A/N: This drabble was originally going to be in Yesterday Don't Matter but I liked it too much so I made it a standalone story.

HEARTLESS

"I'm sorry she left," Zuko says as confidently as he can. He wishes he were good at consoling people. Ty Lee just shrugs at him. "They won't last."

"That doesn't make me feel any better. I want her to be happy. She hasn't been happy in years. I don't remember the last time she was," Ty Lee says quietly.

Zuko swallows the lump in his throat. He does not know why this disturbs him so much. He does understand why Azula would do this – she doesn't care about anybody but herself – but Katara is the best person he has ever met. They had to know that this was wrong.

Ty Lee is so bright, but there is something soft and sad underneath her words, like the first time she lost Azula.

"Have you seen her?" Ty Lee asks in the same tone she used when she dared to ask about Azula's fate after the comet.

"They both just vanished. It's just a bender, it's nothing that will…"

Azula left and took Ty Lee's heart with her.

Now there is a gaping hole where it used to be. She feels like her blood is cold all the time, but she also knows that she will get over it. She will prevail, like she has every time Azula hurt her.

But that doesn't mean Azula ever let go of Ty Lee's heart.

Ty Lee takes a deep breath through her mouth. "I love her—"

"I'm sure she still loves you. This is just bored people who are messed up after the war—"

"You didn't let me finish," Ty Lee says as she picks up a seashell from a shelf and examines it intently. "I love her, but I'm not going to wait for her this time."

"That's good," Zuko says. He isn't sure if he believes her or not.

"Eventually there's a last time. This is that. I will always love her forever, just like I promised her and… she promised me. I think it might be better if I stop waiting so often. There's a lot I want to do." Ty Lee sets down the shell and picks up a petrified starfish.

She once heard that their limbs grow back from nothing.

She wonders if hearts can grow back from nothing too.