Hello again. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! I am sorry that it took this long to write this chapter, it really shouldn't have considering how short it is, but I have just had my first experience with writer's block and let me tell you something...it's AWFUL! But don't let me stall too much. On you go...read!


Trust is for Fools

Chapter 1: Nightmares

The sun rose over the horizon, casting a warm orange glow off the completely still surface of the ocean. The light sea-breeze rustled the leaves of the forest slightly and the bird had awoken and started their normal routine of singing and gathering food. All in all, it was a beautiful morning on Kyoshi island. But it's beauty was lost one some people.

"AAAHHH..." Ty Lee awoke with a shout, covered in sweat, her soft green covers drenched with it. It took her a few seconds to figure out where she was. She sat up in her small bed and rested her face in her open palms.

"Fuck," she muttered to herself as she started wiping the beads of sweat of her face. A few years ago she never would have said something like that, but after two years of living on an island with people her parents would have referred to as peasants, she'd started to pick up some of their habits, and even so she only ever swore like that when she was alone.

She puller her cover off and sat on the edge of the bed. "This has got to stop." It had been happening about every other night for the two years she'd been living on Kyoshi Island. She'd have horrible nightmares and wake up screaming, to find that the only thing to worry about was the fact that she had to change her bed covers because of all the sweat. She rarely remembered the details of what she dreamt, only that it always involved the same person, those same golden eyes, that same voice.

Shaking her head, she got up and walked over to her small counter and started picking out things for breakfast. It had taken some time adjusting to life on the small Earth Kingdom island, but she had never been a helpless person, so it wasn't really a problem. There was only one thing she didn't like about it, the colors. Everywhere you looked there was green, brown or beige. No sign of anything remotely pink for miles.

Halfway through making herself breakfast she got a strange feeling something was out of place. Looking around to see if she had forgotten about something, she noticed that the shadow her bed cast on the floor was smaller than usual. Wait...no. She rushed to look out the window. The sun was almost as high up in the sky as it got in the summer. She'd overslept...again. No no no. Not again!

She quickly removed the small pot of porridge she had been making off the furnace and started getting dressed. She'd gotten used to the armored kimono the Kyoshi Warriors were required to wear, although she preferred lighter outfits. She hastily put on her warrior's make-up and ran out the door. Running through the small village, she was met with a sea of friendly faces, "hello's" and "good morning's". The inhabitants of the island had taken the cheerful girl in with open arms. Everybody seemed to like her. People smiled and greeted her when she walked by and she'd even been invited on a few dates. Those boys were sweet and all, but she just couldn't bring herself to get romantically involved with anyone, at least not yet.

After a two minute run through the village she reached the dojo. She steadied herself and stepped inside. "Well girls, look who decided to join us," Suki said mockingly as she noticed Ty Lee step in, the rest of the warriors stopped what they were doing and giggled at their leaders remark. Ty Lee blushed under her white face-paint and rubbed the back of her neck. "Heh. Sorry."

"Girls. Continue the exercise, I'm going to have a little talk with Ty." The girls returned to their sparring, while Suki walked into the next room with Ty Lee, who was smiling apologetically. She slid the door close so they could have some privacy.

Suki had been the last of the Kyoshi warriors to fully accept Ty Lee, the acrobat was invited to join their ranks for the sole reason that the others had pestered their leader until she finally allowed it. She later revealed to Ty Lee that the reason for this was that as the leader of the warriors captured during the war she had been singled out and tortured for information, in fact, Azula had personally supervised it. It wasn't hard to see why Suki would resent one of the people responsible for this, even if Ty Lee had no knowledge of it.

"Ty Lee, this is the third time this week you've been late for practice. What am I supposed to do with you?" Suki wasn't mad. Ty Lee had told her about her problem, and as it turned out, Suki wasn't unfamiliar with the subject. Strangely enough, they were both having night-terrors involving the same person, though for very different reasons.

"I know Suki. I'm sorry. I just can't help it." The acrobat hung her head in shame.

"Look, I have an idea," Suki said and Ty Lee looked back up at her leader. "What kind of idea?"

"Well," Suki reached into her pocket and pulled up a small letter. "A messenger hawk arrived last night. It's from Zuko and Mai." Ty Lee's face lit up. It had been weeks since she'd last heard anything from her gloomy friend. "Ooh! What does it say?"

Suki chuckled lightly at Ty Lee's sudden enthusiasm. "Well, it didn't really say anything. Only that they were inviting the two of us to the Fire Nation so they could tell us something. Apparently it's important enough to make us take a two week trip for them to say it in person." There was a slight annoyance in her voice now.

"Ooooh. Can we go? Can we, can we, can we?" Ty Lee was practically jumping with excitement. Laughing at her bubbly friend's childlike behavior, Suki nodded. "Yeah. That's what I was about to suggest. I know you've been having trouble sleeping lately and to be fair, so have I. I think we could both use a vacation. So when you get home from the practice today I want you to start packing."

Suki just barely managed to jump back as her friend attempted to give her a hug. In the past two years she'd learned never to let Ty Lee hug her when she was overexcited. "Ty, we talked about this. Self restraint." She smiled.

"Heh, right. Sorry," the acrobat apologized, but nothing could wipe away the huge grin that was now plastered onto her face.

"Oh and Ty? When we get back in there," Suki gestured at the door leading to the training area, "could you act like I was scolding you for being late. I can't look like I'm going soft or everyone will start sleeping in."

"Yeah, sure thing, Captain Suki." Ty Lee gave an over dramatic salute.


It was approaching nighttime on Kyoshi Island, the sun was going down, turning the clouds near the horizon red and if you looked hard enough you could see tiny stars up in the sky. But just like that morning two days ago, some people were too busy to notice this.

Ok. Let's see. Is this enough. Wait, maybe I should just buy clothes when I get there instead of taking it with me, but can I afford that? The bubbly acrobat had been spending the last one and a half hour packing for her journey. It had proven to be a much bigger challenge than she expected. Suki's probably waiting for me at the docks.

Eventually she managed to pack a selection of clothes she was somewhat happy with. Grabbing it, she rushed out the her door, an act that she was beginning to become all too familiar with, and headed to the small docks just outside the village. She was going to miss her little wooden house, but the thought of going back to her homeland after all this time was just to good to pass up.

She was also very excited to see Mai and Zuko again, she hadn't seen them for a few months. The Kyoshi warriors had been hired as extra security for a diplomatic meeting between Zuko and Earth King Kuei in Ba Sing Se. They obviously hadn't had much time to talk then, what with the Fire Lord and his wife having to attend horribly long meetings and Ty Lee constantly having to either stand guard or patrol some area, but the time they had managed to spend together had been great.

As Ty Lee suspected, Suki was already standing at the pier when she got there. Her leader raised an eyebrow when she saw her luggage. The acrobat was carrying two huge suitcases and wearing a gigantic travel-backpack. Seeing her small friend carrying all that weight was nothing short of comical and she quickly found that she was having a hard time not smiling.

"What? Ooh, so I overdid it just a little," Ty Lee said, smiling along with her friend.

They boarded to large Fire Nation ship laying by the docks. After the war ended the huge Fire Nation fleet, now rendered useless by the lack of enemies, was converted into a public means of transportation over sea. This particular ship made regular trips between Kyoshi Island and the Fire Nation Capital, bearing passengers and supplies. Just looking at it's metal surface fueled Ty Lee's homesickness.

"Hello ladies," the captain of the ship, Wei Chan, greeted the two warriors as they stepped on deck. They'd met him a few times before, once they even searched his ship for a stowaway. He was an elderly man that once used to serve in the navy. He had a long gray mustache and matching hair. But he was in surprisingly good shape for his age, with wide strong shoulders and fairly unwrinkled skin. But above all else, Ty Lee remembered him for being nice. She'd met many soldiers and commanders in her lifetime and most of them were rude and insensitive. But the captain was very friendly.

"That looks heavy miss Ty Lee, would you like me to help you?"

Ty Lee smiled warmly at him. "Nah. I've got it. But thanks."

She carried her bags down to the quarters she'd been assigned and dropped down onto the bed. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but it would have to do. Her mind started to wonder and in her head she was already in the Fire Nation. The places she wanted to go while she was there, what clothes she wanted to buy, what people she wanted to see...

Should...should I go see her?

Those were her last thoughts before she fell asleep, fully dressed laying on the covers of her bed.


She was standing in one of the many courtyards of the Fire Nation royal palace. Everything was a bit blurry though. She stopped wondering what it was when she saw there was a person sitting under the tree near the turtle-duck pond. Black hair tied into a topknot, lean but strong form, golden eyes like pieces of gold in contrast to her pale skin.

"Azula!" sha called out to the princess as she ran over to where she was sitting. Plopping down next to her friend, she hugged her as tightly as she could. "I'm so happy you're ok," she whispered.

Prying the strong hands off her body, Azula gave her a look of slight confusion, "Well of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

Calming down, the pink clad girl rested her hands in her lap. "Well, because of that whole 'going against the Avatar without bending' thing. I still think that was way too risky." When the princess had told her what she planned to do on the day of Black Sun, Ty Lee had been mortified, begging Azula to stay away from the fighting, but she wouldn't be swayed.

Smirking, the princess leaned back, resting on her elbows, "I told you there wasn't anything to worry about."

"Well, I'm just glad you're alright," Ty Lee leaned in and quickly touched her lips to Azula's.

Jerking her head back, the bending prodigy hissed at her, "Ty Lee! Not in public. Are you insane?"

"No silly," the acrobat giggled and poked her friend's nose "I'm not that stupid. Most of the guards and servants are out helping to repair stuff that was destroyed in the attack. There's nobody around to see me doing stuff like this." she leaned in for another kiss. Azula seemed to calm down and this time she didn't pull back, but reciprocated, moving her lips along with Ty Lee's.

Suddenly something didn't feel right. She couldn't tell what it was, but Ty Lee had this strange feeling. Then it happened. She felt like she was falling. She screamed, but when she looked around, she didn't seem to be falling at all. But the courtyard had disappeared though. There was literally nothing around her. Just sheer blackness, but Azula was still there, however she was slowly moving away from her.

"Azula?" Ty Lee was really frightened. She got up and started walking towards her friend who was now in a kneeling position, but with every step she took, Azula moved further away. All of a sudden, the princess started crying and screaming in pain. "AZULA!" Ty Lee started sprinting towards her but, same as before, she only moved further away, her form starting to fade into the endless darkness surrounding them.

In the distance, Ty Lee was sure the princess was calling her name. Her eyes filling with tears as she called back, she kept running in the direction Azula had faded into. She didn't know what was going on, but she could find out later, all he felt now was the need to help her friend...


"Azula..." Ty Lee sat up as quickly as she could. Everything was suddenly different. She was sitting on a bed in a small room with metal walls and a small torch hanging from the ceiling. It was only a dream.

Actually, the first part of it had been a very vivid memory, from a time when everything seemed to work out. Before the nightmares, before she lost her...

Even though she knew it hadn't been real she still had that lingering feeling, that thought in the back of her mind. She had to help Azula in any way she could.

I have to see her...

I have to save her...


Ok. I just realized that I have no experience with writing chapters like this. All the normal stuff, so little angst, just basic human interaction. It's infuriating! I know I didn't make much happen here, but I promise, it will later on. Now, I don't like some parts of this particular chapter. It was taking me a long time to write so I feel I may have rushed through some scenes, like the short conversation (if you could call it that) with the captain, and not made them as good as they could have been. I also feel that the ending was a bit forced,, but I want to post this today, I can fix it later. I know that it might have been a bit strange to make Ty Lee say 'fuck' but I just thought "You know what? This is rated M, I can do whatever I want. So I just went for it. I will try to add a new chapter before New Years, since I'm going to spend it in a cabin away from a computer, but I make no promises. Well, that's all for now. Happy holidays and such...