This is my first Avatar fic, so please be nice.
This came to me while I was flicking through the other Avatar fanfictions on this site a few weeks ago.
I just happened to be matching up random character's in the character selection boxes, and the two of them happened to be Aang and Ty Lee.
There was nothing there.
And that got me thinking. Cos if you ask me, the two are very alike in personality (At least, I think so.) and so this fic was born.
Like I said, this is my first Avatar fic, So please don't flame this. Reviews and constructive criticism I appreciate though.
I'd like to point out I know squat about Kyusho Jitsu (use of pressure points to disable your enemy), so I'm sorry if i've got things wrong .
This would take place roughly a week or two before Aang's final battle with Fire Lord Ozai (If he has a final battle. Which I think is likely.)
Well, that's all I can think to say at the moment. Please read and review. Thanks
Dearing
She stood over him, her fist poised above his throat, ready to deal a deadly final strike.
He knelt before her, his legs having given out to her Kyusho Jitsu.
The silence felt strange to her. The only sound coming from the ocean crashing against the cliff below. It seemed to strange, when felt like only moments ago she, along with Mai and Azula had run into the Avatar and his Water tribe and Earthbender friends. They had been fighting for the best part of quarter of an hour when Zuko had shown up, his Uncle on his heels. After that everything had been a blur. She briefly thought she saw her princess friend take out the water warrior, while Mai sparred with the Ex Prince they had been trying to track down. She herself had briefly fought against the Waterbender, but now her attention was on the young Air Nomad in front of her. The last of his kind.
She couldn't remember when they had first exchanged blows. One moment she'd been trying to evade the blind Earthbender, the next he was in her sight. He threw everything at her. Water, Earth, Fire, Air, anything to evade her dextrous fingers.
She used every acrobatic move she knew in an attempt to get up close to him, trying to take out any limb that would give her an upper hand, only to be pushed away in some way or another.
Their battle had taken them away from the others, towards a nearby cliff, pushing at each other, going around in circles.
Finally, mere moments before they had almost fallen to the icy depths below, she caught him in the knee point, causing him to cry out in surprise as his leg gave way beneath him. With expert ease she took advantage of his confusion, hitting his other knee pressure point, bringing him down into the dirt before her, before positioning her fist above his throat before he could react.
He knew it was useless. She knew that he knew it was useless. All she had to do was extend her fingers, and she would cut off his air supply. If the shock didn't kill him, then the craggy rocks below them definitely would.
He looked up slowly, his grey eyes hazy from tiredness and pain, his breathing was ragged from the constant fighting, his hands hanging limply by his sides in defeat.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, he finally spoke, His voice barely coming out in a hoarse whisper, "What…What are you waiting for?"
She faltered, the concentration disappearing from her features, "What?"
"Why…do you wait?"
She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about.
"We need you alive," she replied quietly, "You're not like other soldiers. If you die, you don't stay down. You just get reborn, and this search will happen all over again,"
"But if I die," he paused, trying to regain his strength, "By the time, I'm old enough to do anything about the Fire Nation, it will be too late. So again I ask, Why do you wait?"
"I…I…" she could feel her fist shaking, "Because I've never…killed…anyone before," she tried to steady her arm, "I…I never wanted this. I just wanted to stay in the circus. I was happy there. I thought it was my calling,"
"Then why did you leave?"
She fell back on the same lame excuse she had given Mai, "Because Azula called a little louder,"
"And you're not happy now?"
She stared at him, her fist shaking badly now, "Why do you care?"
"I'm the Avatar," he smiled reassuringly, "It's my job to care,"
She continued to falter, the skin of her knuckles gracing his chin slightly as she continued to try and regain control of her shaking limb, grasping her arm with her opposite hand.
"No," she whispered finally, "I'm not. I thought I might be. I mean I'd be with my friends again…but…"
"If you not happy," he frowned, "Then why continue doing what you don't like?"
She gave him an alarmed look, "I couldn't do that!" she whispered fearfully, "She'd kill me!"
"And what about me?" He continued to stare at her, "Do you really want to kill me?"
"You're the Avatar," she scowled, "An enemy of the Fire Nation,"
"That doesn't answer my question,"
She paused for a moment, taking him in fully;
His clothes, his eyes…his innocence lost.
Similar to her when she thought about it.
Her eyes briefly flickered to the nearby forest, making sure they were as alone as she felt.
"No," she spoke quietly, just in case, "Death…of any kind…just isn't right,"
"Then you've reached a crossroad," he became solemn, "You've either got to do what Azula thinks is right…or what you think is right,"
She couldn't believe she was hearing this.
"What if I change my mind?" her shaking voice now accompanied her shaking fist, "What if I think…think that you should die?"
"Then at least you'll know the right choice,"
"She'll make the right decision," She looked around in surprise, only to see the Fire Princess making her way out of the forest, "Won't you Ty Lee?"
"A…Azula," she tried to keep her voice stable, "Where's Mai?"
"She went after Zuzu," she smirked, "Don't know if she's going to kill him or kiss him though," She glanced down at the Avatar, "You seem to have been busy,"
"I…I was wondering what we should do with him," she looked back down at the Avatar, whose gaze had not left her, "You know, him and his friends I mean,"
Azula shrugged, "His friends are scatted throughout the forest. We don't need to worry about them," She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she came up to them, her cruel gaze falling on him, even though he continued to stare at the girl with her fist at his throat, "The Avatar though..."
"Maybe we could bring him to the Fire Lord?" she suggested, "I mean, that's what you wanted to do originally...right?"
"Maybe," The Fire Princess's eyes travelled to the ledge, "Or we could throw him over the cliff,"
"What!" she panicked, her eyes widening as she turned her head to her friend, her fist still in place below his chin, "but…but…He's not much younger then us! Does he really deserve to die?"
"He's the Avatar," Azula turned back to her friend sharply, "If he's dead there'll be nothing in the way of father from taking over the world,"
"But won't he just be reborn into the Water Tribe?"
"Maybe," she shrugged again, "But so what? By the time he'll be old enough to do anything about it, there'll be nothing he can do," she smiled down at him, "If we give him to Father, he'll kill him anyway, might as well save him the trouble,"
"No," she shook her head, "This is wrong…"
The Princess glared at her, "What did you say?"
"This is wrong," She stared desperately into her supposed friend's eyes, "Please, do we have to kill him? At least if we give him to the Fire Lord we can prolong his suffering…"
"Why do you care?" Azula scowled, her voice threatening, "What does it matter if he dies now, or on the palace floor? Do you care for him? Is that it?"
"No I…"
"Sympathising with the enemy is treason Ty Lee,"
"It's not that!" The girl was in anguish. How she still managed to keep her fist under his chin was beyond her, "It's just…I've…I've…never killed anything before…and I don't want to start now,"
The Avatar rose an eyebrow at this, before his eyes finally drifted away from her face, focusing on the Princess instead.
"You don't want to kill him because you're squeamish is that it?" she scowled.
She nodded quietly, keeping her eyes to the ground, afraid of what Azula would do now.
"Fine then. If you won't kill him, then I will,"
she looked up in horror as the Princess made a move towards him, binding with a sudden and unexpected fear for his life.
"NO!"
It felt like she had no control over her hands. All she could do was watch as her fist slowly uncurled it's index and middle finger, before striking her friend's elbow pressure point, rendering it useless.
Azula cried out, more in surprise then anything else, before turning to her, her eyes wide with fury, her right arm dangling uselessly at her side.
"How dare you strike me!" she suddenly advanced on her now former friend, "After all I've done for you!"
She lashed out violently with her left hand, fire lighting up the heavens as the sun began to dip below the horizon.
She was petrified. It was all she could do to dodge the flames as they licked at her body. Seeing no alternative, she darted behind the Princess's back, hitting two points just behind her shoulders, cutting off the Firebender's element in a flash.
Azula stared down at her left hand with disbelief, turning back to her former friend with intense loathing.
"For that," she growled, "You will pay,"
Her fist raised, she charged towards her, teeth bared, all friendship forgotten.
Suddenly, another flash of flames arched across her vision, causing a spark of fear to cross her mind that she hadn't hit the pressure points right.
Azula's scream suddenly pulled her back into reality.
The princess was ablaze, literally, her form lit up against the darkening sky as she struggled to put out the flames. She tried to scrap them off her, anything to try and extinguish the burning mass, but to no avail.
She kept taking steps backward towards the ledge, as though she was trying to walk away from the blaze that consumed her.
Her former friend called out to her desperately, warning her of the impending danger she was in.
But she couldn't hear her. Another step and the cliff crumbled out from under her, she briefly saw the Avatar lunge for the Fire Princess, but because of her earlier work, he fell short.
Azula's screams echoed around the cliffs as she fell, her flaming form shooting out a small tail as the rocks came ever nearer, resembling the comet that her entire nation was relying on to win the war.
A few seconds later, the screams stopped abruptly, swallowed up by a thunderous roar as the waves crashed against the craggy rocks.
He stared over the edge of the abyss, his face showing how unsure he was to react to the death of the Fire Princess, especially because it was started by his own hand.
Eventually he rolled onto his back, staring up as the first stars began to show themselves, before rolling onto his front again, facing away from the cliff as he pulled himself up onto his dead legs.
She herself just stared at the ledge where Azula had fell, feeling a tinge of remorse in her heart for the death of her childhood friend, but much less then she thought she would have.
As the Avatar pushed himself onto his knees once more, she stumbled towards him, her own legs giving way under her from her sheer tiredness, landing her directly in front of him, almost knee to knee.
They stared at each other for the longest time.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced," His voice was finally regaining it's strength, a small smile appearing on his lips, "I'm Aang,"
She smiled despite herself, before gently cupping his head in her hands, earning her a surprised look on his part.
"I'm…Ty Lee,"
She felt tears spring to her eyes, the salty droplets slowly running their course down her cheeks.
She leant her heavy head on his shoulder, her hands slowly coming around his neck. A few moments more, and he began to hear her sob quietly, a dampness seeping through his shirt.
Slowly, hesitantly, he brought his arms around her, afraid that she might pull away if he acted to quickly.
He held her tight in his grasp, kneeling there quietly as she continued to cry into the night.
An hour later, Katara, Sokka and Toph found them.
He was still there, in the same position, with her asleep on his shoulder.
He looked up as they approached, smiling gratefully, but motioning them to keep quiet.
"Are you okay?" Katara was the first to speak, eyeing the girl warily, "What happened?" she indicated to her.
"She came to a crossroads," he looked down at Ty Lee, a small smile on his face, "And took the right path,"
If I wasn't so bad at drawing, I'd love to draw that image of Aang on his knees with Ty Lee with her fist under his chin, with an unsure look on her face. I'd think that be great. Maybe that last image too of when she's crying on his shoulder. I'm just a better writer then artist I guess.
Anyway, what did you think of it? Was it good? Bad? Downright ugly? Let me know please.
Thanks for reading.