Kya Maiden of the Sea Book 3 ATLA

Chapter 6

Destiny will lead me where I belong.

"That was beautiful Kya," Ty Lee complimented.

I smiled thinking about seeing my mothers face. Even if it was Lady of the Ocean. Every time I think I might forget my mother, she always comes back to my mind, one way or another.

"Your smile is really pretty," She added.

Kaito nodded in agreement as I sat down next to her.

"Thanks," I said, glancing at Zuko who watched me intensely from afar.

"Ty Lee learn to shut up sometime," Mai said, trying to look away from us.

I sighed as I could feel her jealousy prickle onto my skin.

"You should dance more often," Kaito whispered to me, ignoring her friend's clear hate for me.

I shook my head at the idea of dancing again. I didn't know why I did it to begin with. It just felt right. A nice ocean breeze passed by, I looked up to the sky. The stars shone so brightly it was almost saddening.

"Are you cold?" Zuko asked as he tried to put his arm around me.

"No," I answered bitterly, shrugging him off.

"I'm freezing," Ty Lee said, acting cute.

"I'll make a fire. There's plenty of stuff to burn in there," Zuko looked back his family's beach house.

We all watched as Zuko brought a bunch of things from the house including the family picture and burned it. I watched as the fire crackled, making everything turn to ash. It felt wrong, but it also felt like he was burning his past.

"What are you doing?" Ty Lee asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Zuko asked

"But it's the painting of your family," She said.

"You think I care?!" Zuko loudly asked with his arms crossed.

My head started to slightly hurt as things quickly started getting heated.

"I think you do," Ty Lee replied,

"You don't know me so why don't you just mind your own business?!" Zuko yelled.

"I know you," She said in a whisper

"No you don't! You're stuck in your little Ty Lee world where everything's great all the time,"

"Quit it Zuko," I said as tensions grew and Ty Lees expression changed.

"I'm so pretty! Look at me, I can walk on my hands! Woo!" He mocked doing a handstand falling after looking at her,"Circus freak!"

"Stop it," Kaito said. Ty Lee was becoming extremely sensitive and it seemed like Kaito was being defensive of the only person who was actually nice here.

"Oh be quiet," Zuko spat,"Not like you do anything but be here because you follow Azula around like a dog,"

Azula laughed at both remarks as Ty Lee dropped tears from her eyes. Kaito stayed quiet after that. I looked at her, she didn't seem to care about what Zuko said. But she certainly didn't like it either. Kaito didn't defend herself, it's almost as if she accepted it. Meanwhile I wanted out of this entire conversation but I had to sit here and take it.

"Yes I'm a circus freak! Go ahead and laugh all you want. You wanna know why I joined the circus?!" Ty Lee yelled.

"Here we go," Azula sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Do you have any idea what my home life was like? Growing up with six sisters who looked 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 matching set. At least I'm different now. Circus freak is a compliment," She said in pain of her only friends attacking her.

"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends too." Mai said

I leaned back knowing I had to stomach all this tension.

"I'm sorry what?!" Ty Lee asked.

"Attention issues?" Mai said, "You couldn't get enough attention when you were a kid so you're trying to make up for it now."

"Well, what's your excuse, Mai?" Ty Lee asked. "You were an only child for 15 years but even with all that attention, your aura is still this dingy pasty gray!"

"I don't believe in auras." Mai said harshly

"Yeah you don't believe in anything." Zuko chimed in standing up.

"Oh, Well I'm sorry I can't be as high strung and crazy as the rest of you." Mai replied.

Rest of us. Okay I guess I'm somehow crazy too.

"I'm sorry too! I wish you would be high strung and crazy for once instead of keeping all your feelings bottled up inside. She just called your aura dingy! Are you just gonna take that?!" Zuko argued

"What do you want from me?" Mai asked, laying back on the rock. "You want a teary confession on how hard my childhood was? Well it wasn't, I was a rich only child who got anything I wanted as long as I behaved and sat still and didn't speak unless spoken too. 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." Azula said adding fuel to the fire, "You had 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?" Mai asked standing up. "Leave me alone!"

I guess I am a little crazy. I started laughing out of nowhere.

"I'm sorry," I said before getting serious,"Do all Fire Nation have emotional trauma from their childhoods or is it just the aristocrats?"

I watched the fire grow larger. I felt bad of course but I didn't want to admit it to myself in that moment. Kaito then looked to me, as if I said something that sparked her interest.

"Says the ones who's exactly the same as us," Zuko retorted.

I looked over at Zuko and Mai who shrugged.

"Your a ticking bomb. You keep sacrificing yourself to end up losing but you act like you're completely fine," Mai said,"You really think that little gag act during dinner went unnoticed,"

I started to snicker to myself.

"I've actually already snapped," I stated,"After all the Fire Nation has done enough damage to me. I've lost important people in my life for the sake of a happiness that never came. I've finally given up on everything. I'm tired of fighting back just to lose again. I finally chose to live, not survive," I calmly said, so calmly I almost believed it myself. I was fighting within myself to not believe those words.  I watched as Azula examined me, a light lit under her eyes.

While I'm here still trying to make myself believe what I said wasn't real, Azula was convinced enough. It was what I needed, but now I need to bring myself back.

Kaito's watched me with pity and sadness, searching for an explanation to what I just said. It was as if she wanted to understand what I meant, maybe she knew I was trying to lie. Or maybe she also believed it was a truth. Like everyone else did.

Zuko started to approach me,"I'm sorry,"

"Stop acting like you ever cared," I said annoyed.

"I do care!" Zuko yelled as I stared into his eyes.

"Well you have a funny way of showing it," I spat.
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(A/N: as always here's the song.)