"Zuko's gone," Azula said, her back pressed against the window.
"Is Mai okay?" Ty Lee asked before realizing perhaps it was the wrong question. Azula did not seem alright in the slightest. "We won. Good right?"
It was the tipping point. The moment everything was starting to crumble and Ty Lee would not admit it and Azula simply could not see it. But they stood there, in Azula's bedroom, trying to figure it out futilely.
"She hates him now, or something," Azula sighed with a shrug. "I gave him everything. And he just ran off because daddy doesn't love him enough."
Ty Lee squirmed slightly from the bitterness in Azula's words. She had seen the five hundred yard stare in Azula's golden eyes before. Many times before as she pretended not to notice. Or interrupted it with ridiculous questions she knew the answers of. Or offered to put eye shadow on her as if it could change the fact that she could disappear in an instant.
"We won but this is just the beginning. My father isn't going to take Zuko leaving lying down," Azula breathed. The princess chewed on her lips and then picked at them, peeling off the skin and leaving bright red streaks.
Ty Lee did not know what to do. She was not prepared for this kind of situation as she touched Azula's hand and tried to keep her from peeling anything else off of her body or making herself bleed further. She held her hand for a moment, as if she could read her mind through her skin.
But she could not.
"What's Zuko going to do? It's not like he can stop the comet from coming," Ty Lee whispered hopefully, flashing Azula a smile.
But the princess's eyes were not focused, nor was she even looking at Ty Lee. She gazed at the blank wall, painted crimson but blackened with old burns that no one bothered to paint over.
"Well, I suppose it's just one less thing in the way of you being Fire Lady," Azula said.
Her quest for the throne was the most important thing to her. And she knew that if she thrust herself into the state of mind that she would have it in the future now that Zuko was gone, she could make it hurt less.
"Azula..." Ty Lee said, swallowing. "I love you."
Azula blinked once as she realized it was a different I love you than Ty Lee threw about wildly. She could only look at her for a moment. There was no flirtatious response of, I know.
The princess said only, "You really do have poor decision making skills, don't you?"
Ty Lee looked hurt. Azula shrugged and toyed with Ty Lee's fingers, her lips in a slight pursed pout of rose red. They stared at each other, this hollowness enveloping them.
"I love you regardless of what happens, you know? Look, we just fended off an invasion and, uh, well, even though the Avatar is back and that sucks, we're still on top. And now we have prisoners of war too. It's all going to be awesome," Ty Lee said as brightly as she could. Her positive attitude that usually sickened Azula was nice on her ears.
All she had heard all day was her father's wrath and strategists asking what now.
"I was the one who told him that Zuko killed the Avatar," Azula said and Ty Lee suddenly understood. She looked up and down Azula, searching for a mark. A bruise or a burn.
"Your hair is down," Ty Lee said and Azula did not think to pull back before Ty Lee tugged up her raven hair and revealed the small burns on her neck. Azula batted Ty Lee's hand away and turned to leave.
"Console Mai. I don't need it," she snapped but Ty Lee grabbed her by the wrist, spun her, and pulled her into a kiss.
They remained pressed together, their lips locked.
It felt good. A warmth in the calm before the storm.
The kiss made sense, unlike everything else.