Chapter Two: Factionless
Mother looks so disappointed. Azula does not care.
"This world was made for you. You belong here," she says weakly, as if that is devastating to her.
Mother always thought Azula was a worse creature than the undead. A psychopath. Deplorable. A little girl; she is twelve at the moment.
"I was born in this world. Of course I do," Azula says coldly, even though she knows that is not what her mother meant by the comment.
The strong reign over the weak; that is what happens when anarchy becomes order.
Azula is the strong.
Her mother is the weak.
That must be the reason that she looks at her daughter so sadly.
Ty Lee was divorced from her faction a month ago.
It had been very formal. They gave her a weapon, let her pack, and let her walk away. She is sixteen years old and already factionless. She was stupid enough to travel on the main road, and she would have gotten killed if Sokka hadn't saved her.
With a boomerang of all things.
She got together with him; he was looking for his sister. She got divorced from the Red Monsoons and even though he was clean, he went looking for her. Probably in Ba Sing Se, everybody said, and so they have been heading to Ba Sing Se.
Ty Lee now has kittens with her, and has located kitty food that has not been opened. She smiles brightly because it is the best moment she has had in a long time. They mewl at her and gently claw at her until she sets them up with something to eat. She kneels and starts petting the cutest one.
"You can't just wander," says Sokka bluntly. The kittens twitch with fear but do not abandon their meal. "I've told you that about a thousand times. Those are adorable, yes, but this house had a really bad sign on the door, and outside we have both zombies and Red Monsoons to deal with."
"I'm not going to let kittens starve." Ty Lee then sighs. "I know I should've told you. To be honest, though, I'm more worried about those two in here than anything out there."
Sokka rubs his face. "I am too. They're sleazy and I don't trust them for a second."
"Maybe they like kittens. Everybody likes kittens," Ty Lee chimes and he looks about to groan or say something sarcastic before a thought occurs to him.
"That would be a great distraction. Kittens are a good distraction to make sure they don't stab us in the back," Sokka says and Ty Lee grins. He really is smart, and she likes that.
They do turn out to like kittens, and a few minutes later the paranoid quartet sits in a circle around the adorable cats.
"Oh, we need to name them."
"We'll get attached if we name them."
"We're bringing them with us. We're not bringing you two," Ty Lee says fiercely and Azula smirks at her. Ugh.
"You're cute. I didn't know you could bite like that."
"You've known me for two hours," Ty Lee says before pulling Fluffy onto her lap. "This one is named Fluffy because he has the most fur."
"Could we have one?" Azula asks and Ty Lee is startled. "What? This one likes me."
It is rubbing against her contentedly. The third will be Sokka's. And then there will be a happy kitten family.
"Only if you name it," Ty Lee teases.
Sokka stiffens at her familiarity with the enemy.
"Lucky. I'm going to name him Lucky," Azula says and Mai's eyes glint. Ty Lee wonders why that is so funny to them. "He's lucky he was found and fed."
"Perfect name!" Ty Lee says blithely.
"Why are you so bubbly?" Azula asks Ty Lee as she finishes boarding up the small room that the quartet intends to share for one night. "Don't you even see the world around you?"
"I was born into this world. I bet you were too. And, I was born into a world that needs to be a little cheerier. It can be such a downer to see this stuff out here, so people need an upper in order to keep optimistic," Ty Lee explains as if that makes any sense. Azula does not get it.
"And you consider yourself that upper?" Azula bitterly asks. Ty Lee's soft smile does not falter.
"Yes. Somebody's gotta do it."
"Right. There were things I felt positive about when I was still in Ba Sing Se. Things changed," Azula says. She finishes the last wall and sits down with her back against it.
"You guys are bandits, aren't you?" Ty Lee asks softly.
"That doesn't matter to you," Azula replies.
"You guys hurt people for fun."
Azula will admit that. "Yes. Yes, we do."
"Oh."
They do not exchange another word.
Ty Lee takes her little Fluffy on her lap and curls up on the blankets she laid out. She uses her backpack as a pillow. Azula does not know why she is watching her like that.
She is hot. It is as simple as that.
Ty Lee apparently can also cook.
She turns the stores of canned food that the long-dead owners of this house had into some kind of soup that does not taste terrible. Azula is at first reluctant to eat it, but she caves in. She is hungry and tired and wishes she were back in Ba Sing Se. But Azula tries not to think that way.
"No, Fluffy," Ty Lee snaps. "My soup."
Azula looks at Lucky. She cannot believe she has a fucking kitten to take care of. And it isn't like she is just going to get rid of a baby cat that keeps curling up on her lap. It is a glimmer of not grotesque-and-violent in Azula's life. That probably counts for something, even to a person who is usually calling that grotesque violence.
Sokka stands up and takes his soup to go patrol.
Azula cannot believe these people.
"No, no, Fluffy, stop it!" Ty Lee cries out.
Azula does not ask many questions of Ty Lee and Sokka. They do not seem very important to her, to be honest, and she could not care less about their business. She sits with Mai and Lucky, away from those two.
The room seems to be divided in half by an invisible barrier. The two groups do not trust each other enough to get close.
"Where do we go next?" Mai asks, flipping a switchblade open and shut.
Azula had lost herself in the sound for a moment. "We go wherever we want. We're running for a reason."
They were not shamed and purged from their faction.
They ran away, and Azula still does not want to face that fact. She just wants to continue enjoying being a bandit. She wants to brutalize people and take whatever she pleases without her overbearing father controlling every aspect of her life.
This world is a fine place for outlaws.
These two, however, seem like the heroic type. The girl just rescued kittens, and despite being hot, Azula regards her with distaste. That body is not worth the pretty voice and 'sweet heart' that comes with it. The boy already disgusts Azula.
Mai seems indifferent.
As usual.
"So, are we gonna swap scary stories?" Ty Lee asks so cutely. Azula needs out of this horrible trap. "What?"
"Being here is scarier than anything I could make up," Azula says, leaning back beside Mai. Their arms gently brush against each other.
"Are you two an… item?" Ty Lee asks, invading privacy like it is no big deal.
"No. Just friends," Azula curtly replies.
Azula would call she and Mai best friends if she were not dealing with enemies. Or, potential enemies at least. Mai has always been the only person who didn't want to use Azula as a pawn; Mai was already a pawn, and neither of them enjoyed it. They commiserated and became close. Close enough for Mai to follow Azula when she snuck out of the walls of Ba Sing Se, never to return.
"This world was made for you. You belong here." Mother. Thought she was a monster.
And Azula didn't care that she lost her mother to real monsters.
"That's cute," Ty Lee says and Azula can tell Ty Lee is honest. Strange. Kind of disgusting. "And you two are headed…?"
"Nowhere, as far as you're concerned," Azula replies icily.
"I'm making small talk," Ty Lee complains.
"Asking questions like that is not small talk. We're not friends or allies; we're just in an unfortunate situation," Azula says and Ty Lee averts her eyes. Good.
And Sokka says, "Don't talk to them in the first place," which seems to piss Ty Lee off, but she smiles at him and nods.
Azula finds them interesting, although she would never say it. She has not interacted with someone she was not brutalizing since she left Ba Sing Se. Perhaps that is a tolerable change of pace for one night.
Mai is asleep. Or at least pretending to be. Azula studies her breathing and can tell she is just trying to avoid talking to anyone.
She probably has the right idea.
This world is not made for the girl Azula checks out when no one is looking.
And her tough hero husband does not belong here.
"Did you sleep?" Azula asks Mai as soon as sunlight creeps through the cracks in the barricades.
"Like a baby sabertoothed mooselion," Mai replies sarcastically. She has dark circles under her eyes that make her look less alive than the zombies.
Azula herself got about thirty minutes, but it is enough to take on the day. Or at least enough to find another hideaway. She does not sleep much now that she is outside of safe walls. Walls with heavily armed men and stone reinforced with metal. No one gets into Ba Sing Se; no one gets out.
Except for Azula and Mai.
They got out.
Azula shoves her blankets into Mai's hands and stands up. She stretches and cracks her knuckles before looking over to see Ty Lee quietly packing up her hairbrush and mirror. That girl is kidding herself about the wasteland.
Mai sighs as she packs her best friend's belongings and says, "You don't have to be such a bitch, princess."
"Don't call me that," Azula replies. She doubts Mai will listen, even though Azula is the leader of their two person gang. "I hate that nickname."
"We're leaving," says Sokka, as if Azula cares.
"Good for you," Azula says. They can detract attention if there is still a mess outside. This place does not sound or smell overrun, and the Red Monsoons know what they are doing, but Azula dislikes taking chances.
"We're going to Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee says and Azula feels paranoia prickling on her skin.
Why does Ty Lee so badly want to know where Azula and Mai are off to?
Most importantly, why has Azula not explained to them that they can't go there?
"We came from Ba Sing Se," Azula forces herself to say. Honesty is hard for her but the situation calls for it. "There is no Ba Sing Se anymore. Only the inner wall still stands. It's reinforced but only the Agni Kai Tribe is inside. Everyone else might as well steer clear because the outside of that strong wall is completely overrun."
Sokka steels himself and tries not to show his shock and pain. He sets his hand on his bent machete as if that can make the city magically become a haven for refugees by doing it. Azula does not get people out here who have any hope.
"We don't know if Katara was there," Ty Lee says, grabbing his arm. "We were just making a wild guess."
"Where are you two headed then? Is there another stronghold?" Sokka demands.
Again with that question. Azula should have known it was not just Ty Lee being her weird, optimistic self.
Azula smirks. "There are only two types of people in this wasteland that used to have laws. The ones who enjoy the freedom to kill, and the ones who get killed. Mai and I are the former; you two are the latter."
Sokka just nods, not wasting his time with a fight. He is not fighting girls either. That would be fucked up.
Ty Lee makes a different decision.
She grabs Azula by the wrist and says, "You're wrong. You've seen us fight. You saw me dodge that arrow. You know we'd make a really good team."
"You have guts," Azula says, brushing Ty Lee's hand off of her. "I'll give you that. We'll do a little trial run."
Sokka scoffs, but one look from Ty Lee makes him sigh.
He may mistrust these girls, but he is smart enough to know that an alliance with them would not hurt.
"You can come in our truck," he says, "if we make it back to the highway alive."
Ty Lee beams at him and gently releases Azula.
"I'll get the kitties packed up," she says.
AN: The kittens don't die. I promise.