Runaways

Chapter 5

"Azula!"

In just a few minutes Kiyi was soaking wet and cold to her core, but she couldn't stop. Even though her yelling was being drowned out by the wind and thunder, she couldn't give up. None of this would be happening right now is she'd just stayed at the palace like her mother wanted.

"Azula! Please come back!"

Then she heard thunder behind here, but it sounded quieter and closer than those before. She turned around and ran towards faint flashes of blue she could see a couple of streets over. When she turned a corner, she found herself face to face with her sister again.

The initial relief faded when Kiyi noticed what appeared to be five lifeless bodies lying on the street surrounding her sister. Azula spread her hands and smiled, looking like she was enjoying her sister's shock.

"Run home, Kiyi! You're not cut out for this!" Azula said and slowly started walking further down the street.

It took Kiyi a few extra seconds to snap out of her shock, but she did. Passing the bodies, she noticed a poster with her sister's picture lying on the ground next to them. Bounty hunters... They were really everywhere.

"I don't care that you killed them." Kiyi followed a step after Azula, a distance she judged to be safe, but clearly wasn't, "I just want you to come back to the house with me."

"Leave me alone!" Azula snapped at her.

"There is no excuse for how she behaved tonight, but if you just come back and take your stuff... I promise she won't do anything else."

"No. I don't need anything from her! I would rather deal with people like that hunting me down till the end of my days, than grovel in front of her!" Azula stopped where she stood.

"Then we'll go find Zuko, just the two of us. He'll listen to me. He'll lift your bounty."

"Don't you get it? No, he won't. He won't if she says I messed with your head." Azula turned to Kiyi, "Aren't you mad at me, anyway? What do you care? I betrayed you. I tattled to Mommy..."

"I am mad." Kiyi said, "But I forgive you."

Azula snickered at that.

"Because I think I get it now..." Kiyi pulled Azula towards a building nearby that had a big balcony they could stand under. She seemed so uncharacteristically determined, that Azula decided to let her have her way.

Once they were out of the rain, Kiyi took a deep breath and started talking.

"When I was little-"

"Listen, I don't have time for your whole life story!" Azula interrupted, "I just want to get out of here and you're like a giant annoying suitcase that I do not plan on lugging along..."

"Can you just listen to me this once?!" Kiyi insisted.

"Alright, say your piece, but then I'm leaving." Azula wasn't sure whether it was some kind of guilt for calling their mother or something different, but she calmed down and waited for her sister to start.

"As I was saying, when I was little I wasn't allowed to spend any time with kids my age. Mom wanted to keep me safe and she succeeded, but she also kept me from having friends and getting into trouble and living a normal life. I mean, I did have Tom-Tom, but he never liked me. He always called me Tower Girl, you know, because I never left the palace..."

"Kiyi."

"Alright, I got side-tracked... Let me start over." Kiyi said, causing Azula to sigh, "When I moved to the palace they gave me your room. They didn't tell me that, I just figured it out when I found this."