Disgraced [Princess Azula]

⚡6⚡

𝔸 𝕎𝔸ℝ𝕄 𝕎𝕀ℕ𝔻 𝔾𝔼ℕ𝕋𝕃𝕐 blew across the knee-high green and brown grass, sending seeds flying into the night. The crescent moon hid behind the black storm clouds that were slowly gathering together. Something sweet-smelling floated through the wind, signaling that they were near humanity.

Running through the field of grass in the faintest of moonlights with Azula was exhilarating. Kyan hadn't been outside in years. He forgot how it rejuvenated the dead spirit in his body. With each breath he took, he broke through the barriers in his mind. The medicine that had been coursing through his veins for the longest time was slowly being drained out through the sweat beading his fragile body. 

When Azula took his hand, he felt like he could fly. This girl here provided him with something that he had never had before. She provided him with an escape from that awful place where he had been living for the longest time. She also provided him with an escape from that wretched place in his mind where he kept everything locked up. 

And locked up, he was, physically and mentally.

"Where are we going?" Kyan asked softly as they slowed their pace down to a walk. "I don't know where we are at, so you can take the lead."

"When have I ever let you take the lead?" she asked. 

"Right." He sucked in a breath through his teeth. Her grip on his hand loosened as her eyes scanned the area in front of them. He wasn't sure how she could see in this pitch-black darkness, but she seemed to know where they were at. "Where are we going?"

"Stop asking me questions." She finally let go of his hand. He slowed down a little more, and she glanced back at him with fire in her eyes. "Why are you slowing down?"

"I haven't run in such a long time," he said with a shrug. His legs were burning and so were his lungs. "I don't have the stamina to run long distances."

Azula sniffed. She turned away from him, her haphazard-chopped hair whipping around her head. She whispered something to herself as looked at the expanse of land around them. Kyan couldn't figure out what she said because the wind stole her words away from him. It looked like she could spread her arms and take off flying into the night. 

Instead of looking at Azula, Kyan turned away from her and gazed out at the land in front of him. The soft moonlight fell onto the grassy landscape, and little lights were flickering throughout the field. The fireflies had come out that night, lighting up their path toward a city in front of them. "Hey, Azula," he said. She spun around, her eyes wide and wild. "Why don't we go there?"

"We can't," she said, biting her bottom lip. "My family is there and they hate me."

"They don't hate you," Kyan said, shaking his head. His long hair flew into his eyes, so he brushed it away. 

"My mother thought I was a monster. Of course, they hate me." She cleared her throat and shook her head. "It doesn't matter, anyway. There's nothing there for me anymore."

Kyan frowned. "If that's what you think."

"Well, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you have anything to go back to?"

Kyan stared up at the starry sky. The dark storm clouds had separated away from each other for the time being, allowing the stars to shine down on them. Perhaps the stars were aligning for them tonight. Things seemed to be going well for them right now. He didn't want to focus on the past anymore. He wanted to look toward the future.

"Not really," he admitted. "My father put me in that place, and my mother didn't even try to come to find me."

"My brother put me in there." Azula's voice was hard and low. There was a layer of lightning that filled the air. Kyan wasn't sure if it was the oncoming storm, or if it was her. "He wanted to hide me away from the world because he was afraid that I would ruin everything for him."

A thunderclap echoed around them, and the air buzzed with electricity. Somehow, the clouds had come back together in the blink of an eye. He glanced over at the girl next to her to see an angry look on her face, her eyes hard. 

"Let's go."

She stalked off toward the fire-lit city, and Kyan had to run to catch up to her. There was a fire in her eyes that would melt the sun if it dare go up against her. Azula was a very complex girl that seemed to have so much going on in her head, more than he did. 

"I thought we weren't going there," he said with a frown. "Why are we walking this way?"

"There's a place that I know of that we can go to." Azula eyed the city in front of them, saying, "My brother doesn't know where it is because he didn't explore the palace as much as I did, though that could be because of him being banished."

Something nagged at the back of his mind. He felt like he knew about someone who was banished from the Fire Nation a long time ago. His mind was foggy and slow, but he blurted out, "Your brother is Prince Zuko?"

"Fire Lord Zuko," she said with a disgusted tone. "He's the Fire Lord now. He and his groupies took down my father, and Zuko became the Fire Lord."

"That means you're the Fire Nation Princess," Kyan said slowly. He looked at Azula with amazement bursting in his heart. He was actually in the presence of a real-life princess. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Everyone knows who I am," she snapped. "You should have."

"I've been stuck in that place for a long time," Kyan told her again. A little fire lit in the pit of his stomach. She didn't understand how long he was really in there for. "I'm sorry that I didn't know who you were."

"Well, you still should have known who I am."

"Do you know who I am, then?" Kyan asked, cocking his head to the side. "Do I look like anyone you have met before?"

Azula stared at him, her amber eyes taking him in. Kyan fidgeted under her intense gaze, but he didn't shy away from her. He didn't want to. There was something about her that drew him closer to him. An electric current ran between the two of them as they gazed at each other. 

"I've never met anyone like you," she whispered to him. For once in the time that he had known her, her eyes had calmed down enough that he could see the cool and sharp scrutiny that she normally would've had. "Everyone I have ever met has tried to get something from me because I am the Fire Nation princess. Even my - my friends were only there for all the glory of what I had."

Kyan inched forward toward Azula. She looked so vulnerable right now. In a flash of lightning, her eyes glittered like the stars above. Before he could get any closer to her, a blanket of rain fell upon their heads, dispelling the electricity between the two of them. 

He raised his arms above his head, trying to keep the rain from making him get wet. "We have to go," Azula shouted to him above the roar of the rain. "I hate being wet."

"And I like it," he said, rolling his eyes. "Where do we go?"

"Just follow me." 

She held her hand out, almost timidly. He took it, and she tugged him forward, sprinting through the fields. The rain should have made him upset, but laughter bubbled out of his lips. There was something so amusing about this situation. He never pictured himself running away with a girl. He also never pictured himself in a mental institution. Life always turned out different than what many people pictured, but, for this split second, Kyan wouldn't have traded anything that happened to him. He would repeat everything he had been through just for this moment in time with her.