Ty Lee didn't think about stepping in between Mai and Azula, but in the act she felt so strangely outside of herself that she couldn't believe she had actually done it. Mai was trapped and the princess was actually going to kill her if Ty Lee didn't step in. She came to realize with each pointed jab that the worst had come to be–-that what Azula had said on the beach was true and Ty Lee had been a fool for trying to ignore it and push it away like she did with everything else.

In battle, she had watched Azula grow ever more merciless and her aura reflected that. But a sizable section of blue remained, one that Ty Lee hoped she could somehow nurture back to life. She certainly didn't expect the princess's growing darkness to propel her to attack one of her best friends with the intent to kill.

Did she see that Mai was acting out of love? Did she see that the morose girl had finally expressed enough of her emotions to throw her stars with precision at the very soldiers who protected them all for the sake of not letting the person she loved fall to his death in this forsaken sulfuric lake? It had nothing to do with Azula, but, like everything, Azula made it about her in the end.

Ty Lee knew the difference between Azula's disdainful glare and her murderous glare. The second the princess had flashed the latter one at Mai, Ty Lee had no choice unless she wanted to live the rest of her life knowing that she could've saved Mai, but didn't.

"The sooner you leave me, the better your life will be," Azula had said and Ty Lee had shaken her head defiantly, telling her to stop and kissing her under the soft moonlight on the beach, feeling so pink and thinking that just her promises were enough to revert something that Ty Lee could only see, never fix.

The princess's limbs went unnaturally limp in seconds and Ty Lee backed off, but as the guards seized her and Mai, the acrobat saw a fierceness in Azula's eyes that she had never seen before, one that immediately made her want to apologize. Azula remembered what she had said on the beach, right? She told Ty Lee that the time would come and this would have to happen, even though Ty Lee promised that it never would.

The intense gaze that passed between them lasted only seconds, but stretched on for eternity. Ty Lee, always the more emotive one, tried to speak without speaking.

But in that moment, Azula's aura grew blacker and wilder. Her pink lips pursed and quivered with an unadulterated hatred that threatened to tear Ty Lee in half right then. Mai's actions were, in a sense, predictable as her heart had been devoted to the prince. Ty Lee, on the other hand, had no such excuse as her object of devotion was the one she had just rendered temporarily powerless.

"Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again," Azula declared. "And let them rot."

That had been hours ago. The guards were noticeably awkward about imprisoning their warden's niece and a member of Fire Nation nobility, so they had placed both girls in a larger cell usually reserved for incompetent soldiers as a temporary punishment. Instead of a tightly sealed door with a solitary window, a more traditional gate of solid iron contained them.

She and Mai sat in silence, not that Mai seemed to mind. She was never one to talk much anyway and what was even left to say? Ty Lee knelt before the bars and leaned her forehead against the cold metal, replaying everything in her mind and thinking that maybe Azula would walk by one last time before returning to the Fire Nation. In her memories, she tried to see all the signs she blatantly ignored and the pain she tried to heal with promises and gentle kisses. She thought she still had more time to reverse it all, but now she had lost all confidence that she possessed that ability to begin with. Maybe, if Azula passed by just once more, Ty Lee could explain to her that everything she had ever promised her was still true, even now.

But the prison halls remained empty.

The tears came from her silently and dripped on her clenched fists. Her body quivered and she gritted her teeth to control her sobs. She didn't want Mai to hear her and make some snide comment. Not now. Not today. The only comfort she had was that at least Mai was still alive, but that didn't stop Ty Lee from feeling like she'd failed the princess and like she'd failed herself.

"I guess I should thank you for what you did back there," said Mai.

Ty Lee jumped and looked at her friend, who coolly sat in the back corner of the cell, leaning against the wall. The dim firelight in the prison cast shadows on her face that made her look creepier than usual.

She spoke slowly, trying to mask the fact that she had been crying. "Azula would've–I mean, I'd do the same for her too if–" Cruelly, her thoughts projected the image of Azula's spiteful glare while her body recalled how desperately the princess had clung to her on the beach. It was all falling into place now. Azula didn't show it, but she believed Ty Lee–-trusted her in a way she couldn't trust anyone else. Silently, Azula had accepted Ty Lee's promise as truth, a truth that, in her eyes, turned out to be a lie. But surely protecting Mai wasn't the same as betraying Azula?

Yes, Mai was alive, but Ty Lee may as well have been dead. She couldn't control herself anymore and collapsed on the floor, not caring what attention her helpless cries brought her. With every sharp breath, she inhaled the dank smell of the cement floor, grabbing her stomach and making herself as small as she could.

She jumped again as Mai's hand gently patted her head.

"This is really tearing you up, isn't it?" Mai said, her voice its usual monotone.

Ty Lee tried to speak, but nothing came out except incomprehensible noises.

"Well, I think you did the right thing." She sighed. "Look, I know you and Azula were close, but she went too far this time. I get trying to imprison Zuko because he's a traitor, but she was ready to kill him herself that easily. Not even the Firelord would do that."

Mai found it too easy to choose sides and no doubt Zuko's influence led her to believe that Azula was beyond help, that she even had control of herself at this point. Neither of them knew the little girl all alone in the courtyard, watching her mother dote on the prince while she had to fight for a simple reprimand.

"You don't understand," Ty Lee said feebly. "I love her."

"Sure you do. I love her too and so does Zuko, but–-"

"No." She picked herself up slowly, the words heavy on her tongue, ready to speak the secret she and Azula had kept so well-hidden from anyone else, but there was no point in hiding anymore. "I love her like you love Zuko."

"Oh," Mai said softly. Although Ty Lee couldn't see her face, she felt the tension between them rise. Mai had no idea, but now she was searching her own memories and suddenly it all came together. "That makes it all more complicated, doesn't it."

Ty Lee nodded, her tears finally relenting, at least for now. "I know she's sick, Mai. She always has been. But the people who weren't supposed to turn away from her did. Every last one. That made it worse."

"Yeah, I do remember some of that."

"She told me everything. Every last thing. She always pretended not to hear what her mother said about her. Monster. Heartless. Crazy. Zuko and her uncle said she was crazy too. Of course, Azula still tortured him and her father basically praised her for it which just made things worse."

"I always tried to be neutral, personally. She was mean to me, too."

Ty Lee knew that was a lie. For Mai, there was no such thing as being neutral when the choice was between Zuko and Azula. However, she didn't have the energy to press the issue. "I always knew there was something behind it. Her aura revealed it-–this small black spot where everything else was stable and blue. I know you think I'm just making stuff up, but I see it all the time. Have you ever seen Azula cry before?"

"Can't say that I have."

"It turns the world upside down. You never see how much she's holding in. But when you do, it's…heavy. The worst time was just before her mother left. She had given Azula a huge lecture that basically boiled down to her saying, 'What's wrong with you? It's like you're possessed! How can you be such a monster? You don't care about anyone but yourself. You're almost as bad as your father.'"

"Well, you know, all of that stuff is true."

Ty Lee could've slapped her right then. That wasn't what Azula needed. "No one else could see her aura except me, so they thought she was like that on purpose. She's not. Something has been taking over her since we were little and instead of trying to help or understand her, everyone has blamed her for it. Azula cried for at least an hour. Then her mom left and she resented her while also blaming herself. I know she's not perfect, Mai. I know she's done some of the most terrible things in the whole world, but I promised I wouldn't be another person she can't trust anymore, someone who left her just because she can't stop herself. I promised, but now she thinks I'm a traitor. She hates me."

"Not much we can do about it now other than trying to stop her from killing everyone."

Ty Lee turned and glared at Mai. "Do you always have to say things like that? One of your best friends almost killed you today and you're talking about her like she's someone you just met off the street! Why can't you ever care about something for once!"

"Oh trust me. I care a lot that your girlfriend almost killed my boyfriend and then almost killed me. The only way to stop her is to actually, you know, stop her."

"So you're saying we actually betray her?"

"According to her, we already have."

Ty Lee didn't respond and returned to staring out into the hall. Fully betraying Azula meant joining the Avatar, of course (or at least the Earth Kingdom), which she wouldn't have a problem with if she still didn't believe in all the things she had told Azula on Ember Island-–if everything didn't feel safe and warm in those private moments when Azula let down her guard for just a few minutes and held her without saying anything-–if she hadn't watched warily over the years as Azula's aura became more and more distorted. For the longest time, Ty Lee believed she could slow its progress or maybe even fix it, but even beneath all of that, there was the simple fact of Azula's inescapable pull which held onto her more than anyone else.

The ocean crashed relentlessly against the cliff and a constant, salty breeze slowly loosened the strands in Ty Lee's braid. Azula had followed her here, said some words, and pressed her up against a rock to confirm what had only been her wildest fantasies. Only Ty Lee had ever known the princess's gentle side.

Her eyes snapped open at the sound of faint footsteps echoing off the prison walls. When had she even fallen asleep? But she was alert now and there was no mistaking the sound and the pattern–-the walk of Fire Nation royalty and a particular way of movement that she had grown used to hearing after all these years. Ty Lee's heart pounded in her chest and her mind raced with everything she wanted to–-everything she had to say. She sprung to her feet and clung to the prison bars, not caring how desperate she appeared.

Azula approached from the left with two guards on either side of her. She walked with the regality expected of her and stared straight ahead, her face expressing nothing in particular.

"Azula," Ty Lee said. "Please listen to me for a second."

Azula walked past without so much as a glance and Ty Lee felt a sick twisting in her stomach. "Everything I have ever said to you is true. Do you understand me? Everything." Her voice cracked and she held back her tears as best as she could because there was still too much left to say. "I said I'd always stay with you and I am, but you asked me to do this! You asked me to stop you when you couldn't control yourself anymore! You've put me in a position where I have to stop you so you won't kill anyone else or get killed yourself. You told me everything and I listened and I remembered and there is no way I'm never coming back to you!"

Azula showed no signs of even noticing Ty Lee's existence. Her aura was nearly all black with asymmetrical edges jutting out in every direction and then receding. Somewhere deep inside, Ty Lee knew that she had lost her long ago.

"I'm coming back to you! I promise!" she shouted at Azula's back, but she might as well have been shouting at the empty walls in the cell. She gripped the bars as the heaviness crushed her. "Come on, say something," she said between quick breaths, trying to keep herself together enough to speak. "Say something. You have to say something. You can't just pretend that nothing ever happened-–that we never happened. I know you know I'm not lying!"

But not a word came from Azula's mouth. She didn't even slow her pace. Ty Lee let herself collapse again and felt the full force of a thousand needles ripping through her and making it difficult to breathe. She methodically begged Azula to turn around, but spoke barely above a whisper–a pointless effort.

Suddenly, she sensed a shadow in front of her and looked up to see Azula staring directly into her eyes.

"You have three seconds to tell me why I should ever trust you again, and don't you dare scream and cry at me like you have been. Convince me that you're nothing like my mother or uncle or idiot brother."

"I–" Say it again, she told herself.

"Three."

"I–" Say it as many times as you have to until she believes it.

"Two."

"Azula, I–" Tell her the truth no matter what she might say.

"One."

"I love you and I hate that this is happening to you and I wish I wasn't the only one who's ever said that to you."

A prolonged silence hung over them, much like the one they exchanged only a few hours before. Ty Lee waited with bated breath for a response that might never come. She felt sick.

"Hmm, well then," Azula said and stood.

She walked away without another word.