They were all traitors. Azula was almost happy that Ty Lee and Mai had escaped Boiling Rock with her brother because, had they remained behind, she was sure that she would have broken every bone in their body in her rage.
And all because Mai was in love. Azula scoffed. What a ridiculous notion. Love had no place in a time of war. Especially if that love ripped you from everything and everyone you've ever known. Mai was not brave for what she had done. She was a coward.
A coward, unfortunately, that was happy as could be. Azula could only hurt Mai physically now and that would prove to be unsatisfying. For her crimes against the fire nation and, most importantly, against Azula herself, Mai deserved nothing less but emotional damage that she could never recover from.
See, Azula could kill Zuko, which would give the desired emotionally crippling blow, but Azula wanted Zuko to feel the pain of his betrayal just as badly. Ironically, the only way to do that would be to kill Mai. So, the princess was stuck. She'd have to wait until they had a cowardly child and have them killed. Long term goals.
So while she was at least 9 months away from getting revenge on Mai and Zuko, she could start on a much easier target: Ty Lee. The girl who gave up everything so Mai could be with the one she loved. Funny enough, the everything she gave up included her girlfriend who happened to be the Fire Princess.
Azula, unsurprisingly, was more upset about the betrayal to the fire nation and her father then, what she guessed, was Ty Lee breaking up with her. Her father once said "Your worth doesn't diminish because someone else doesn't see it." It didn't make Azula anything less simply because Ty Lee was too stupid to see her worth.
And while Azula didn't believe in the notion of love, Ty Lee certainly did: if the girl's inability to shut up about weddings, babies, and 'being together forever' was anything to go by. Ty Lee loved Azula which made this revenge so much easier.
It almost seemed like fate played a hand. Ty Lee betrayed her right as her father began pushing for her to get married. Boy or girl, her father didn't mind, as long as they didn't distract Azula from her part in the 'destroy all the other nations' plan.
Fate seemed almost kind. Sure, Ty Lee was gone but Azula was always more attracted to Ty Lee's physical appearance than her personality and, luckily for her, Ty Lee had many, many sisters that looked just like her. Sisters, that everyone knew, Ty Lee couldn't stand because she didn't like being considered part of a set.
Just wait until she saw Azula marrying one of her sisters. Then she'd know that the person that she thought loved her for her, saw her as an individual, could simply jump from her to her sister within days and, by the shotgun wedding, Ty Lee would come to the conclusion that Azula actually liked her sister much more than she had Ty Lee.
Azula grinned into her palm. Ty Lee would never bounce back from that. Azula would get a regular plaything that was very physically appealing without the annoyness that came with Ty Lee and, the little pink traitor, would get the punishment she deserved.
Azula swiveled her golden eyes to the girl sitting in the carriage across from her. Azula had her informants track the Avatar's newly enlarged party down to a kingdom of Vilina in the lower parts of the Fire Nation. It had a beautiful monument dedicated to the sun god and would be the perfect place for a wedding: a place where Ty Lee could see it in all its splendor.
Ty Lee's sister, MiLee, had simply been in the right place at the right time. Azula stormed into Ty Lee's parents' home and pointed at the sister that looked the most like Ty Lee and demanded to marry her. All the girls had been remarkably the same but this one, this MiLee, was just lucky enough to have the same startled and innocent look in her gray eyes to be picked.
Even now, in the back of a carriage on the way to the marriage, Azula marveled how much better this model was than the original. Where Ty Lee would have been asking a lot of questions and bouncing around, this girl was sitting poised with the grace and dignity of a noblewoman and staring out the window.
Azula almost demanded her martial rights early, especially since the carriage ride was simply so long, but decided against it. There was a slight above average chance that she may call out Ty Lee's name in the middle of the act. It would be a force of habit and nothing more, of course, but it could lead to the idea that Azula was somehow hung up on Ty Lee. Besides being completely untrue, it would give Ty Lee hope and that simply could not happen. Not if Azula was to get her revenge.
MiLee must have felt Azula's sharp eyes on her and she turned to face the princess. Azula locked eyes with her and felt a rush of pleasure when the girl's big gray eyes looked startled and she dropped her gaze to fiddle with her fingers.
Yes, Azula thought as her eyes traced the girl's well-endowed chest, this revenge was certainly going to be sweet.
The marriage went off without a hitch. The ceremony had been grand. People had come from all over the nation to witness it including her father. He had seen who she had chosen to marry and a proud smirk lit up his face.
If he had been worried about his daughter losing her way because of love, which he had during her entire little relationship with that circus girl, it was gone as he watched her marry for a reason better than love: destroying her enemies.
MiLee had looked absolutely ravishing in her dress and, the best part of it, was that there wasn't a single smudge of pink in the wedding. If she were marrying Ty Lee, everything including the dress would have been a godforsaken pink. MiLee, on the otherhand, had been content to wear the traditional clothes and had worn them with the beauty that became her.
Azula, herself, had worn black armor with the fire nation emblem on the chest. She was every bit of a fierce Fire Princess that the world knew her as. When she walked the end of aisle to wait for her bride as 'grooms' did, everyone had fallen into stunned silence. Her presence combined with her father's had managed to make an entire nation still.
When MiLee had walked towards her, Azula had a moment of confusion. Why was Ty Lee in a wedding dress and where was her betrothed? Many wouldn't have been able to tell the difference but Azula could. This girl in the beautiful red dress was not MiLee.
Her eyes had a hint of red to them like MiLee's had, not that Azula could blame the girl for crying as she was being forced into a loveless marriage, but the pain in these eyes was so much deeper. This wasn't a girl scared of marriage but one that had learned the woman she loved was getting married and she wasn't a part of it.
It was perfect. She would marry Ty Lee and, for as long as the girl wanted to, Azula would keep up the charade of thinking it was MiLee. Ty Lee was just making it harder on herself and Azula had no problem with it whatsoever.
When Ty Lee reached the end of the aisle, she snuck a look to Azula. She was hoping. She was hoping that Azula would suddenly call off the wedding, that Azula would look as heartbroken as she was, or that, most of all, Azula would recognize her.
Azula didn't give her the pleasure.
The vows were read and said and no one was none the wiser to the imposter standing beside the Fire Princess. When all was said and done and they were married, even Azula didn't know if the tears on Ty Lee's face were from sorrow or joy. She had just married the woman she loved but, as far as she knew, the woman thought she was her sister.
If Azula hadn't know it was Ty Lee at first, she would have figured it out at the kiss. The taste was simply Ty Lee. She had to wonder if MiLee would taste the same. She probably would but with a little less pain and sorrow. Good.
The consummation was just as good as the wedding because, with Ty Lee lying below her, Azula could work out some frustrations that this plan hadn't been able to completely alleviate. And Ty Lee took it all: every bite, scratch, and bruise with desperation.
Azula gave the girl, against her better judgement, a moment relief from her turmoil as she was, once again, with Azula. Azula was quick to end it when she purposely called out her sister's name instead just to see the reality rush back into Ty Lee's eyes. To see her shoulders slump in defeat and her lips begin to tremble.
Azula took Ty Lee as many times as she wanted. She knew it would be the last time she'd ever be with her, or at least she hoped so for her revenge plan's sake, and she wanted to make sure Ty Lee remembered it as vividly as possible.
The princess took her until she fell unconscious on their wedding bed. As Azula looked at Ty Lee's prone body, she was surprised to see that a drop of sweat on her body had fallen over her own eyelid. She brushed it away before she or anyone else could mistake it as a tear.
In the morning, when she awoke, MiLee was beside her. Azula never mentioned the absence of the marks she had left behind last night and simply recreated them in the morning. MiLee, as her sister had, took it but, surprisingly, seemed to enjoy it. She encouraged Azula to be harder, to do it faster, and Azula once again marveled how much better this model was.
And the girl was good for about two months. In those two months, MiLee took the brunt of Azula's rage, went through boring council meetings, and was every bit the noblewoman she was. Azula was surprised how well she got along with the girl and acknowledged that, given the proper time, she could have grown even fonder of MiLee then she had of Ty Lee.
But as fate had been kind before, it was cruel now. One day, her wife had been pressed against a tree and with Azula as passionately as any married couple a few months into their wedding and, the next, she was on her deathbed.
No one knew what illness ailed her but, under the fear it could be contagious, the girl was whisked away to a different room than her wife. Azula expected herself to care more but was surprisingly unaffected by her wife's health decline. She was even pleased that she'd get her bed to herself for a night and, she was certain, her wife would be back in their wedding bed in a week ready to make up for the lost time.
That night started as one would expect. An empty bed and a princess that was content to sprawl across it and enjoy her unobstructed range. As Azula finally decided that she should sleep, the door slowly opened.
Azula didn't need to tense up. She knew who it was before they even came into view. It was her wife. Not the one that she told everyone was her wife despite missing the wedding but the little circus freak that Azula had actually said her vows to and kissed to seal the deal.
It appeared that the revenge plan had a second part to it. The last time had not been, in fact, the last time.
"Azula?" Ty Lee whispered. "It's me, MiLee."
The royal smirked but gave Ty Lee a smile. "Who else would it be, Darling? How are you feeling?" Azula rose and walked over to Ty Lee. The girl's unique gray eyes were thirstily drinking in Azula's presence.
"Completely fine." Her wife said. "The doctors said it was the heat that got to me and sent me home." Ty Lee reached forward to lovingly touch her wife's face. "I thought I'd come here and share in the good news."
The last time the two laid together, Azula had been rough. This time; however, she kept in mind that she was supposed to believe this woman was sick and was gentle. She didn't even remember being this gentle when she and Ty Lee were dating.
And Ty Lee loved every second of it. It seemed, to Azula's pleasure, that the last person to touch Ty Lee based on her reaction must have been herself. The acrobat's body strained to be as close to Azula's as possible and tried its hardest to fuse the two together until they were a single being.
Azula was surprised to find how much she enjoyed the night. MiLee encouraged her darkside. The woman knew what words to say to get Azula riled up enough to leave blood in her wake. Ty Lee demanded of her to be gentler and, for whatever reason, the beast in Azula enjoyed the rare moment of tenderness. It liked being capable of leaving screams of pleasure in its path instead of pain.
This time, they didn't stop until both of them fell unconscious. Even when Azula felt the world begin darken, she felt Ty Lee's lips continuing as if to memorize even line of her body and extract every inch of pleasure from within her body.
When she awoke, Ty Lee was gone.
Later that day, she found that MiLee had passed. Azula mourned the loss of the woman: which one, she wasn't sure.
But wars do not stop for a dead woman, so Azula couldn't allow herself to become distracted. She had plans to see through and, even if it killed her too, she would see them completed. She doesn't think she has ever seen her father more proud of her. She remembers that he lost a wife too, so he understands. Understands, sympathies even, but doesn't pity or expect anything less of her. It keeps her going.
But, despite all of her planning, they lose. If truth be told, by Fire Nation standards, she did not lose. Her brother had broken all the rules of the Agni Ki by simply allowing a third party to enter into the fight. He had stooped low enough to have a water pheasant fight for him. He loses by principle.
But she is locked away anyway. At first it's a prison but the doctors quickly deem her unstable. They say that she wasn't in her right mind when she committed those deeds and, in fact, hadn't been in her right mind for a long time.
Some say physical abuse, some sexual abuse, and others speak of disorders that Azula has never heard of. She thinks the only thing wrong with her is that she is simply much smarter than everyone else.
There is talk about taking her fire bending away. First there is talk and then, she wakes up with her bending gone. It didn't hurt in the physical sense but the absence of her fire bending because she was insane was like a self-fulfilling prophecy. She went crazy.
They say they can fix her. The absence of a mother, the presence of a demanding father, losing a wife, being betrayed by her two best friends, and, the only stable relationship in her life, an uncle that clearly loves his nephew more is fixable, they say.
But she doesn't want to be fixed. She wants her fire bending. They say they'll give it back when she's not a danger to herself but she knows that won't happen. It's hard to lie to a liar. So, she locks herself away.
Her body may be locked away in a white padded room but her mind is locked away even more. She won't let anyone in. Why should she? Anyone that had never betrayed her; her father and MiLee were dead.
They were about to give up on her. She could see it in their eyes. She knew that patients that couldn't be fixed were sent away to be with other crazy people until the day she dies. If that's her future, she'd rather die.
So, she begins to plan. She makes it look like she's still as crazy as ever but, when no one is looking, she thinks. They know the devastating loss of one's bending usually leads to bloody ends, so she's always watched; guards, doctors, and nurses.
She could easily slash her wrist on the end of her bed, hid her hand under the sheets, and just go to sleep. It'd take them a while to realize that her sheets weren't supposed to be red but, by then, she'd already be gone.
But, she wanted them to pay. She wanted her brother to sit on the throne that he cheated from her and know that his sister's last few hours spent in pain and alone. She wanted Mai, fat and pregnant, to mourn for her first friend. The little golden eyed girl that took her under her wing and protected her after all. Most of all, she wanted Ty Lee to suffer.
It seemed that most of her life centered around making Ty Lee suffer. She should be proud. Not even the avatar was in her thoughts so much. Ty Lee was an excellent liar and conman. She must have learned it from the circus life because she had not been so deceitful before then.
She had led Azula to believe that she was in love with her. She had gone to great lengths to make Azula believe her; the first stuttering confession, the hands that shook the first time they touched naked flesh, and her constant daydreaming of pink weddings.
The woman had even gone as far to pretend to be her sister just to spend some time with Azula but, when Azula was stuck in a hospital and planning dark things, the acrobat was nowhere to be seen. She had not visited alongside her sniveling brother or the unsurprisingly sullen Mai. Hell, even the idiot village boy with the ponytail had come to see her.
Azula would make Ty Lee pay for tricking her. So, the planning began.
At first she had tried to win over the trust of the guards but they had no love of her. They had family that had been killed under her ordersand they were happy to be able to guard her: watch her as she showed the world how dangerous and crazy she really was. They had even transferred from guarding fire nation royalty to mere guard positions just to watch her waste away.
Azula changed tactics. She explained what she planned to do with herself. If they got enjoyment from seeing her crazy, she asked them, how would they like to see her dead? Unsurprisingly, they were eager to help.
Even if it was for her own self demise, Azula was pleased that she could still manipulate people as easily as she once could. How could anyone consider her crazy?
The pill was hard to come by but the guards were determined and, three days later, three white pills were delivered on her tray and safely snuggled under her roll. Azula pocketed the pills and ate while pretending to be a mindless and crazy person to please the doctors.
They left and Azula sat on the ground. She didn't want people trying to convince themselves her death was somehow not as painful simply because she had the pleasure of a bed. She held the pills in her hand and rolled them between her fingers. She was almost relieved by their presence. This would make everything okay, again.
She had promised the two guards a front row seat, so she waited until they could be present at the changing of the guards. She thought about denying them the satisfaction but the process would take a while and she didn't want them feeling betrayed enough to call a healer before it was too late.
The time came.
The guards watched eagerly as she swallowed the first pill. It was fleeting but it really tasted like apples. The second pill, she swallowed quickly after the first. She wasn't afraid, she'd change her mind but she was afraid the pills would take effect before she managed to swallow the lethal amount.
But, yet, she paused when it came to the third pill. She had nothing left here. She blamed it on self-preservation when her hand refused to bring the pill up to her mouth. As she studied it, wondering what she could have missed in her planning, one of the guards grew antsy.
He stormed over to the prone female, grabbed the pill from her hand, and began to force it down her throat. Azula, not only did not want someone manhandling her when they so obviously needed a good bathing, but she knew the guilt of being murdered would be easier than the guilt of her having killed herself for her brother and friends. She fought back.
She wanted to tell him that she'd do it herself but the man's hands covered her mouth as he tried to pry her mouth open. She struggled but the first two pills were beginning to take effect and she was becoming weak. A pain like no other was beginning to start in her stomach and it took all she had not to start screaming.
Then it was black.
When Azula woke up, she was filled it what had happened between when she had gone unconscious and when she awoken.
Apparently, Mai had decided that she would visit her old friend once again. The new Fire Queen was hoping for some improvement even if it was some form of insult from the princess. She had strolled around the corner to see a guard wrestling with a weak Azula.
She had assumed the worst, as most would, and instantly disarmed the guards. In the process, Mai had to kill both men, so she never did find out who had paid them to kill Azula with the deadly drug. It was unfortunate indeed.
Then Azula had begun screaming. Mai said she screamed so loud that people throughout the building came running: bringing a wave of healers to leap to aid the suffering princess. Her stomach had been pumped but even the small amount digested had kept the princess screaming for days on end until her voice gave out and she went quiet.
Not everyone believed that Azula was going to live and there was mixed reactions when she did. She was surprised how many people were happy for her when she had pulled through. Apparently, Azula learned, a side effect of the drug she was going to kill herself with was, in few words, craziness when administered in small doses.
How the speculations flew. The guards had been enlisted shortly after Azula was born. It wasn't out of the possibility that they had been giving Azula small douses so she would be vulnerable and mentally unstable enough to be a controllable weapon for her father. It was helpful that Zuko remembered that Azula often suffered from severe stomach pain as a child. (She used to sneak down to the kitchen and smuggle large amounts of sweets until her stomach would hurt.)
Then the guards followed her into the ward (because why else would they leave the prestigious job they once held to be guards?) where they could still administer the drugs. How everyone hated those guards. Even though Ozia and Azula had been directly connected to some of their family's deaths, they had overlooked it for money to keep Azula under Ozia's control. The guards were monsters.
Poor Azula, the masses cried. The princess was not cruel at all but a victim like the rest of them. And victim did Azula play. When she realized her luck, she went through the long act of going through withdrawals. If she had been on this drug as long as people thought, she concluded, she'd have some kind of withdrawal.
And the people ate it up. It was the last piece of proof that people needed to forgive all of her horrendous war crime. Even nations that she had nearly wiped out were sending her presents. To top it off, Azula got the revenge she wanted on her family and friends.
Zuko was disgusted with himself. He was supposed to be her big brother and protect her. Instead, he had been so consumed with jealousy that he hadn't noticed that his father was drugging her and using her. He had told her such through sobs as he held her hand and leaned over her hospital bed.
Mai was in a similar state though it involved no tears. She had known Azula when they were kids and she could remember little glimpses of Azula being sweet as if she was someone else. How guilty she felt when she realized that had been the true Azula shining through the drugs but Mai had brushed it off as nothing. She should have known something was up. She should have helped.
Her uncle apologized for hours upon hours. Zuko had reminded him of his son and he couldn't resist the urge to protect him from his father but, by doing that, he had left her to fend for herself when she had needed him. Iroh stated he should have known his brother was capable of it. When Azula thanked her uncle for his apology, the man began to blubber.
And, ahhh, Ty Lee. The woman had burst into Azula's room and gave everyone a visible fright. The girl grabbed Azula's head and stared deep into her eyes. For a moment, Azula was afraid that Ty Lee would see the truth. And, for a second, Azula was sure that Ty Lee did but she wanted for this tale of Azula being drugged for fifteen years to be true so badly, that she quickly deluded herself into thinking it was.
Her apology was the longest which was surprising because Ty Lee never said a word. She just curled up in Azula's lap and stared at her lovingly. Azula returned the stare and did what she never thought she'd do. She kissed Ty Lee's temple, forehead, nose, cheeks, chin, and lips with little pecks until the girl was giggling and trying to playfully escape.
It melted the hearts of anyone that saw it along with the doubts that Azula was cured of her drug induced behavior.
It was odd to be given trust again, Azula marveled. She'd been released from the hospital nearly two years ago and, in that time, she had been remarried, became an aunt, given her title of princess back, and started training her brother's army.
Her wife, Ty Lee, was strolling beside her and prattling on and on about children while Azula pretended to listen. Ty Lee was determined that one day, she'd carry Azula's baby. Azula didn't think Ty Lee knew how babies were made but it wasn't in her vows to explain it, so she didn't.
She'd wait a few more years before she went through with her plan to murder her new little nephew to get her revenge on Mai and Zuko. In a few more years, she' d kill them and take over the nation once again.
She glanced at Ty Lee through the corner of her eyes and reached over to take the woman's hand and give the knuckles a loving kiss. Ty Lee melted.
Yes, she'd still get her revenge on Ty Lee. In fact, it was the worst revenge Azula could possibly think of. She'd make Ty Lee stay with her until the day they died. It wouldn't matter what Ty Lee wanted once Azula's other long-term goals came to be, Ty Lee had told Azula they'd be together forever and that is exactly what Azula was going to make her do.