Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In the year 94 AG, everything had seemed peaceful within the Fire Nation. Everyone lived a normal life in the Fire Nation.
Zuko was eleven years old. He lived a normal life as a young prince of the Fire Nation. Ursa, who gives him as much attention that a mother could. Azula, the younger sister who constantly tease and picks on her older brother. Prince Ozai, who constantly ignores and berates his firstborn for not having a strong potential.
Zuko was found in the peaceful garden where Ursa usually feeds the turtle-ducks. He lied under a tree with his arms behind his head. The large bush of leaves in the tree blocked the sunlight, causing shade. He enjoyed life a lot. He closed his eyes and thought about what he wanted to do within the future.
"Hey, Zuko!"
Zuko shot his eyes open to see a young and energetic nine-year-old pink-loving acrobat, Ty Lee was see standing next to him as he lied on a tree. She smiled as always when she is around Zuko.
Zuko annoyingly sighed. "What do you doing, Ty Lee?"
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to see what you were doing, Tee-hee." Ty Lee giggled.
"I'm lying under a tree resting, now could you go away?" Zuko's eyes looked away.
There was a moment of silence in the garden.
"Can I join you?" Ty Lee asked.
"What?" Zuko sat his back up a bit.
"I said, "Can I join you" silly?" Ty Lee asked once more.
"Why would you ever want to sit next me?"
"Because I want to. Tee-hee!" Ty Lee giggled a bit.
An idea had just popped in Zuko's head. 'Why would Ty Lee come out here all by herself? I haven't seen Azula all morning today… unless.' He then assumed that something was coming. Zuko jumped to his feet. "This is another prank, isn't it?"
"What prank?" Ty Lee asked, feeling confused.
"Don't act like you don't know. You're hear all by yourself, Azula must've sent you to bother me! Tell me. What is Azula planning this time?" Zuko's senses was alert. He was ready for Azula to come out of hiding.
"Nothing!" Ty Lee waved her hands and shook her head no, trying to reason. "Azula is being tutored by miss Ursa."
"Where's Mai?" Zuko asked, wondering where Mai was. He had not seen her all day.
"Um," Ty Lee thought for a bit. "I don't think she came today."
"Are you sure?" Zuko asked and Ty Lee replied by shaking her head yes.
"Can I sit? Please?" Ty Lee kindly grinned.
Zuko saw Ty Lee's kind and cute grin. This made him blush a little bit. He sat back down and lightly sighed. "Fine. You can lie down next to me." Zuko patted on the grass.
"Yay!"
"But please don't bug me." Zuko added.
"Okay!" Ty Lee felt cheerful as she sat down on Zuko's left. She sat down and closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, but suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. She wanted to see how Zuko was doing, so she opened one of her eyelids and peaked at Zuko. To her, Zuko seemed relaxed. Ty Lee tried her best to make herself comfortable on the grass. This didn't work, so then scooted her hips and her side closer to Zuko's to feel more comfortable.
Zuko could feel her presence. He opened his left eye and saw Ty Lee an inch or two close to him. His personal space. "You're too close to me, Ty Lee." he scooted a few inches away from her.
"I don't feel comfortable. The ground feels kind of… bumpy." Ty Lee looked down.
"You'll get used to it. Just find a way to make yourself comfortable and keep quiet." Zuko said.
"But—"
"Shhh." Zuko quickly shushed her and closed his eyes.
Ty Lee made a grumpy pouty look on her face for two seconds. Then an imaginary light bulb appeared over her head. She looked down at the relaxed Zuko and suddenly smiled for a moment. She lied down on and scooted close to Zuko's making physical contact.
Zuko gasped as he felt someone too close to him. He looked on his left to see Ty Lee snuggling close him. His cheeks turned red out of embarrassment. "T-Ty Lee! What are you doing!?"
"You told me to find a way to make myself comfortable." Ty Lee giggled.
Zuko sat up. "I- didn't mean like this! We're not…"
"Not what?" Ty Lee cut him off.
"We're not boyfriend and girlfriend!"
Without warning, Ty Lee playfully pecked Zuko on his left cheek. "Are we boyfriend and girlfriend now?"
Zuko's cheeks turned a brighter red and his golden pupils had shrunk. He felt more embarrassed after the peck. "Yes-I mean, no! I…" He paused as he saw her cute face and blushed. Zuko got on his feet and tried to speak but got by her cute face.
"Zuko. Your face is red as a tomato." Ty Lee joked.
"Urgh!" Zuko grumbled. "You know what, forget this ever happened! I'm gonna find something manly to do." Zuko stormed off, leaving Ty Lee under a tree, alone.
"Aw…" Ty Lee pouted, as she watched Zuko leave.
Zuko was met by his mother Ursa. "What's the matter, Zuko? Your face is red." she asked.
"Girls are weird." Zuko replied as he wiped the peck off his cheek while storming off, embarrassed.
Zuko has only seen Ty Lee as Azula's friend. She would sometimes tag along with Azula and prank both Zuko and Mai. Zuko really wants nothing to do with them, anyway. Except Mai. Whom he has a small crush on. One time, Azula noticed and used her firebending to light the apple on top of Mai's head. Zuko ran towards Mai, but tripped when he made contact and the two kids fell into the fountain.
A few days had passed since the pranks. It was announced that Zuko and Azula will be demonstrating the skills to impress current Fire Lord Azulon within three days. Zuko heard about the event and wanted to do his best and please his father and grandfather.
Every morning around eleven-thirty in the morning, Zuko would practice his Firebending techniques in front of the turtle-duck lake. After a few punches and kicks, he tried to do a jump and kick, but fell on his butt.
"Urg!" he groaned as he got back up. 'I don't get it. Every time Azula does that move, she make it perfect. What is it that I am doing wrong?' he wondered, as he continued his training. Zuko knew that struggle was the key to hard work.
Azula and Ty Lee watched Zuko train from behind a few pillars, watching Zuko train day after day.
"It looks like Zuko is training really hard, huh." Ty Lee said as she and Azula tucked their heads behind a pillar.
"Yes. Zuzu has been training real hard in order to impress our beloved grandfather." Azula said, then thought of an idea. "I have an idea..." She muttered and looked to Ty Lee.
"What is it, Azula?" she asked.
"Another prank."
"But, are you sure it's safe to prank Zuko while he's training?" Ty Lee asked in concern.
"I wanna see what Zuzu is really capable of. Heh." Azula chuckled as she created a small ball of fire in her hands.
Ty Lee had gotten more concerned of what Azula was doing. "Are you sure that's… safe?"
"Come on, Ty Lee. It's just a small flame. You're not afraid of a little fire, are you?" Azula questioned her friend.
Ty Lee hesitated to answer the question a bit. "Um… no." Deep down, Ty Lee didn't like where Azula was going.
"Good. Here's what we're gonna do…" Azula handed Ty Lee a half bucket of cold water.
Azula explained the prank to Ty Lee. Azula's plan was to irritate Zuko to where he gets mad. And then Ty Lee's part was to splash the bucket of water onto Zuko to make him cool off. Azula was to give Ty Lee a signal.
As Zuko was practicing his combination of firebending and martial arts, he saw a ball of fire thrown at him. Zuko ducked and the fireball had evaporated within thin air. He knew who threw it.
"Azula!" Zuko cried.
Azula was seen walking towards him. "Yes, dear brother?"
"Why did you do that?" Zuko questioned.
"Come on, lighten up, Zuzu. It's just a prank." Azula said with little care.
"I'm not in the mood for any of your pranks today, Azula!" Zuko yelled as he attempted to continue his training.
"What? Your little sister can't help you train?"
"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked.
"I'm only testing your how agile you are." Azula said then threw another ball of flame at him.
Zuko dodged the flame by moving out the way. "Stop it! I don't need your help! Just go away!" he turned away from his sister, giving her the cold shoulder.
"I'm your little sister, aren't I, Zuzu?
"Sometimes, I wish you weren't. And stop calling me Zuzu!" Zuko said in a mean way.
"Don't treat me like I'm a pest!"
"Well, you're acting like one. Now leave me alone." Zuko demanded.
That struck a nerve for Azula. She wanted to get at him for calling her a pest, but then she couldn't forget about what he wanted to do. "You really think you could impress grandfather with sloppy techniques like that?" she taunted.
"They're not sloppy. You don't know what you're talking about!"
"I do. Father praises me for my talent. Father said it himself that I was considered born lucky." Azula mentioned.
"So?"
"You were lucky to be born." Azula said bluntly.
Zuko turned to his sister frustrated. "Of course I was lucky. I'm his firstborn! What does that have to do with anything?" he yelled.
"It means that I'm one step ahead of you of becoming Fire Lord."
"Who cares? I don't even want to be Fire Lord anyway! I wanna be a respectable general, just like uncle Iroh."
"So, you wanna be a coward and crybaby, just like him?" Azula mocked Iroh.
"He's not a crybaby or a coward, you know. He just lost his only kid!" Zuko defended Iroh.
As Ty Lee watched Azula taunt her brother, she started to feel a little bad. She thought that it would be a harmless prank as always, but Ty Lee felt like it was getting too personal. Despite Azula not giving the signal, Ty Lee decided to drop the bucket of water and come out of hiding and started walking towards the prince and princess, who were arguing.
"Just go away, Azula! Or I'll-"
"What are you gonna do? Tell mom? Because I haven't done anything wrong." Azula questioned.
"You're getting on my nerves!" Zuko tried to restrain himself.
Azula took a step forward. "Why do you care? You never do anything about it. What? Are you gonna hit my with your firebending?"
"Stop it."
"You can't do it, can you?"
"Leave me alone or I'm telling mom!" Zuko lashed out.
"Pfft," Azula rolled her eyes. "I don't understand what mother even see in you. You're too soft. You're too weak. Just like her." Azula taunted about their mother.
"Don't talk about mom like that. She has nothing to do with this!"
"Oh, but she does. The worst mistake she ever made… was raising a failure, just… like… you." Azula said with no regard of his feelings.
Azula's plan was to get Zuko angry by taunting him, then Ty Lee was supposed to take a bucket of water and splash it on Zuko, so he could literally cool down. Ty Lee started to see that this wasn't funny and started to feel guilt for him.
Ty Lee had caught up behind Azula, a few inches from behind the princess. She tried to reach her hand out to Azula to make her stop taunting Zuko. "Azul—"
Zuko suddenly felt something surge pass through inside of his body. An electrical shock that surged into his brain all the way down to his tailbone, which caused him to snap. His eyes had widened in anger, he ignited fire in his hands.
"QUIT IT!" Zuko roared like a tiger-dillo as he turned around and thrusted his hand, unleashing powerful Firebending towards Azula.
Azula gasped as saw the fire coming quick and noted that it was too strong for her to repel or redirect. Her eyes widened in shock and amazement. She jumped out of the way, hitting the grass and her hands over her head to take cover.
But what Zuko did not know was that Ty Lee was there at the scene. Ty Lee was close behind Azula. When Zuko saw Ty Lee, his eyes were in shock, learning that she was too close. He had no idea or knowledge of Ty Lee's presence. He tried to stop his bending, but it was too late. Ty Lee gasped as she saw the flames were too close. She moved back a bit and tried to block with her hands, but she was not a firebender. Her hands had got caught with the flames. And then...
"AAAAAAAIIIEEE!" Ty Lee screamed in agony. She fell on her ground, sobbing in pain. Her hands were badly burned, and tears streamed down her face.
Azula suddenly heard screaming and saw Ty Lee in pain. Her golden pupils widened as she saw Ty Lee on the ground.
Zuko had realized he made a terrible mistake. His mind was filled with horror as his body trembled. He never managed to burn anyone with his Firebending before, but this was the first time he had burned a person. He took a step back in grief.
"Ty Lee!" Azula cried as she rushed to her friend. It was almost like Azula had a change of heart, with a sad and worried look on her face.
Zuko had the courage to take a few steps forward and attempt to reach out to her. "Ty Lee… I'm so—"
Azula heard steps from behind and glanced at Zuko. She saw him reaching out, but she knocked his hand away. "Get away! You hurt my friend, dumdum!"
"It wasn't on purpose! I didn't know she was there!?" Zuko argued.
"That's no excuse to act reckless, then!" Azula yelled.
"You started it! If you hadn't messed with me again, I wouldn't had—"
"What happened!"
Both Zuko and Azula suddenly paused as they heard familiar voice. They looked to see their mother Ursa and a young Mai running out of the palace towards them.
"What's going on here? I heard a scream!" Ursa asked, worriedly.
Both Zuko and Azula remained silent as they had shamefully took a step back to give their mother space.
"Ty Lee… what's wrong?" she walked over towards Ty Lee and saw that her hands were the color of red and were badly burned. She gasped in shock. "Oh no…" she muttered.
"Miss Ursa… Mai..." Ty Lee sniffled as she would not stop crying. Her hands were burned badly.
"Ty Lee!" Mai cried as she saw the burns on her hands.
Ursa did not know who did it. She looked at her kids and started to question herself. The first person that came to her mind was her daughter, Azula. She had been mischief in the past. She glanced at her with frustration and a bit of anger. "Azula, what did you do?" she questioned, but did not hear a response from Azula. "Azula!" she yelled.
"It was Zuko! He burned her!" Azula pointed at her brother.
Ursa had looked at Zuko with disbelief. "Is it true?"
Whether an accident or not, Zuko knew he was in big trouble. He could see the frustration in her eyes. "I'm sorry, mom…"
Ursa suddenly paused and was shocked after hearing that confession.
"I-I didn't mean to hurt her! Azula made me do it. She was taunting me, and I got mad at her and—ugh!" Zuko was cut off by an angry Mai, who pushed her into the turtle-duck pond. Zuko's upper body stuck out of the pond as the waters were shallow for people, but big for turtle-ducks to swim in.
Ursa was shocked when Zuko had admitted. Then became less shocking when Mai pushed Zuko. "Mai!"
Zuko was shocked learning that Mai had pushed him. "Mai… why did-"
Mai glared at Zuko, whom is in the pond. "Stay away from Ty Lee!" she then turned and helped Ty Lee up along with Azula, who had now taken her to an infirmary inside the palace.
Zuko was shocked and hurt to see Mai mad at him. It was as if, Zuko was stung by a lethal insect. The feelings that Mai had for Zuko had turned into hate and resentment.
"There, there. It's going to be okay." Azula said as she and Mai had helped a hurting and sobbing Ty Lee back into the Fire Nation palace. They planned to head towards the infirmary.
As they walked, Azula secretly cracked a smile.
Zuko got out of the pond, all wet and saw his mother Ursa, who then looked at him with sorrow and little disappointment. "Mom, I—" Zuko begun to say.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Zuko." Her eyes watered.
Tears streamed down Zuko's face after hearing her mother's words. "It was… an accident."
Ursa sighed. "Let's get you dried up." She helped Zuko walk into the Fire Nation palace.
Meanwhile, Prince Ozai had seen what had happened minutes ago through a window. He had a mild look on his face, then walked off.
