Chapter 23: Beach Pain

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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. This kind of revelation really shook her up, so much that Azula had fallen asleep in his arms, so Zhan had spent the night in her room. After that night, Azula had neutral and thoughtful expression on - neither happy or sad, angry or joyful; anybody looking at Azula, could see the problems and thoughts going through her mind.

Added to the fact, that Fire Lord Ozai had suddenly ordered Azula, to a mandatory vacation to Ember Island - 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 reimpart her friend. At the moment, she just wanted to get off the ship, and crawl into a quiet place.

XXX

"We know you're upset that you were forced to come here this weekend," spoke Li, having taken Azula and her group, to their cottage. Along 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.

"But Ember Island is a magical place. Keep an open mind," added Lo to the twins speech.

"Give it a chance," countinued 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.

XXX

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 distaint, 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 sudden close-off.

"You know, that you stick out like a fish on land," he said, huddling over a 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 distaint for Ember Island.

"No...well atleast, not yet..." he replied, taking a few clances 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, alot."

"Yeah. I mean: your uncle says you are likely related to the Avatar, you have been chasing around. I couldn't imagine, how someone would react to that," he said, getting a slight nudge from Azula.

"That is only a small part of the problem," she said, 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?"

"Me and Mai 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. Atleast she wasn't the only one, who was not interested in playing this game.

"You two aswell?" 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 - yet getting quickly countered by Zhan, sending the ball into their side, before anybody could react.

"1-0. Game on!" cheered Ty Lee on.

XXX

The volleyball game wasn't much of a game, as some of them had expected. 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...not even worth the sweat or sun-shine. Anything good was that Ty Lee got a few looks, mostly the googly teenagers eyeing her form and show-off.

"I'm having a party tonight. You should come by," said a too familiar voice to Ty Lee, after the game, making Zhan gringe 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 me and my...friend? Aren't you going to invite us?" asked Azula, from the two boys. "...you don't know who we are, do you?"

"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.

"But, fine, you're invited. Just so you know, though, some of the most important teenagers in the Fire Nation are gonna be at this party, so try and act normal," said Chan. "And tell your friend to loose the outfit."

'Better you loose 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 aswell see, how the other people live," said Azula, non-chalantly.

"Ohhh! This is gonna be such a great party!" said Ty Lee, hugging her two companions.

"Somehow I doubt that," mumbled Mai.

'Agreement on that,' thought Zhan at Mai' saying.

XXX

As crazy as this party might go, Zhan was ninty-seven percent sure, that this festivity would come to a sudden halt with their arrival. That or Chan and Ruon-Jian's antics would bring him over the edge.

"Why would you drag us here?!" asked Mai, uncomfortable at Ty Lee' 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 attenting 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 this party is crashed," 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 their 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 infront of him. "Hey Chan! Come look who is here!"

"We're leaving!" said Zhan suddenly, grabbing Azula' 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, Ruon?" 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 you doing little Z?"

The gathered party-crowd soon erupted into a laughter aswell, obviously well aware of the nickname. Except for Mai, who didn't laugh at all, Ty Lee who shocked at the scene, and Azula who had look like she wanted to burn this insulter. Yet Zhan stopped her from that, giving 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 th-AAH!" screamed Chan, as he soon got his arm grabbed and bend 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 yo-OWOWOW!" said Chan, trying to fight back, only to be pulled more down onto the floor.

"Your pathetic. A low-life bottom-feeder, who lives off his parents 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, as he was forced to bow, arm in pain.

"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 a 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.

XXX

"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 totally 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 irridated. "You think it's easy being me?! You think it's easy blending 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, where any difference can be seen as a disfigurement! You think you're a circus freak?! Then I'd guess I'm the main event!"

"Yes, I'm a circus freak. Go ahead and laugh all you want. You want to know why I joined the circus?" asked Ty Lee, challenging Zhan' story, and growing more vunerable and angrier. "Do you have any idea what my home life was like? Growing up with six sisters who look exactly like me? It was like I didn't even have my own name. I joined the circus because I was scared of spending the rest of my life as part of a matched set. At least I'm different now. Circus freak is a compliment!"

"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends, too," said Mai, breaking the starting silence.

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Ty Lee, angrier than usual.

"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-up your emotions isn't a good idea."

"What do you want from me? 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 were shut down. That's why you're afraid to care about anything, and why you can't express yourself."

"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. Chance!"

"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 must feel more. I can't bend...so I must know how to fight!" spoke Zhan. "I had to learn fast. Those low-lifes 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. I studied and learned, until I knew everything...and from there I trained myself, until my mental anguish was equal to my physical one..."

"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..."

"Well, those were interesting stories, everyone," said Azula, hearing everybodies stories.

"Yeah...guess you don't have any Azula, because your so perfect," said Mai.

"You may think so. Yet you're wrong Mai," replied Azula, suprising 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 suprised her two best-friends - because they had never seen Azula cry before. "My own 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 families 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 - they aren't born, they are made. And as such, they can be re-made," said Zhan, rising from his seat. "I'm going after her. Do what you want to do...I don't care."

"Guess you can't judge a person by their appearance," said Mai, as Zhan left her and Ty Lee at the beach.

"Mhhmm..." mumbled Ty Lee in agreement.

XXX

"Azula? Azula!" yelled Zhan, looking for her in the dusty old house of the Royal Family. He found her eyeing a portait - 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 mothers eyes," he repeated, his statement. "Golden, like you. You look like her aswell..."

"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 tool, Zuko saw me as irridating 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, and made my way to an unknown village and I was treated there. A woman - who had a resemblance 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 awhile."

Azula didn't answer, instead she un-sealed the scroll and started to read 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 slouched 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' 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."

XXX