Welcome to Ember Island.
Azula sighed. She'd been running herself ragged since she came back home, trying to complete all of the tasks that her Father had given her. She'd never collapsed before either and it had scared her. Especially the doctor's whisperings to Lo and Li. The frowns that came after.
Her Father had only asked her one question. "Were you forced?"
She shrunk under his disappointed glare. No. It wasn't disappointment. It was... disdain. Disgust.
Teo had been sent away because she had been bad. And her punishment was to drink the fowl tasting tea that Li had made. Though she was grateful to Lo, who held her as she was sick that night.
It hadn't even been a rumor. There was no controversy, no spectacle. Ty Lee hadn't even known. Zuko hadn't seemed to notice. It was Mai that had. Mai had always known. She'd been the one that Azula had cried to. But it went no further. Ozai was too proud.
And they'd been sent here. The Princess needed to recover and the Prince, oblivious as always, would make sure she didn't misbehave. Though he was probably told something about honor. That's all he seemed to care about now.
It had started off well enough. Pretending to be just like everyone else. All those normal teenagers that could do what they want. They didn't have to care about the war. The world. It was nice to try. She always knew it'd be a disaster.
"We will dominate the Earth!" Of course that scared him away. Nobody thinks of that. Only Azula. Years of pressure from her Father, Fire Lord Ozai, had shaped her into a tool. A weapon. There's hardly a girl left. Maybe she only used Teo to prove to herself that she was still in there.
She walked out to the beach to be alone, looking up at the sky. Of course she looked for that familiar red glider. And she never found it. She spotted her brother instead. "I thought I'd find you here," she found herself saying.
"Those summers we spent here seem so long ago. So much has changed," Zuko said, still gazing out at the ocean.
"Come down to the beach with me. Come on. This place is depressing," she said as she reached out and grabbed her brother's hand, leading him away from the old beach house.
"Hey," Mai greeted them first, hesitation in her voice.
"Where's your new boyfriend?" Zuko snapped, but Azula watched him sag. He was regrouping. "Are you cold?"
"I'm freezing!" Ty Lee announced. Of course she would be. She was hardly wearing anything. But it was hard to stay mad at her. Ty Lee had always encouraged the Fire Princess to be different. Ty Lee was the one that suggested keeping the blue fire as her signature. She had been so nice to Teo, welcoming him into their little group. Forcing him to interact with not only herself and Mai, but the crews and engineers they worked with as well.
Azula had been jealous, but it was because she didnt like to share.
"I'm so pretty. Look at me. I can walk on my hands. Whoo!" Azula must have been lost in her own thoughts when Zuko did a decent handstand. She snapped her focus to the present again.
"Yes, I'm a circus freak. Go ahead and laugh all you want. You want to know why I joined the circus?"
"Here we go," Azula found herself muttering.
"Do you have any idea what my home life was like? Growing up with six sisters who look exactly like me? It was like I didn't even have my own name. I joined the circus because I was scared of spending the rest of my life as part of a matched set. At least I'm different now. 'Circus freak' is a compliment." Ty Lee was practically in tears, using her hands to wipe at her eyes.
"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends, too," Mai joined in.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Attention issues. You couldn't get enough attention when you were a kid, so you're trying to make up for it now," Mai droned on in her monotone.
"Well, what's your excuse, Mai? You were an only child for fifteen years, but even with all that attention, your aura is this dingy, pasty, gray!" The younger girl spat, hurt in her eyes.
"I don't believe in auras."
"Yeah, you do not believe in anything," Zuko had to get his jibe in.
"Oh, well, I'm sorry I can't be as high-strung and crazy as the rest of you," Mai actually raised her voice for that one.
This was getting out of hand. These were... these were her friends.
"I'm sorry, too. I wish you would be high-strung and crazy for once instead of keeping all your feeling bottled up inside. She just called your aura dingy. Are you gonna take that?" Zuko yelled, Azula inwardly flinched.
She felt her hands curling. The static building up in the air around her. She was losing control. Of the situation and her powers. She had to take it back.
"What do you want from me? You want a teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well, it wasn't. I was a rich only child who got anything I wanted... as long as I behaved and sat still, and didn't speak unless spoken to. My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about." Mai distanced herself from them, both emotionally and physically.
"Well, that's it, then. You have a controlling mother who had certain expectations, and if you strayed from them, you were shut down. That's why you're afraid to care about anything, and why you can't express yourself," forcing the words out of her mouth, no thought to how they'd sound, calmed the air. Azula felt less on edge.
"You want me to express myself? Leave me alone!" Mai ran off and Zuko ran off after her.
"Calm down, you guys. This much negative energy is bad for your skin. You'll totally break out."
Azula had almost controlled her breathing again when Zuko stopped and turned. "Bad skin? Normal teenagers worry about bad skin. I don't have that luxury," he leaned forward. Invading Ty Lee's personal space. "My father decided to teach me a permanent lesson on my face!"
Ty Lee shrunk back, "Sorry, Zuko, I..."
"For so long I thought that if my dad accepted me, I'd be happy. I'm back home now, my dad talks to me. Ha! He even thinks I'm a hero. Everything should be perfect, right? I should be happy now, but I'm not. I'm angrier than ever and I don't know why!"
"There's a simple question you need to answer, then. Who are you angry at?" She felt the tension in the air again, but she wouldn't let it get to her. She would control this argument.
"No one. I'm just.."
Ty Lee cut him off "Yeah, who are you angry at, Zuko?"
"Everyone. I don't know."
Azula pushed in closer "Is it Dad?"
"No"
"Your uncle?" Mai.
The Fire Princess hesitated. "Me?"
"No, no, n-no, no!" Zuko clutched his head and
"Then who? Who are you angry at?"
"Answer the question!" she kept pushing, encouraging the others, inflicting the pressure she felt onto her brother.
"I'm angry at myself!" He snapped then, letting out the anger. She felt as if the temperature dropped.
"Why?" she was almost unaware of the question that came from her lips.
"Because I'm confused. Because I'm not sure I know the difference between right and wrong anymore."
Right and wrong. Was that still a thing? Did Azula still need to distinguish. All she needed to know that her Father was right. And anything else was wrong. It was how she'd always done things. Except... except with Teo.
"I guess you wouldn't understand, would you, Azula? Because you're just so perfect," Zuko rounded on his sister.
"Well, yes, I guess you're right. I don't have sob stories like all of you. I could sit here and complain how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care. My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt," Azula turned away from the others. "And... everyone I ever... loved... gets sent away."
"Azula..." Zuko was stunned, a look of shock and regret on his face.
"Father keeps sending them away. Sometimes, I think it's my fault," Azula stood up, rubbing her arms a little.
She didn't know who had the idea first, but she had a lot of fun destroying Chan's house.
~ Apologies for a good deal of this chapter as the original dialog of the scene. But I enjoyed the fight at the end of The Beach so I decided to leave it in. Also, this chapter was going to have Teo in it, but... it got very long. Not sure when I'll update next because I'm on vacation now, but thank you for all the folows/favs! ~