'Azula?' Ty Lee questioned as she approached the dark silhouette of her friend. Azula was leaning against the railing at the bow of the ship.

Ty Lee leaned in next to her and took a deep breath of the crisp open sea air. They were finally going home.

'Mai and Zuko are making out at the back of the ship.' She announced with a giggle. Ty Lee saw a smirk form on Azula's profile but she said nothing, her eyes remained fixated on the sea.

Ty Lee furrowed her brow. 'What are you thinking about?'

Azula took a breath. 'I was thinking, it feels strange to be going home—after being on our own for so long. I've grown rather accustomed to the freedom we enjoyed.'

'Yeah. Me too. But you must be excited, you're going to return a hero. Your father will be so proud—you'll have everything you ever wanted.'

Azula simply hummed in acknowledgment. Ty Lee was having trouble reading her mood. Shouldn't she be thrilled? Hadn't she just achieved every goal and more she had set out to accomplish? And yet, she didn't seem happy. She seemed, apathetic—sad almost.

Azula turned to face her, her eyes flicked down to her neck. 'Does that still hurt?'

Ty Lee blinked in surprise, her hand came up absently to touch her neck. It was still very sore, but she would be fine. 'A little. Not too bad.'

Azula nodded slightly, her eyes then returned to the sea. 'Good.'

Ty Lee nudged herself playfully into Azula's shoulder, a small excuse to slide closer to her. 'So, you've just conquered Ba Sing Se, practically won the war for us, and you're thinking about not wanting to go home and, my neck?' Ty Lee questioned.

'Yes.'

This caused Ty Lee to smile. 'Ok well, after we get back, what if we go somewhere else? The world is a big place, we can go anywhere—and we can go just to enjoy ourselves, we don't have to fight or hunt or infiltrate anything. We can do whatever we want.'

'Like a vacation?' Azula questioned, her eyebrow arced so high that Ty Lee couldn't tell if she thought it was the greatest or dumbest idea.

Ty Lee chuckled. 'Well, yeah I guess you could call it that. Or we could just keep traveling as long as we want. Why not?'

Azula let out a breath and turned to face her again. 'Is that what you want?'

'Me?' Ty Lee whispered, very surprised. She looked back into Azula's eyes which were full of sincerity. No one had ever asked her that before, least of all Azula—and truthfully it was what she wanted. But they were face to face now, so close that Ty Lee was having a hard time focusing on her thoughts. Azula was always beautiful to her but in the moonlight, she was striking.

'Yes, you. I couldn't have done all of this without you two, and for that I am grateful, but you're both free to live your own lives as you see fit.' Azula's eyes flicked towards the back of the ship. 'Seems Mai has already started.'

Ty Lee was still staring at Azula. What she wanted. What she wanted. What she used to want, so badly that it hurt, was to be different from her sisters. So she'd joined the circus and achieved that. She'd been so hell bent on it, that when she was part of it, that had been all she wanted. But now, now after traveling the world, experiencing the freedom and excitement and exhilaration that it brought—and doing it with Azula—it was unparalleled to her old life. It was as if the more new things she tried, the more time she spent with Azula, the more intoxicating life somehow became—but when she thought about all of that without Azula, it wasn't something she wanted at all. Which she knew, was the answer.

'I want, you.' She answered finally. It came out a soft whisper and she moved closer, feeling pulled by the unspoken energy she'd felt building between them for months. She hesitated, only for a moment to gauge how Azula would react and was met halfway by Azula's own lips. They were soft and moved with a purpose—the electricity that had been pulling them finally exploded and Ty Lee sank deeply into the kiss. It was soft and tentative at first and then grew more passionate. Azula reached up and Ty Lee felt her hesitate by her neck, then cupped the side of her face instead. Then she broke away with a sigh and for the life of her Ty Lee had no idea why—it was the best kiss she'd ever had in her entire life and she did not want it to stop. Azula pulled back, let her thumb linger on Ty Lee's cheek, then returned to lean on the railing.

'What's wrong?' Ty Lee asked, still breathless and dazed.

'What Mai said earlier.'

'What Mai said?' Ty Lee was utterly confused and right then did not want to think about Mai. All she wanted to do was kiss Azula again.

'Yes. About liabilities. I have more enemies now than I did before—being who I am I will always have people looking for ways to get at me, or get at my father—people looking for weaknesses. What happened to you earlier will happen again if we go down this route. And I won't have it.'

Ty Lee blinked. 'So, you're worried…about me?'

'Yes, am I allowed?' Azula sniped.

Ty Lee pursed her lips trying to work this one out. So Azula thought of these feelings as a weakness? As a liability—and yet, she clearly was feeling the same things Ty Lee was. And right now she looked like she was at war with the two. Did she ever stop calculating?

'I can take care of myself you know.'

'I'm very aware.'

'Ok well, I told you what I want. But what do you want?'

Azula looked at her, her eyes looked almost as confused as Ty Lee felt when Azula had asked her the same thing. 'I thought I knew. I thought I always knew…'

'But now, things have changed. Haven't they?'

'Yes, they have.' Azula all but whispered, her golden eyes reflected the moonlight perfectly, and were still so full of confusion. Ty Lee couldn't help it, she moved in again but this time did not hesitate. She put a hand to the back of Azula's neck and pulled her slightly closer until their lips met again. She sighed at the electrifying current that suddenly seemed to run the length of her body. Azula must've felt it too because a small hum escaped her and Ty Lee felt hands come around to hold her waist and pull her even closer.

They stayed that what for a while, the kisses growing slowly deeper until Azula pulled away again, leaving Ty Lee's head spinning. Azula sighed with a creased brow, still only inches from her, and placed her forehead to rest against Ty Lee's. Ty Lee closed her eyes with a smile and found herself playing with the tendrils of hair at the base of Azula's neck.

'No one can know about this.'

This caused Ty Lee to pull back and look at her. 'But, why?'

Azula sighed. 'Until this whole Ba Sing Se ordeal calms down, it won't be safe. Then there's the eclipse and the comet and I can't be distracted and—father just has a way of ruining good things...'

Ty Lee didn't doubt this, and cocked her head wondering if that was the real reason. No doubt there would be some new enemies now who posed a threat—but she doubted they would be in much danger in the fire nation capital. And Azula was perfectly capable of focusing when they were around each other now. No, for some reason, Azula didn't want her dad to know about this. 'Let's just, keep it between us for now then.' She offered, not opposed to the idea herself. She gave Azula another quick kiss then turned to lean on the railing again. After a moment Azula joined her and she felt an arm slink around her waist.

'So, where are we going first?' Azula asked near her ear, causing Ty Lee to smile and shiver. Azula asking her to make a decision happened next to never, and she couldn't deny that in this case, she loved it. She put some thought to this as she twined her fingers with Azula's over the railing.

'Hm… anywhere with a nice hot beach!'

The urge to incinerate Ty Lee, or atleast her ridiculous outfit, was still bubbling just under the surface. The absurd uniform paired with that sickening look of sympathy disgusted her. She could barely stand to meet her eyes.

The betrayal itself wasn't enough however, now she had the gall to show her face here and act as if she still cared.

And it was a good act—almost convincing.

But Azula knew better than that.

She knew the shallow depths at which most people swam—how they pretended to care, pretended to love and then at the eleventh hour—when it really mattered—would jump ship.

It was a pattern proven over and over again and if Azula trusted anything in this world it was patterns. Patterns were reliable and predictable. No one was to be trusted, not her father who disgusted her for a multitude of reasons not least of which was leaving her behind during Sozin's comet. Not Ty Lee, one of the few people she genuinely had loved, who betrayed her without any warning. Certainly not her loser brother who, after she handed him the avatar on a silver platter—still managed to screw it all up and then turn on her. And most definitely not her insipid mother, the queen of running away when things got tough.

All of them were pathetic.

And now here was Ty Lee, coming to torment her just like her stupid mother did incessantly.

'Can I ask you something?'

'Do I have a choice?' Azula responded. It wasn't as if she were in a position to get up and walk away, she still couldn't feel most of her body. How long she'd been held captive in Ty Lee's arms she wasn't sure, but her resolve to fight back had waned a bit during that time—if only out of boredom. Ty Lee was nothing if not persistent.

'What is it you want? I told you what I want, which is for you to get better, but what about you? I mean, you don't seem to agree with your father anymore, even if you did he's in prison so you don't have to answer to him anymore. I doubt you want to stay stuck in this place so—what do you want?'

For you to leave me alone. Was what she nearly said but then thought better of it—she wasn't sure she wanted Ty Lee to leave. She didn't want her there, but she didn't want her to leave either.

How typical of Ty Lee to confuse her like this.

The last time she had asked this question felt like a lifetime ago—and truthfully Azula was no less confused about it now then she was back then, but for different reasons. Back then she felt like she'd peaked. She'd done it all, she was the greatest, the hero the savior of the fire nation and all of it had felt—underwhelming. Not quite the victory tour she thought it would be. It was as if even all of that still didn't feel like enough—she'd felt strangely empty and exhausted and didn't know what to do next. And that hollow emptiness had been all mixed up with her feelings towards Ty Lee—and how only Ty Lee seemed to be able to fill that mystery void in her. Back then, Ty Lee is what she wanted.

What a fool she'd been.

And now—well, now she couldn't even bear to look at her out of sheer disgust over her betrayal and yet—this other weaker part of her still wanted her—to feel that way again, to feel alive, to feel the fire, to feel—good enough, for someone for once. Somehow Ty Lee had always seemed to love her just for existing, not for all the things she could do—and that felt, different. She couldn't explain why and she did not know how to reconcile these conflicting feelings for Ty Lee. Just thinking about it brought her pain and pain was weakness. It was easier to hate her—or simply stop caring.

'What I want is none of your business anymore.'

She felt Ty Lee sigh. 'Azula will you just talk to me, please? You have nothing left to lose. Let go of your pride for once and talk to me.'

Still she refused to comply or meet Ty Lee's eyes. She would not be fooled by her twice.

'Ok fine, then I'll talk.'

Azula sighed. Here we go.

'I've known you since we were kids. I've watched you lose your mother, your brother—watched you push yourself incessantly to become great, to become perfect, to earn your father's love and favor only to have him disrespect you over and over. And the whole time I watched you pretend not to care—that none of it mattered to you, but it did Azula—it still does, I know it does. I can see it in your eyes and it's a big part of the reason you're in here. You can't keep ignoring all this pain, it's driving you insane and if you don't deal with it, or atleast let people help you deal with it, it will kill you eventually. Is that really what you want?'

'Don't act like you know me!' Azula hissed, her eyes locked onto Ty Lee's which were once again looking at her as if she were a wounded animal. She couldn't take it and pulled her eyes away again.

How irritating it was, whenever Ty Lee found the urge to analyze her like this. It always made her uncomfortable and right now she found that it was causing an angry pain to rise in her chest. This pain started traveling up to her throat and it suddenly felt like she was choking, and before she knew it this annoying pain was pouring out of her in silent tears. How ridiculous that she couldn't control herself—she hated herself for being weak like this.

'I do know you.' Was all Ty Lee responded and Azula felt a thumb wipe her tears away.

Why did Ty Lee have to be like this? Always probing around in places that hurt, seeing things that Azula was so easily able to conceal from the rest of the world. No one else had this ability, how was she able to do it?

'What happened here, by your eye?' Ty Lee questioned and brushed Azula's hair to the side, her thumb lightly ran over the area that was mostly a scar now.

What happened was the idiots that ran this place decided to try what they called electroshock therapy on her—and only after one go at it did she figure out how to redirect the electricity back at them. It had been difficult without the use of her hands and had backfired somewhat, causing a lightning burn near her right temple and eye.

But it had been so worth it.

They did not try shock therapy on her again.

'An electrifying game of pai sho.'

'You hate pai sho…'

'Exactly.'

'Azula are they hurting you?'

'Not anymore.'

Azula felt the buckles on her straight jacket loosen, and she took a deep breath at the relief. She looked down to see Ty Lee undoing the rest of them. Ty Lee glanced at her, then returned to what she was doing.

'I'm getting you out of here.'