two persons' auras are the same, not even Kai and Kan's, despite them being identical twins. Raven's aura is very similar to Azula's, in color, intensity, and how unique it is. Before Zula lost her mind she was both charismatic and intimidating. Zula's aura was present in every aspect of her being, how she moved, the way she talked, and especially how frightening she was when angry; you could never mistake her for someone else."
Suki had experienced all of those things when she fought the fire nation princess and despite losing spectacularly to her enemy, Suki couldn't help the respect she felt toward Azula. It was one reason among many, not the least of which was Azula's dishonoring of Avatar Kyoshi's name, for why Suki disliked the fire nation princess.
"It was quite the shock to see Zula bend for the first time when she attended the royal academy. The fire she created was the same color as her aura, blue like lightning; the cold blooded fire. Now though," she tried to resist the tears but she'd always been quick to cry and she'd never hated that, until now. "Z-Zula's aura will be the color of rust. I hate that color. I've always hated it. And the thought of my friend's aura shifting from vivid and alive to the color of insanity..."
Ty Lee closed her eyes against her tears, attempting to stem the tide but it was useless. "Ty how can you-"
"But I do know." her voice was steady and strong as she cut Suki off. "I'm the youngest of seven sisters, not six. Her name was Jade and she survived an attempted poisoning by one of the servants. But the poison had already taken her mind. My father had taken me to visit her as he'd gotten word from the doctors that she was having a good day; I was the person she liked talking to. I blacked out shortly after we arrived. Father told me that she tried to choke me and he had to act quickly. He messed up though and hit the wrong pressure point, it killed her instantly. It was my fault."
When she felt the gentle touch on her face, her eyes snapped open and Suki's blue eyes were the first thing she saw. At some point during her harrowing tale, Suki had sat next to her on the couch and her fingertips wiped Ty Lee's tears away but they wouldn't stop. With zero hesitation she pulled the acrobat into her arms and leaned back against the cushions.
Once more Ty Lee was shocked by Suki's actions as she wasn't the type to display her affectionate side around other people; sleeping or otherwise. Rather than ask a million questions Ty Lee decided that she wanted to enjoy whatever this was while it lasted. So she didn't resist as Suki pulled her close and rested her head on Suki's right shoulder.
When Suki was sure that Ty was comfortable she tightened her grip around the acrobat and said, softly, "It wasn't your fault."
The matter of fact tone of her voice seemed to lift an immense weight from the acrobat's shoulders as she let out a relieved breath and tried to squeeze the stuffing out of Suki. At that moment it dawned on Suki that she had almost lost her heart and soul. I thank you Raven for giving her back to me. I'll never be able to repay you for this. But by the spirits I will try my hardest too.
A slight smile was on her face as she whispered, "What exactly is so unique about Raven's aura?"
"You're still interested? No one's ever believed that I could see auras before." Ty Lee said it more to herself but Suki still heard her. "Of course I do. You were right after all...about me."
Sensing the mild discomfort that Suki was feeling, the acrobat giggled at that and began, "A person's aura is made up of a single color, which I call their core color. I first discovered this when I met Mai at the academy. I watched for a shift in her color but it never changed. This fact leads me to believe that whatever the color I see covering the entire person like a suit of armor, I'm seeing the very essence of who they are; their spirit. Every person I have ever met has only ever had one core color, that changed when I met Azula she had two colors. And now I've met another person with two colors, Raven. With me so far?"
Slightly stunned Suki nodded and gestured for Ty Lee to continue. "Here's the really strange and unique bit, for most of Raven's life her colors were separate from the other. For the last six days I've been studying her aura and found that the separation was caused by another person's aura. Whoever this aura belong to it had an adverse influence on Raven's two colors by forcibly separating them. But now that the influence is gone her colors are slowly starting to mix. The jagged lightning like forks of these colors are lined with rust. When the merge is finished I suspect that the rust will fade considerably but it won't vanish altogether."
'As an untrained aura reader she's skilled.' Intelligence was quite impressed with Ty Lee's assessment. 'And here I thought she was like a younger Beast Boy.'
'Haven't we learned this lesson, don't underestimate the loud, obnoxious, and impossibly impulsive ones.' Raven's tone was teasing with an undercurrent of mocking, that Intelligence picked up on.
'Quite. The mistress of all things pink and fluffy still won't let me live it down. She goes on and on and on.' If she didn't know Intelligence any better, she could have sworn that the emote was bitter over that blind date with Jinx. It was Happy who'd spelled it out for the both of them and led to the discovery of their sexual orientation.
'You're seriously still upset over that. Cut Happy some slack. She eased a lot of our stress about what was bothering us...for the most part anyhow.'
Intelligence could remember by gone days when her mistress refused to acknowledge that Happy existed and even though her mistress had been making progress with connecting to the others, it still annoyed the hell out of Intelligence when her mistress sided against her.
'What do you care? You don't live here.' She sounded like a petulant snake, even to herself, but she was long past caring at this point.
'Easy, there's no need to try and parody Rage. Can't a girl get a pleasant conversation with her emotions without getting her head bitten off anymore.' Raven's rhetorical question was ignored by Intelligence.
'Look if there is one thing I've learned from all of you, its that I shouldn't ignore you and nor should I try to control you all of the time.' She said knowing instantly that she just confused Intelligence.
It could've had something to do with the growl that was directed at her. So she elaborated. 'You could stand to learn a thing or two from Happy despite how enthusiastic she is half of the time, she can see some things far better than you or me on occasion.'
'You've won this round mistress.' She said begrudgingly conceding defeat to her mistress. Intelligence hated it when her logic was taken away. The sound of laughter rang throughout the library. Intelligence's breath was taken away at the magical sound of it. The only ones that had never listened to their own laughter was Red and herself now though, she'd endeavor to hear more of it.
"What's so funny?" He asked as he heard Raven's laughter and watched as she slowly sat up to better take in her surroundings.
"Inside joke. How long was I out for?"
"Ten days. They needed room in the infirmary and I was against moving you at first but someone talked me into it." He was hesitant to ask but he wanted a detailed explanation for going 'Full Red Menace'. "Mind giving me an explanation for what that was?"
"I was just going to have Rage scare them all but then those air balloons decided to open fire on me. When Rage is in control she's attuned to negative emotions like sonar. She was being fueled by someone else's wrath when she sent that marauder to hell for five minutes." Her voice had taken on a dangerous edge.
"Easy Rae I was a little worried is all." He muttered.
"If you've got something to say, than say it." That dangerous edge to her voice caused a vase in the room to shatter.
"I said that I brought you some of Iroh's tea." He did a reasonable job of controlling the quiver in his tone as he approached her with a steaming cup of tea. When she took it from him, he literally jumped back onto the couch.
"Katara's gone." She whispered to him after draining the cup of the tea. She saw him flash her that goofy grin and she hurriedly set the empty cup down; bracing for impact. But the hug she received was unusually subdued for him. She hated to think of what that meant. "They're all afraid of me. Aren't they?"
His answer was utterly unexpected, "Nope. The elders have given you the official title of Dragon Lady. I think they're planning a commemorative statue to erect in your honor. Some of the warriors are speculating that you're a benign spirit whose taken a human form in order to rid the world of evil, on account of the fact that you didn't try to hurt anyone but the marauders."
"But?" She knew that that was too good to be true for everyone on the island.
"Katara has expressed the opinion that you're an evil monstrosity and a few of the villagers agreed with her." He said with a sad heart as Raven never seemed able to catch a break.
"Its fine Gar. I expected something like this would happen and its not like she had a high opinion of me from the start." The resignation in her voice was clear as day to him. He really wanted to explain the waterbender's reasons but it wasn't his place to say and he was sure that if Raven spent enough time around Katara that things would work out between the two eventually.
"Ty Lee really wants to talk with you. Would you like to do that now or...?" He reluctantly inquired, he wanted her to get as much rest as possible. As he'd decided he would stay on Kyoshi to help them rebuild and to care for the Unagi rather than continue on to the Fire Nation.
"I'll speak with her now." Nodding he stood and walked toward the room's exit as he reached the doorway he said, "Your cloak and boots kind of disappeared, I have no idea where they are."
Once he was gone she used her left hand to draw a circle in the air, almost instantly a perfect circle of her soul-self formed. Without a moment of hesitation she plunged her hand inside of it and pulled out her cloak. After it was on, she once more observed the room she was in. The furnishing was minimal, aside from the bed, and the couch, there was a side table on her left and a mirror attached to the wall above it.
When she finished the sweep of the room she gingerly got off of the bed and made her way to the couch, it looked awfully comfy. That fact that it offered an unimpeded view of the door, the room's only exit, was an added bonus. Just as she settled onto the couch with a sigh of contentment, a wave of emotion had black spots dancing across her vision.
"Wow how are you making them dance like that?" The speaker was standing in the doorway staring at the various balls of ink that seemed to drift in their own self contained wind. The girl's eyes were filled with awe as they bored imploringly into Raven's violet ones.
'I think she could give Beast Boy's patented kitten routine a run for its money.' Happy's intrusion wasn't unwelcome exactly but Raven was too tired to entertain her just then.
"I'm not making them do this. You are." Her statement was met with honest curiosity. "You're gratitude is currently affecting my aura in a really positive way right now."
"You heard all of that?" At this the spots in the air all vanished and reappeared in rapid succession.
"I did and I'm willing to teach you all I know about aura reading. However there is something else that I must do first." She gestured for the acrobat to take a seat on the other side of the couch. When Ty Lee had settled the first thing she said was, "Suki was right you do sound like Mai. Except with her you can see the emotion in her eyes, yours betray nothing."
"Yes well, not all of us can freely express emotion without endangering other people. I'm sure your friend Mai uses apathy in an attempt to ward off those who'd try to harm her, if she chose to express emotion. It's nice to finally put a name to the sense of familiarity that I feel often. But I also sense overwhelming fear when people are near me." The acrobat was speechless at Raven's spot on speculations about Mai and Azula in how the dragon woman resembles the two. "Let's discuss your friend, Azula."
The spots were back in the air again and it was shocking to Raven how easily her soul-self was being influenced by Ty Lee's emotional exuberance. As she waved the spots away a terrifying, and unpleasant, thought was whispered to her. 'She's been marked by us. Bringing her back from the world of spirits has made it easier for us to connect with her emotions.' Rage was enjoying the dismay that she felt from her mistress at this unpleasant information. But, and she'd never admit it, the red cloaked and demonic emote owed her mistress a lot for fighting against their father's influence; Red had hated being his toy.
'It's a temporary connection. It will fade.' she said soothingly, hoping to put her mistress's mind at ease.
"I was surprised when Iroh spoke with me about what he asked of you. You've no idea how happy it makes me to know that you're willing to help Azula. Her actions during the war is what makes her evil or so everyone says. She's a monster and insane they say. Oh Ty Lee how could have you possibly been friends with her." Ty Lee said, her voice had an edge in it and black soul self started creeping up the walls.
Her gray eyes flashed and lit up like storm clouds. "They don't know her or what she's suffered. Monsters are not born, they are made."
Her soul-self covered the entire room. "I need you to take deep breaths and calm yourself down."
The acrobat did as asked and started breathing deeply. Raven watched her soul-self reluctantly recede from the ceiling and walls. It was several moments more before it reached the floor. But once it did she said, "I don't see the world painted in just black and white like Aang and Katara; I'm a painted in shades of gray person. If those two knew, about me, about what I am, Azula's vile deeds would pale in comparison to my very existence. You can see it, can't you?"
Ty Lee nodded, "Blue, Red, and Black, You have three colors but the Red is turning black now. And some of it's leeched into the Blue. They're merging; trying to achieve a balance, now that balance can be reached without altering you as a person. However the separation was there from the moment of your birth and because of that, the merge will gradually happen overtime; now that the first, crucial, part of the process has ended. It will be at least five years before they come together."
She saw what Ty Lee's confusion would do to her errant soul-self and decided, to tell the acrobat what all of those observations meant.
"You remember when the avatars accused me of being an agent of Koh?" At Ty Lee's nod, she continued, "They were mostly right, he's my Uncle. Not that I was aware of that before I met him. A vicious entity like him is usually referred to as a demon. I'm half-demon."
"Huh, I guess that explains why I sometimes saw a person who looks like you with four red eyes when I was studying your aura." She spoke softly, being able to recognize a touchy subject when a person brought them up. Who'd have thought it was possible for someone to feel more self hatred than Azula.
"Yes." Raven's voice was devoid of emotion, it would take some getting used to how people reacted to her or their lack of reaction. "I want to hear about Azula. Anything you can tell me will help. No matter how little or how much that is."
She didn't have to wait long for Ty Lee to begin,"I was never afraid of her. How could I be when her aura was so warm and inviting? And like a moth to flame it drew me to her. When I first met her she used to smile and laugh. Sure, she was still mean to everyone but it wasn't malicious, it was a reflection of her opinion of you. The nastier she was, the less she thought of you.
She also hated it when someone did something better than she did, for instance, I remember when I did better cartwheels and handstands than she did, she knocked me over. I didn't like how she'd act sometimes and it frustrated me that someone whose aura was so inviting and pleasant, was so horrible. This was a frustration that I shared with her mother and her brother. But unlike them I later understood where the source of her perfectionist and manipulative natures stemmed from.
Additionally her mother, her brother, and Iroh were already distant, they all thought she was a monster. So she turned to her father. He was the only one who paid her any attention. But his attention had a price."
'Whoa, if we can't do this through conventional means, you realize that we'll have to enter Azula's mind, right?' Intelligence had never sounded so stymied before.
'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'd like to avoid it, if at all possible.' Intelligence nodded her agreement, she didn't want to potentially cause even more problems by wading into another person's mind. The consequences could be unimaginably disastrous.
"What happened that cause you to understand her better? If you don't mind my asking." Raven tried to read her emotions as she spoke about Azula. Her emotions had put Raven through the ringer as they shifted from angry to sad to resigned.
"I'll start from the beginning."
8 years ago
It was always like a double edged sword when she visited the royal palace, sure she was happy to see her friend but she'd also have to see the fire lord; he gave her the creeps. He was also responsible for Mai's family moving to the Earth Kingdom and he affected Azula, changed her and she was different after spending time with her father. She first noticed that Azula would be even more cruel after she spent time with the Fire Lord. When they were kids she ignored it but it was harder now; she'd been teaching Azula acrobatics for the last 8 months. And with surprisingly little time the princess had picked it up in the first four, but practice makes perfect.
Her warm cheerful gray eyes were filled with concern as she watched Azula collapse to the ground after only ten minutes of practice. It was odd and just a little horrifying because there was no outward reaction from the princess. Azula just silently push herself up from the ground and was about to start again but Ty Lee couldn't let her. "Zula why don't we take a break."
She knew immediately that it was the wrong thing to say as the princess turned to pin her in place with a fire filled glare. "I'm not tired."
With that the princess turned and once more attempted to tumble across the training grounds. The princess had only managed to get half way before she collapsed again but unlike before she was deathly still. If the acrobat wasn't able to see auras, she would be panicking but Azula's aura was still there, still strong but in some places it was purple. That purple looks wrong, like it shouldn't be there. Were her thoughts as she waited and waited and waited for Azula to move or anything. The princess never did. She took a tentative step forward and when there still wasn't a reaction she kept going.
She was almost to the princess when she noticed something odd; the princess was bleeding from her left leg and right arm. Her vision turned red, and not because there was a small pool of it underneath Azula, and all she wanted to do was kill the fire lord. But as suddenly as the red haze was there, it was gone. As the most pitiful sounding whimper escaped from Azula. Okay calm down. Remember what dad said. First stop the bleeding or put pressure on the wounds if stopping it wasn't possible.
She took a deep breath and gently rolled Azula over onto her back despite the acrobat's gentle approach Azula let out another pain filled whimper but didn't open her eyes. Now that that was done, she knelt down next to Azula and tore the sleeve of her shirt off. Then she tore that into smaller strips.
She eased Azula's sleeve back and as she did so, couldn't help but gasp at what she saw; thin angry red burn scars crisscrossed half of Azula's arm. She shook the image from her mind, though she would never be able to forget it, and focused on the slash that started at Azula's wrist and spiraled up her arm to her elbow. The acrobat was relieved to see that it wasn't very deep but it was still going to need to be stitched up. Once she had that wound bandaged, she started on Azula's leg wound.
What she uncovered was even worse than the burns on Azula's arm. The scar was a dark, almost black, red and the acrobat knew upon seeing that shade of red; that this scar was recent as it hadn't faded it yet. Like earlier she tried to ignore the scar and proceeded to bandage another incision that wasn't as large as the arm wound but it was deeper. Second once a patient is stable enough to be moved get them to a healer immediately. I'll take her back to her room. No I'll take her to mine. Before she attempted to carry Azula anywhere, she double checked her make shift bandages and once she deemed them secure, she picked the princess up. Thank Agni she isn't wearing armor today.
This isn't my room. She thought as she woke up in an unfamiliar room. It was a moment later when everything came rushing back to her. With rising dread she glanced to her left, expecting to see a sneer of disappointment, but received the shock of a lifetime. She saw Ty Lee sleeping on a chair with blood smeared on her hands and clothing, on the bedside table was a bowl devoid of water.
As she slowly sat up a damp cloth on her fore head fell and landed in her lap. Now that she was more awake than before she recognized the room as Ty Lee's. Why did she bring me here? Deciding that her answers were more important then Ty Lee's beauty sleep, she stretched her arm toward the acrobat. An uncomfortable tautness in her arm warned her that that was a bad idea. Thoroughly perplexed she experimentally flexed the muscles in her arm and winced. That's when she noticed that her sleeve was missing and a bandage covered the length of her arm. She treated my wounds. Why would she do that? She's seen them...
The princess was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she failed to noticed that her actions had woken the acrobat. Who was silently watching emotions that were rarely, if at all, seen as they flashed across Azula's face. However it was the tears threatening to fall that prompted her to speak, "Zula I understand how hard it is to be a prodigy. You told me once that it wasn't always easy. I didn't understand then but I do now."
Azula jerked away from her voice and nearly fell off the other side of the bed but she found that the acrobat had prevent her fall by grabbing her arm, just above the bandages. She refused to look at Ty Lee as the acrobat pulled her back from the edge and let go of her arm. She heard rather than saw Ty Lee settle on the bed next to her.
"Zula please tell me that your father isn't-" Responsible for those scars. She stopped talking when those tears fell. The acrobat resisted the urge to pull Azula into her arms and hold her close. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Tell me why?" Her question was a mere whisper and she didn't like how broken she sounded, so she tried again, "Why did you help me?"
"I'm your friend. Friends help each other." Ty Lee said simply. Azula's hollow laughter followed the acrobat's response. Ty Lee didn't like that laughter.
"Zula I'm not as stupid as I seem. You're different after being around your father. I don't necessarily like it but I can ignore it because you're my friend. The first person I met who could always tell me apart from my sisters; you have no idea how much that meant to me. But this...he's hurting you and that makes me want to...you know..." As she finished she formed a fist with one hand and smacked it into the palm of her other hand. Azula saw this out of the corner of her eye and turned, taking in the furious face of the acrobat.
"Thank you." With wide disbelieving eyes the acrobat sat stunned, she'd never heard Azula say that, not ever. "I don't deserve you as a friend."
"Well...I am kind of awesome." When a fierce glare met her words, the acrobat laughed and said, "You don't have to scare me into submission. But if it helps keep up appearances with him then go ahead but always know that I will follow any orders you give me. I don't really have much say in the matter you are, after all, Princess of the Fire Nation."
"What if you did get a say? What if I let you decide?"
"I will choose to do whatever you ask or order me to do. But I'd prefer it if you asked, although I will keep in mind that asking might not be an option some times. I promise that you will always be able to trust me to chose you over everyone else." She said with no hesitation whatsoever.
Azula was at a loss for words. It wasn't just about the promises that her friend had made or that Ty Lee had treated her wounds. No one had ever been willing to step between her and her father, as it would mean certain death. Ty Lee knows the consequences of what she threatened. She really truly does care about me and not because I'm the princess. In a rare display of affection she pulled her friend into a hug. She panicked briefly when there was no response from Ty Lee but then the acrobat attempted to rob her of breath. As she pulled away she heard, "Zula if something bad happens with him, I want you to promise me that you'll tell me about it. Please promise me."
She was very uneasy but nonetheless she said, "I promise."
Present Day
"I broke that promise two years later and," She fought back tears as she said, "and I forced my self to watch as my betrayal broke what was left of her mind. It wasn't until later that it dawned on me, what would happen to her, what her father would do once he'd learned of her failure. I spent months in jail believing that I'd sentenced my friend to death. If there's one thing that fire lord Ozai couldn't abide by it was public embarrassment; he burned his own son's face and banished him at 13."
"I have the sudden urge to find this Ozai and kill him." Raven's voice caused the acrobat to shift her gaze from the listless spots of ink, that she'd been studying, to the dragon lady's face. She wishes she hadn't as those four red eyes were what greeted her. She was torn between being terrified and astonished for she had never seen anyone's aura, not even Azula's, flare with so much crimson in such a short span of time before. She scarier than Zula.
"Can I help too?" She asked with a little too much enthusiasm. But the unexpected offer of assistance caused Raven to chuckle. Before long she saw the effect of Raven's amusement on the room. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching your aura interact with everything."
Raven allowed her to watch a moment longer before she wrested her soul-self into some semblance of control. "I wasn't expecting to get very much unbiased information about your friend, thank you for telling me what you observed."
"If you want to thank me properly, help Zula get better." Ty Lee hesitated to speak further but she knew that she'd regret not saying anything. "Please tell her that I did chose her, even if it didn't look like it at the time."
"I'll let her know."
With that the acrobat stood and walked to the door when she reached it she stopped and glanced back at the dragon lady, "Thanks for saving my life. If you're tired get as much rest as you can, Aang and Katara want to leave tomorrow morning."