Bad Blood

2.Mai

I woke up in my room at home the next day with Mai next to me, my head hurt and my vision was blurry. "What happened?" I questioned, and my best friend looked at me with a look that I've never seen on her before. We were best friends since birth, as our mothers were also best friends for a really long time now. We know everything about each other. She's not expressive or emotional, but I've learned how to read her eyes because they were the only feature of her body to show what she is really thinking.

She looked me in the eyes and said, "She burned you." Her voice broke for a second, but she gathered herself quickly. "Azula burned you." All the memories came crashing to me, and I felt a strong, unbearable burning on my shoulder. Mai looked at me disappointed, and I didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you. It shouldn't have happened." I was surprised. How could she think that it was her fault? "It was not your fault," I assured her. "You're right; it's Azula's. How could she do this?"

"It wasn't really her fault; it was mostly mine. She was emotional, couldn't control herself, and I came too close. She didn't mean it; it was an accident." I wasn't so sure about it, but I decided that it was best for me not to make an enemy of her. Mai didn't believe me, but she decided not to push too hard. "Alright, did anything else interesting happen there?" I thought for a moment, replaying the events. "Oh yeah, I met her mom and brother. He was kinda cute. Don't tell her that I said that." Mai looked at me, trying to figure if it was sarcasm or not. "What did he look like?" I thought for a second to present him most accurately. "Well, he had brown hair in a ponytail, brown eyes, and he was a bit older than me, I think." She looked at me as if she was questioning the existence of the boy. "What was his name?"

"I don't know. He's in the royal family and an heir to the throne, so he was probably mentioned somewhere." "You're right. I'll search. You should rest." I nodded and looked at my scar. When Mai left, my mother came in.

"I'll see what I can do," she said, standing next to me with a pot of water. I watched as she started bending, putting a layer of shining water on my wound. It came with a wave of relief, but she stopped after a few seconds. "There, it shouldn't hurt anymore, but I can't heal it as to not raise any suspicions," she explained. I felt sad; I didn't want to end up with a scar for life, but I understood. Ever since I can remember, my mother had high expectations of me; I had to be a perfect Fire Nation citizen. She left my room without saying anything more, leaving me alone.

After a while, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I ordered, and watched as Azula walked in along with her brother. I could hear their mother talking with mine outside. Azula glanced around my room, while her brother did the opposite. For a second, our eyes met, then he moved them away to admire my bedroom. Azula came closer, avoiding eye contact with me as she focused on my arm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," she said, but her tone suggested otherwise.

"Say it like you mean it, Azula," the prince scolded her. She looked annoyed, and I didn't want to get on her bad side, so I spoke up. "It's fine. It was mostly my fault; I should've known better." Azula muttered something under her breath, but I didn't catch it. The prince approached and extended his hand. "I'm Zuko."

"I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you," I replied, shaking his hand. He was really polite, making me want to talk to him more, but Azula's presence made me rethink this. However, I didn't want him to leave, so I decided to suggest a game of associations. "Do you guys want to play associations?" They looked at each other, confused, and Zuko asked for an explanation. I happily explained the game and they agreed to play. We went in circles saying our words until we got bored, then Zuko started talking about how he likes feeding turtleducks in their garden. That was so sweet. I couldn't help but smile as he spoke, while Azula looked annoyed.

"We're leaving," she announced abruptly. This took both of us by surprise, but Zuko smiled and said his goodbyes, while she left without a word. When they left, I decided to go to sleep. As I lay in bed, I noticed a bag lying next to my door. I got up and opened it; it was full of Azula's notes from class. I felt really happy that she had thought about it. I started to really like her, and I think she also started to warm up to me. I wrote down everything from her notebook and put it back in her bag to return it tomorrow. Then, I jumped into bed and fell asleep.

The next day, I woke up quite early, but I didn't mind; I didn't have to rush in the morning. I slowly collected all my things, ate my breakfast, and got dressed. As I was leaving my house, I saw Azula standing next to my garden gate. I smiled and waved, but she just stared at me, waiting. I ran up to her and returned her stuff; she thanked me and smiled in return. I felt proud of myself for no reason, and we began our way to the academy in silence. This event began our tradition of walking each other to school every day, but with time, we started to speak and became best friends of some kind. I respected her boundaries, and she wasn't blowing up at me in return. Over time, Prince Zuko and I also became closer, and I started to develop a crush on him, which annoyed Azula. She couldn't stand it. It was the only boundary of hers that I couldn't respect; I just couldn't help it. He was like a magnet for me. I couldn't stay away from him for long.

(Now you're eight years old)

I was in the park with all my best friends, training and having fun. The weather was nice, not a cloud in the sky, just a gentle breeze and warm temperature. Azula wanted to show off her firebending skills, so we stood back and observed. She was amazing, terrifying, but it was so hypnotizing to watch her spin, sending huge flames every way. Then I saw Zuko passing by in the distance, and I completely lost interest in her performance, which didn't go unnoticed. Mai kicked me in my leg, and I turned to see Azula looking at me with a murderous look in her eyes.

She called over to him, and he looked confused as to why we needed him. His mother pushed him our way, and he hesitantly walked over. "Zuzu, we want to fight in a duel, but Mai wants to be the judge, so we need another person to fight. You'll team up with Y/N. The point is to push the other team into the pond." Zuko looked at me, then at Azula, and said, "You know I don't like to wet my hair. I'm not playing." Azula looked furious, but she quickly composed herself and spoke calmly, "Oh, Zuzu, believe in yourself. Without you, she'll surely lose, since she is a nonbender. You should help a girl in need." I didn't feel helpless, but I also didn't want to fight alone against a powerful firebender and a chi blocker.

He hesitated before agreeing. We stood next to the pond, Azula and Ty Lee in front of us. Mai signaled the start, and as soon as the words left her mouth, the girls attacked us with fire and hands. We did our best to fight back, but when Azula shot fire directly into Zuko's chest, I got distracted and ended up in the water, with him following. He was hissing in pain, his breath slow and uneven. I had to help. I screamed to Azula to call for help, and the three girls ran off looking for someone. When I was alone with Zuko, I took off his shirt to take a better look at his scar. It wasn't deep, but it didn't look good.

I had to do something. Since we were alone, I could use my bending, but what if he snitches? He's not focused; he won't remember. I have to help him. I started the healing ritual. Seeing his scar disappear gave me satisfaction, but I had to stop myself from healing it completely, so as not to raise any suspicion. When I looked up at him, I noticed that he was staring at me with terror.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, reaching a hand out to him to help him up. He didn't take it and just got up by himself. "You shouldn't stand up; you need to rest," I insisted, but he ignored me and left. When the girls came back, I told them that it wasn't as bad as I thought and that I just got scared. They looked at me suspiciously but dropped the subject.

"I'm going home," Azula said. I agreed with her and made my way to my dormitory, stopping at my mother's house.

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1600 words