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Neither Azula nor Zhan spoke about what had happened last night at the Dragonbone Catacombs, or her uncle Iroh' jail cell it was kept between themselves.
Added to the fact that Fire Lord Ozai had, suddenly ordered Azula to, a mandatory holiday to Ember Island as a gift or a punishment, who knew.
"I'm so excited to spend the weekend on Ember Island," exclaimed Ty Lee. "It's going to be great to hang out on the beach and do nothing."
"Yeah...great..." replied Azula dryly, leaning on the ship' railing. Along her trip to Ember Island were Ty Lee, Mai, and Zhan. Li and Lo were supposed to meet them at the beach.
"Doesn't your family have a house on Ember Island?" asked Ty Lee, realizing something about Azula.
"We used to come every summer when we were kids," replied Azula sighing. "Not anymore.."
Ty Lee could turn anything upside-down, sideways, and inside-out always finding something sweet in anything. But at the moment, Azula didn't have the wish or desire to impart with her friend. At the moment, she just wanted to get off the ship and crawl into a quiet place.
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"We know you're upset about being forced into this supposed vacation," spoke Li, having taken Azula and her group, to their cottage. Along with the fact - that upset, might be quite farther from what she was feeling: confused, thoughtful, lonely, curious, and so on. What her father was planning, spiked her interest, yet not in a way that interested her anymore.
"Still Ember Island is a magical place, keep an open mind," added Lo to the twin's speech.
"Give it a chance," continued Li.
"And it can help you understand yourselves and each other," finished the twins.
"The beach has a special way..." started Lo, taking a smooth rock from the table, then passed it to Li.
"... of smoothing even the most ragged edges," added her twin.
"Time to hit the beach!" cheered the twins in unison, revealing a sight that would forever burn into their minds.
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Out of the things Zhan wanted to do in his life, seeing two old-women in bathing suits wasn't certainly one of them. Even Azula had shown a look of distance, from her usual expressionless state.
'Overall she had, in a sense done a large, turn-around in her mental-state from a firey-bender to a thinking sage.' 'Although he couldn't blame Azula for her attitude about what she is going through at the moment, only she can know what road will she take.'
"Well, a little bit of guidance and help could help,' he muse under his breath.
"You know, that you stick out like a fish on land," he said, huddling over with Azula, who was hidden-under an umbrella on the beach.
"I'm not, in the mood for any of your jokes," replied Azula, dryly.
"Well, you haven't been in any mood lately," he replied, taking a seat on the sand next to her. "Wanna talk?"
"Not really..." she replied.
"Come on...hiding it inside yourself isn't a good idea," he said, putting an arm on her shoulder.
"Yeah...says the guy wearing leathers on a beach..." she said, giving a weak smile. Zhan had come to the beach, wearing his red-crimson leather clothes and covered by a hood.
"I don't like the sun..." he replied, then got a serious look to him. "...nor the people here..."
"Troubles?" she asked, curious about his disdain for Ember Island.
"No...well at least, not yet..." he replied, taking a few glances from under the umbrella.
"Enough about me. I'm worried, about you Azula..."
"...I got a lot on my mind, alright..." she replied. "That visit shook me up a lot."
"That is only a small part of the problem," she said while getting a little-serious in her tone.
"What is the other part?" he asked.
"Well, I..."
"Hey, Azula!" piped in Ty Lee, suddenly appearing in front of them.
"Uhhh..." sighed Azula, before looking at her jumpy friend, "what is it, Ty Lee?"
"Mai and I were going to play volleyball. Wanna join?" asked Ty Lee.
"Ty...I don't kno..."
"Oh come on..." said Ty Lee, starting to drag Azula out. "...you're turning too much into Mai. You need to have some fun!"
'Oh great!' thought Azula, getting dragged by her excited friend onto the volleyball-court, at least she wasn't the only one who was not interested in playing this game.
"You two as well?" asked Mai, arms crossed and waiting.
"Yeah..." replied, Azula.
"Kinda..." added Zhan, shrugging.
"Hey, furball! Winter season is that way!" laughed one of the Fire Nation teenagers, on the other side of the court, hinting at his coverings.
"Are we going to play?" asked Zhan, from under the hood. "Or are you going to use insults to compensate for your lack of skills?"
That had gotten their attention immediately, the first one serving the ball however getting-instantly countered by Zhan, sending the ball into their side, before anybody could react.
"1-0. Game on!" yelled Ty Lee.
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The volleyball game wasn't much of a competition as any of them had foreseen, only one of the girls had any skills in this game, that could match theirs. Other than that, it was a basic-counter and serve-game nothing complicated. The only good thing was that Ty Lee got a few looks, mostly the googly teenagers eyeing her form and showy performance.
"I'm having a party tonight. You should come by," said a too familiar voice to Ty Lee, after the game, making Zhan grunge in hatred. The people in the world, who he hated the most.
"Sure. I love parties," replied Ty Lee joyfully.
"Your friend can come, too," added another familiar voice, that Zhan hated.
"Uh..."
"What about my friends? Aren't you going to invite them as well?" asked Azula from the two boys. "...you don't know who we are, do you?" asked Azula.
"Don't you know who we are?" said one of the boys, ecstatically. 'The downright pathetic, lame and worthless pieces of trash, he had known.' "We're Chan and Ruon-Jian."
"Yeah!" added in Ruon-Jian.
"..."
"Fine, they can come still just in to be safe most, of the guests are important-teenagers from the Fire Nation."
"Try to act normal," said Chan, "and tell your friend to lose the outfit."
'Better you lose your head!' thought Zhan, eyeing the leaving teenage duo.
"We'll do our best," said Azula, after they had left.
"Seriously, Azula?!" asked Zhan, after they had left. "You and a party?"
"Well...I got nothing better to do either. Might as well see, how the other people live," said Azula, nonchalantly.
"Ohhh! This party will be one to be remembered!" said Ty Lee, hugging her companions.
"Somehow, I doubt that," mumbled Mai.
'Agreement on that,' thought Zhan at Mai' saying.
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As crazy as this party might go, Zhan was ninety-seven percent sure, that this festivity would come to a sudden halt with their arrival. That or Chan and Ruon-Jian antics would bring him over the edge.
"Why would you drag us here?!" asked Mai, uncomfortable at Ty Lee's attempts to get them to a party.
"It'll be fun!" replied Ty Lee, walking up the road, towards the party-house. "Besides, all of you have been acting gloomy lately..."
'Sometimes, I wish I could throw her into a volcano,' thought Azula. The idea of attending some party didn't suit her; yet she didn't want to end up, lower than her peers, so she had in her state, barged an invitation to this party.
"We're here!" said Ty Lee, knocking on the door, while chatting could be heard inside.
"Please kill me..." said Mai.
"Get in line..." replied Zhan.
"Hello?" asked some teenage boy, opening the door, drink in hand.
"We're here for the party!" exclaimed Ty Lee.
"Huh?" he asked, eyeing the group then realized it. "Oh yeah...come in."
'Oh...great...' thought Zhan, seeing the occupants: dozens of so-called, high-class teenagers...it sickened him to see how low had the younger generation fallen.
"Twenty minutes...max, before the whole, the party is ruined in some way," said Mai.
"Ten minutes," added Azula.
"Five..." finished Zhan, eyeing the party for two of his hate objects.
"Light' en up and have fun!" said Ty Lee, making her way into the crowd.
"Whatever..." replied Mai, following her.
"Now what?" asked Zhan from Azula.
"Let's go, to a secluded place, this grouping is too low for me," said Azula. Soon both of them, making theirs towards the house' balcony.
"How you, feeling Azula?" asked Zhan.
"I am...better," replied Azula, watching the night sky. "Although I am still troubled..."
"Any interest in talking about it?" he asked, intertwining their fingers.
"...maybe...later..." she replied.
"Hey, furball! Didn't I say to lose the clothes!" exclaimed a voice from near the balcony curtains.
"Ahh..." sighed Zhan angrily, he hadn't bothered much with the clothes changing just removing the hood. Soon turning around to face Ruon Jian. "Leave, it alone will you!"
"Well, I'll be a skinned hawk! Look who is here!" exclaimed Ruon-Jian, grinning at the boy in front of him. "Hey, Chan! Come look at who is here!"
"We're leaving!" said Zhan abruptly, grabbing Azula's hand and started to leave.
"Woah-Woah! Where do you think you're going?" said a grinning Ruon-Jian, stopping them.
"Get, outta my Way!" said Zhan, venom in his tone.
"What's the matter, Ron?" asked Chan, coming out of the crowd.
"Went to fetch a drink for a girl. Then look who I met..." he said, pointing at Zhan and Azula.
"Well, well, Didn't expect you here or even around here," said Chan, laughing at him, "how are you doing little Z?"
They gathered around and soon, everyone, erupted into a burst of laughter, since they were aware of the nickname except, for Mai who didn't laugh at all Ty Lee who shocked at the scene and Azula who had to look like she wanted to burn this insulter. Yet Zhan stopped, her from that giving her a look of 'I'll handle this myself.'
"Get outta my way, Ruon-Jian, I'm not going to ask a second time," said Zhan, eyeing him with malice.
"Haha! Oh, that's a good one, what ar..." he said, before getting grabbed by his shirt and headbutted by Zhan, knocking him out and silencing the laughing crowd.
"What the... AAH!" Screamed Chan,
Zhan quickly grabs Chan arm and bending it in a painful-angle.
"What's the matter? Too weak?" asked Zhan, holding his arm. "Go ahead! Firebend, fight back, hit me! Or are you too weak?"
"I'll show you-OW OW OW!" said Chan, trying to fight back, only to be pulled more down onto the floor.
"You're pathetic, a low-life bottom-feeder, who lives off his parent's accomplishments. You can't even defend yourself..." said Zhan, angling Chan down until he was bowing before him. "...although you never could, servant boy."
The crowd had grown eerily, more quiet than usual, not even Ty Lee or Azula said anything. The only sound was Chan panting.
"Now get out of my way!" said Zhan, releasing the weakling and turning to leave.
"...why you little..." screamed Chan at him, attempting to attack him...something Zhan had expected. Before anybody could say anything, Zhan had dodged Chan's fireblast - followed by a punch to the gut, kick to his side and air-kick into his chest, sending Chan reeling good feet into a table and breaking.
"Nice seeing you...Runt and Chit," replied Zhan, leaving the party with Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee soon following them.
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"Well...that was an interesting party," said Mai, as the four were all huddled around a fire.
"Told you!" replied Zhan, seemingly unfazed by what happened.
"A total waste of time!" added Mai.
"Calm down, you guys. This much negative energy is bad for your skin. You'll break out," said Ty Lee, trying to calm everybody down.
"Bad skin?"
"You'd think I don't have that problem. "Oh wait, I do!" replied, Zhan, growing-irritated.
"You think it's easy being me?! Do you think it's easy to blend in?! Kinda-hard, when people can easily spot you by your hair color! In a damn Nation, where people have mostly black or brown colored hair, in which, any difference is classified-as-disfigurement! Do you think you're a circus freak?! Then I'd guess I'm the main event!"
"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends, too," said Mai, breaking the starting silence.
"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends, too," said Mai, breaking the starting silence.
"Attention issues. You couldn't get enough attention when you were a kid, so you're trying to make up for it now," spoke Mai calmly.
"Well, what's your excuse, Mai?" asked Ty Lee, challenging Mai this time. "You were an only child for fifteen years, but even with all that attention, your aura is this dingy, pasty, gray..."
"I don't believe in auras," said Mai.
"Yeah...somehow, I doubt that..." replied Zhan, his arms crossed.
"Oh, well, I'm sorry I can't be as high-strung and crazy as the rest of you," said Mai with sarcasm in her tone.
"Why not?" asked Zhan. "Locking it seems that you are bottling in your emotions isn't the most healthy thing to do."
"What do you want from me? Do 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..." spoke Mai, then her tone changed.
"...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."
"Well, that's it, then," said Azula calmly, "you have a controlling mother who had certain expectations, and if you strayed from them, you are immediately shut-down.
"You want me to express myself? Leave me alone!" yelled Mai at their group.
"Well, that's one way to start..." said Zhan, after Mai' outburst.
"So what's your story o' great wise and strong one?" asked Mai, sitting down.
"My story...is something I hate and have to accept. I had my so-called legacy and bloodline to add my life. More like a curse," said Zhan, going into the story. "Oh sure Xin Zhu Zi, was so powerful and what-not and so were many of his children...it's all a lie! We are great because we have no other choice!"
"We have our disabilities and curses, forcing us to adapt and use our other skills more often. I am blind, so I must rely more on my mind. I can't hear you, so I just feel more. I can't bend, so I must know how to fight!" spoke Zhan. "I had to learn fast. Those low-lives back at the party, made my school-life a nightmare I couldn't bend, so I wasn't favored; I looked different, so I didn't have any companions. My bloodline mattered, nothing my skills were heavily due to who I was learning and investigated until I knew everything and from there training myself until my mental anguish was equal to my physical one..." Zhan said, crossing his arms.
"Oh..." said Ty Lee, feeling sorry for him.
"Yeah...why I cover myself," replied Zhan, tucking on his leather clothes. "I hate the looks...the people who think they're better than the rest..." he gave a small glimpse to everyone in the group.
"Well, those were interesting stories, everyone," said Azula, hearing everybody's stories.
"Yeah...guess you don't have any Azula, because you're so perfect," said Mai.
"You may think so yet, you're wrong, Mai," replied Azula, surprising both Mai and Ty Lee.
"That can't be true, Azula!" said Ty Lee, shocked to hear her friend speak this way.
"Well, you better believe it, Ty. Maybe one time, I felt like I was invincible like nothing could touch me. Yet I am confused and doubtful even now, all to the things I thought I could handle..." said Azula. Wiping away a few tears, that surprised her two best-friends because they had never seen Azula cry before. "My mother thought I was a monster...and no matter how much I repeat to myself...it does affect me..."
"Well, this was depressing..." said Mai, eyeing the camp-fire.
"I am leaving. See you later," said Azula, getting up and making her way towards her family's old house.
"Oh my...I have never seen Azula like this," said Ty Lee, hugging her knees.
"Well, she is don't think of her as some monster you see they aren't born as such they created to be, and as such, they can be re-made," Zhan stated, standing from, his seat. "I'm going after her," Zhan stop for a brief moment, "I hope this talk could help you in some way," Zhan continue to walk to look after Azula.
"Mmm..." mumbled Ty Lee in agreement.
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"Azula? Azula!" yelled Zhan, looking for her in the dusty old house of the Royal Family. He found her watching a portrait of a younger version of their family.
"You have her eyes," he said, walking up to her.
"What?" asked Azula in a weak voice, hugging herself.
"You, You have your mother's eyes," he repeated his statement. "Golden, like you. You look like her as well..."
"But I am not..." she replied, touching the painting of her mother. "Why? Why, why, why, why?!"
"I don't know, my dear," he replied, wrapping his around her waist. "She couldn't have hated you."
"Yet she did," replied Azula, growing sadder. "Ozai saw me as a tool, Zuko saw me as an irritating fool...and Ursa saw me as a...ghoul."
"Oh no..." he replied, his voice suddenly full of worry. "Your mother is Ursa?"
"Yes, what is it?" she asked, growing a little worried.
"Azula...I didn't tell you this, because I thought you would worry I was injured when I got pulled into service," he said, shocking Azula. "I got injured I required immediate treatment made my way to an unknown village. The woman that heal me had similarities to your mother, she asked me to bring one scroll to her son and another to her daughter, although I had said to her I didn't know her children she replied: I already knew."
"No..." she replied, gritting her teeth, hiding her face.
"I'm sorry..." replied Zhan, handing Azula a sealed scroll, from inside his clothes. "Been carrying this for a while."
Azula didn't answer she was focused on un-sealing the scroll, and begun to read the parchment it didn't take long for her to start panting, then growing angrier until she just screamed out, throwing the scroll away.
"...damn you..." said Azula, as slumped down into a corner and started to cry, the scroll a few feet away from her.
"I'm sorry..." he repeated, rolling up the scroll, but catching a glimpse of the final words, 'I hope you make the right choices, Azula.'
"What am I going to do?" asked Azula, through her tears, sitting in the corner. "What?!"
"I don't know," he replied, sitting next to her.
"You always have an answer!" she replied, grabbing him by his shirt and shaking him a little. "Please! Give me something!"
"Azula..." he sighed unhooking Azula's hands from his shirt then held her hands, "I seriously, don't know what to do, this your choice, I'm afraid, but remember, that I WILL! Stand by you in this. Whatever you choose."
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Omake: A sick day
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"It hasn't gone down at all," said Zuko as he sees the termometer at 38.1.
*Riiing* he slowly stands up to answer the door, "yes?" he said in a raspy-voice.
In front of him was none other than Mai wearing a 50s sweetheart knot back floral flare dress with an ankle strap heels while letting her hair drop like a waterfall.
"Is the fever causing me hallucination or Mail looks kind of cute, on today?" he stood there in spaces-out.
"How your condition?" She gave him a blossoming smile he woke from his stupor.
"You came all the way here for me!?" he got flustered.
"Oh no, no, I have some business near the neighborhood," while showing the bag of grocery she had on hand.
"You've been absent for three days I was worried that you might've gotten into an accident of some sort since you live alone," 'I brought some snacks and drinks and some other stuff for you.' She said while looking inside the bag.
"I'm so sorry for worr..." Zuko said to only be interrupted by a sound *GRRR*.
*Growl*
Zuko was blushing from shame, while Mai was a shock for what just happened.
"Zuko, if it's okay with you, I can make you something to eat," she gave a joyful smile.
Mai went toward the kitchen and started to prepare something, while Zuko went to lay on his bed.
'What is this? I'm way too happy,' "so this is what paradise is like," he murmured while feeling drowsy.
Zuko felt happy eating the food prepare by Mai, by taking care of his laundry, and the way she treats him.
'I'm way too happy,' "I'm sorry for all the trouble. Really."
She places an ice patch on Zuko's forehead. "Seems like I'm surprisingly like a wife, right?" she said it in a way that made her look like an angel from the heavens.
Zuko didn't manage to hear what she said. 'I should catch a cold more often,' while his heart was pounding fast.
Mai bow, "well then, I should get going."
"Come to think of it. That business that you mentioned, what was it?" He asks curiously.
"I'm going to see a movie with a friend," Mai said while she put her heels back on.
"Huh, but the cinema is the opposite direction from the train station," Mai blush.
'Her ploy has been discovered,' feeling as her hearts starts to beat faster and faster she started feeling embarrassed.
"Um well, I'm barely going to make it in time see you," she fled like a startled animal.
'I've gone and done it now,' she was thinking while covering her blushing face with her hands.
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