Return of the Blue Spirit Chapter Seven
With wide eyes Ty Lee struggled against Azula, she was about to hit her pressure points when Azula whispered, "Quiet, Rough Rhinos." Ty Lee immediately ceased her struggle as the mounted barbarians came into view. There were only five of them; the archer, the bomb specialist, the bearded man with the spear, the dark man with his mace on a chain, and their leader. "We have time; they have not found the trail yet." The two girls made their way back to camp in a quickened pace. "What did you mean that you are not the one that I should be worrying about?" Ty Lee inquired. With one word Azula confirmed Ty Lee's greatest fears, "Mai."
Mai tried hard to sleep along with the Kyoshi Warriors but her mind was racing, 'Could Azula be right? No, if anything I am glad that she was not Zuko with that bloodlust.' Mai sat up and thought, 'How could you do this Azula? You took him away from me before, was once not good enough for you!? You were a sick freak as a child and you have only grown worse. I curse the day I met you!' Mai repositioned herself and thought of those early years when Azula (sick freak as she was) would genuinely look out for them. 'No, every time she thought she was helping she was just hurting people. That is all she can do, that is why she chose the Blue Spirit as a disguise; to raise my low hopes and crash them into a bottomless pit… Then again… how else would I have trusted her to get me out of prison?' Mai was so engulfed in her thoughts that she did not notice two figures emerging from the wood.
Ty Lee quickly and quietly got the warriors up and briefed them on the situation, "We have about an hour ahead of the rhinos; is that enough time to get to the destination?" Azula nodded and Ty Lee continued to describe each of the opponents and skills while helping destroy evidence of the camp. 'Since when did Ty Lee turn into such a leader? No doubt from my example,' Azula thought in pride of her old friend (and herself). The group could move much quicker now that they had a stretcher for Zin, who was somewhat coherent at this time.
They were about to head out when Mai called out, "You guys go ahead south; we will catch up." Azula, thinking that Mai wanted to speak to Ty Lee, was about to depart with the others until, "Wait Azula, I need to speak to you." Azula's confusion could be seen even with her mask, 'Now? She wants to talk now? How about we talk when we are not being tracked by an arsenal on rhinos?' Azula kept these thoughts to herself as her impatience was dually noted. Ty Lee stayed back with them in case she had to intervene. "I am not saying that I trust you," her remark was met with a frustrated or impatient sigh (they are very hard to tell apart, even for Mai), "But just on the slim chance that this is not a trap… I just wanted to say thank you." There was no emotion in her statement, but the message was received. Azula stood startled for a moment until she clenched her hands into fists again and started to shake. This was
much more minute than her outburst the night before, but she still had to take a moment to calm herself. "…Azula?" Mai asked confused. Azula snapped her attention back to the knife thrower and nodded as an acceptance of her gratitude. She then leaped across the stream to catch up with the warriors.
Mai stood on the edge of the stream about to jump over when she was forced into the water by her companion. Ty Lee made her way over the water with graceful ease while she watched Mai emerge looking like a drowned cat-mouse. "What the hell was that for!?" Mai demanded when Ty Lee offered her a hand to get up. Mai reluctantly grasped her friend's offer; but instead of pulling her friend up, Ty Lee flipped Mai's arm to show under her exposed forearm. Tears were in the acrobat's eyes even before she saw the mutilations, but now they freely flowed down her cheeks as she tried (in vain) to suppress her sobbing. Mai's eyes were wide in fear at the look of the crying girl, a prang of guilt struck a deep cord in her living corpse. "Ty Lee, please…" Mai begged her friend to stop crying while trying to free her arm from the contortionist's death grip. The sound of a loud firecracker echoed through the wood as Mai's head snapped to the side with a large red handprint on her cheek. Every bird ceased chirping, the wind paused in mid gust, and even the stream seemed to have lost its voice as the wood had gone silent save for a few soft sobs from Ty Lee. 'She slapped me… Ty Lee slapped me!' Mai could not even move from her frozen state of shock, in fact she could barley take in a breath while the sting set in.
Ty Lee fell to her knees taking Mai's face into her hands, forcing her to look into Ty Lee's grey eyes. "How could you do it? How could you hurt my friend!?" Ty Lee's gaze bore through Mai's soul as she stammered, "Ty Lee… I'm your friend?" Ty Lee's face then turned so stern that she was almost unrecognizable, "EXACTLY! How could you?" Unbearable silence consumed them until Mai could not keep her gaze and lowered her head, shielding her eyes with her bangs. Ty Lee let go of her anger with a comforting smile as she brought her forehead to meet her friend's. "It's alright; everything is going to be alright." Ty Lee tore off one of her own sleeves and wrapped it gently around Mai's injuries. The acrobat pulled her soaked friend to her feet with a smile.
They walked in silence following the trail of the others until a dark figure leaped out of the branches landing in front of them. "Where have you two been!?" Azula demanded before she got a look at the two: a drenched Mai with an improvised bandage on her arm, and a tear stained Ty Lee with one sleeve missing. She did not have to think hard about what took place, 'They have the absolute worst timings for these things!' "The Rhino's are flanking us from the east; they are going to take you before you reach the shore if we don't hurry!" Azula said the last part in mid run while Mai was taken aback, "The shore? That is where we're going?" The three girls broke into a full sprint to the south; they were running for close to ten minutes when they could hear the cries of battle.
The Kyoshi Warriors were ambushed on the shore. Mai and Ty Lee took in the entire scene: White sand decorated in crimson with the waves drinking in the blood, seven girls fighting four mounted men with one (the bomber) already down, and behind them all… a boat. It was an average boat that could easily have been Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, it was made so two people could run it but up to fifteen could fit. 'She certainly plans ahead,' Mai thought with a smirk as she grasped her remaining arrowheads and fired. Ty Lee leaped (and literally leaped) right in while the princess attacked from the rear. The dark man was swinging his chain-mace readying it for a killing blow on one of the warriors. Right when he was going to release, Azula shot a flame to his arm causing him to attack the bearded spearmen by accident. The dark man looked at his friend with horror as his mace was completely engorged by the man's skull. With a heavy thud the lifeless body fell from his mount, causing the rhino to flee with his master in tow. Now without a weapon Ty Lee easily paralyzed the dark man. Mai focused her sights on the archer who had already missed her three times. She claimed his discarded arrows and flung then back to their owner where they sunk deep into his torso, causing him to fall limp into his saddle.
Now the only Rough Rhino left was the firebending leader specializing in fist weapons. Azula would have to take him down since the warriors were exhausted, Ty Lee could not get close enough, and Mai was out o ammo. This did not faze the prodigy in the slightest, 'I have always wondered if his skills were really as great as the stories.' The two faced off, "If it isn't the Blue Spirit! I have heard of you, though I had always imagined you taller." This caused Ty Lee to giggle." I have always wondered if your skill is really as great as the stories." 'Looks like we can find out together.' He was first to attack; he shot a massive ball of fire toward the masked princess which she easily deflected. She preformed a frontward tumble and emerged less then a foot away from the man. He tried to dodge her attacks, but she was too quick and he found himself rolling on his back. She was about to move in for the killing blow when he managed to perform an uppercut in mid roll. His strength plus the added momentum threw the princess back causing her mask to come undone. Time slowed as Azula's face was reviled while she fell back from the hit. A trickle of blood came down out of her mouth as she regained her balance. Her opponent froze in his boots, his eyes looking like they would pop out of his skull at any moment. For the first time in three days, Azula's face was shown. Her hair curtained down as it flowed in the breeze. It would have been a beautiful scene if she hadn't had the look of death in her eyes.
The prodigy collected energy into her fingertips as she prepared the lightning. The on lookers did not know what was more chilling; the great clasp of thunder that sounded, or the man's hellish scream. Her prey had been reduced to a smoldering black creature that could not have been recognized by his own mother. Ty Lee was about to be sick when she saw that the man's chest had exploded and left a great hollow hole in his midsection. The wooden mask was many yards away from the princess as she strode over to the paralyzed opponent. "Princess, please have mercy! We did not know it was you! Please spare me!" The group had to turn their heads as horrific gurgled screams came from the dark man until a deafening snap ended his struggle. No one knew exactly what Azula did, but seeing as the princess's gloved hand now dripped with blood, they had a pretty good idea.
Azula did not turn to the group; she just stood over her victim and seethed. Ty Lee and Mai glanced at each other unsure of what to do. "What are you waiting for? Go!" Azula snapped without moving. Ty Lee picked up the wooden mask and walked to her old friend. "Azula, look at us…please." The princess hesitated but finally turned to face the prisoners that she freed. All eyes were on her, and for once she hated it. Behind her stunning gold eyes was something terrifying, even Mai could see that. Azula eyed the blue mask in Ty Lee's grasp; Ty Lee noticed this but took no heed. "What now Azula?" Mai asked with a hint of feeling. The princess scoffed, "What now? There is a boat, what do you think comes next?" She never made eye contact with any of them, only looked out on the water as if empty the space was more interesting than the rag tag band before her. "But what about you? Are you coming with us?" Ty Lee asked in the most innocent voice she could muster. Azula's face showed some sign of hurt, 'I wish I could…Wait, no I don't! But things going back to the way they were would be heaven. Who am I kidding; things will never go back… just look at what they have seen me doing!' Azula crossed her arms and shifted her weight, "Please, I would be caught dead before I'm seen on that piece of garbage with you peasants and traitors." The warriors found her behavior to be extremely odd and almost frightening, but Mai and Ty Lee knew what was going on.
"But… this isn't goodbye, is it?" Azula looked at the acrobat and sadness filled her golden eyes, if only for a second. Ty Lee could not resist any longer, she lunged at her princess with one of her bone crushing hugs. She ignored the blood soaking into her cloths from Azula's and the fact that she was causing considerable pain to her captive by squeezing where she was hit with an arrow.
'Just hug her back, it is not that hard. This may be the last chance I get. Why is this so painful!? Damn these stinging eyes!' Azula's arms rose, but instead of returning her friend's embrace, she violently shoved the acrobat to the sand while taking back the mask. She shot a wave of blue fire at the group, too weak to do any damage but strong enough to get the point across. "Do not misinterpret my actions here. I do not care about the freedom or welfare of any here, on the contrary really. The only reason I have done this is so I will not be bored after my father and I burn the Earth Kingdom down when the comet comes. And I figure tracking you all down one by one and disposing of you would be fairly good sport for a week or two."
Azula pulled her hood up and fastened her mask back on, "Happy Hunting." And in a ball of fire, Azula was gone.
Some of the warriors helped Ty Lee back to her feet, "I guess she really is evil. Only freeing us to hunt us down like animals, I didn't think it was possible but maybe some people are just born bad." Mai looked
lazily at the warrior who spoke, "You can not honestly be that stupid can you? She just saved us again, Sozin's Comet is in a week and she said that the Fire Lord would burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground that day so…" Mai searched the girls face for any sign of understanding, and when finding none, "She just told us not to be in the Earth Kingdom in a week." Mai sighed as the warriors finally got it.
Ty Lee stared into the cooling flames where Azula disappeared when Mai came next to her, "She will be okay, she's tough." Ty Lee gave a weak smile, "Her body is, I'm worried about her heart." Their sights were turned away from the charred wood by the warrior's awe of the boat. Confused of what was so amazing about a shabby hunk of wood like this, the Fire Nation natives made their way on deck. The warriors were crammed in the lower deck (if you could call it that) gawking at the treasures before them; piles of all three currencies of the Water Tribe, Earth kingdom, and Fire Nation were glittering in the sunlight. Also amongst the money were the Fire Nation girl's clothes and Mai's daggers.
It was decided that they should go to Kyoshi Island where it would be far enough away from the mainland that the Fire Nation would not bother with it. They pushed off and found some food in the cabin. Everyone was exited, even Zin who was wide awake by now. Ty Lee and Mai took a last look at the battle field, both sure that dark hollow eyes were staring back at them (and somehow they were reassured by that). "How in the world are we going to explain this?" Ty Lee wondered. "I'll just say my uncle pulled some strings, I don't think anyone would believe the truth." Mai stated with a smirk. "We still need to talk," Ty Lee stated nudging Mai's bandaged arm.
'Out of sight and out of mind," Azula thought as she watched the peasants and traitors disappear from view, 'Farwell; I pray we never meet again, for your sake.'
Azula ran to the top of the crater that surrounded the Palace City. She found her marked stone and unearthed it revealing her palace robe. The princess quickly donned her ruby robe over the black and blood stained cloths. She removing the mask and her gloves and easily concealed them in the fabric (clearly a talent learned from Mai).
The city was just waking to the morning as Azula traveled to the Palace; she kept her hood up as to not attract attention, though she doubted that many would recognize her with her hair down. The guards let the princess enter with a bow as she ascended the steps to her home. Lo and Li sat in anticipation outside the Palace doors, "Princess Azula, welcome back," "We hope you search was productive," "The Fire Lord wants a report as quickly as possible," "About any findings of your brother." Azula strode passed the wrinkled women without giving them a single glance. "I am going to bed, no disturbances."
Her father would not press the matter until she was rested; even he knew that two days of strife could drain even the strongest of bodies. A strange feeling of added weight fell upon her body as she entered her chambers. 'Now, perhaps I can get some sleep,' Azula thought as she lit her fireplace with a flick of a wrist. Her body seemed sluggish while her head became light. 'This must be exhaustion from my lack of rest.' She grasped at her arrow wound that rubbed painfully against the wrappings she used to hide her more… feminine features. The princess rummaged through her robes causing the wooden mask to fall to the ground. 'This is too dangerous to keep now. Pity, it could have been a valuable weapon against Zuzu.' The princess's legs felt like they fallen asleep, causing Azula to stumble while she walked. The room danced before the prodigy's eyes as she found her way to the fireplace, she took one last look at the blue mask and found three pairs of eyes looking back at her. Azula let the mask fall into the fire in a swarm of blue flames while she herself lost consciousness and fell limply to the floor.
Azula felt ground beneath her form but did not know where she was. She tried to open her eyes but became noxious from the swirling blurs. "Wha… what happened? Where am I?" Azula whispered so softly that she could barley hear herself. "You are going through a metamorphosis my daughter," Azula could not believe what she was hearing… it was the voice of her mother and father speaking as one; Ursa and Ozai's voices where in such unison that there was no way that they had come from separate speakers. With great struggle, Azula opened her eyes to see a blurred silhouette, it was impossible to tell if it was her mother or father. "This will not be a pleasant experience, but when you come out of it you will become the terrible monster you were always meant to be.' The helpless princess attempted in vain to speak to her parent before her eyes rolled back, loosing consciousness once again.
I split chapter six in two so I could have this ending. Just one chapter left until this story is over. I hope you all are enjoying this, please review and tell me what I can do better. And yes, that was a friendly jab at all the Avatards who thought that it was Ursa in front of the blue flames in the NYCC finale trailer.
I do not own Avatar, Mike and Bryan do… and Nick owns them.