A/N The Beach minus the Maiko! Sorry. I ship Maiko, but I ship Zutara more. Also, TYZULA OVER CHANZULA!
"I'm so excited to hang out on Ember Island!" Ty Lee gushed. "It'll be awesome to spend all weekend hanging out on the beach doing nothing."
"Doing nothing is a waste of time," Mai complained. "We're being forced onto this vacation."
"Lighten up," Azula said. "So dad wants to meet with his advisors alone, without anyone else. Don't take it personally."
"Doesn't your family have a house on Ember Island?" Ty Lee asked.
"We used to come here every summer, when we were kids." Then Azula scowled into the water.
"That must have been so fun!"
---
Lo and Li led the way past all the extravagant houses to a modest cottage. "Welcome to Ember Island, kids!"
The trio scowled as they walked through the curtains.
"It smells like old lady in here," Azula complained.
"Gee, I wonder why," Mai muttered.
Ty Lee pointed to a photo of two twin girls in seductive poses. "Who's that?"
"Can't you tell? It's us!" Lo and Li struck identical poses.
Mai turned slightly green.
---
"Ooh, I love this seashell bedspread!" Ty Lee snuggled up on the bed.
"Are you serious?" Mai snapped. "It looks like the beach threw up all over it."
"We know you're upset that you were forced to come here this weekend, but Ember Island is a magical place. Keep an open mind..."
"Give it a chance..."
"And it may help you understand each other. The beach has a way of smoothing even the most ragged edges."
They pulled off their robes, revealing their swimwear. "Now let's hit the beach!"
Azula covered Ty Lee's eyes.
---
"I don't know, Rina, swimming is fun and all, but don't you think you're exposing yourself too much?" Toph asked. "Cover up!"
"What? I'm wearing a swimsuit."
"I know. It's your tattoos I'm worried about. What if someone sees you?"
Rina shrugged as she looked at the tattoos down her arms and legs.
"We're completely safe," Katara promised. "There are walls all around us."
---
"This has got to be the most boring job in the Fire Nation," one guard complained. "Nothing ever happens.
Rina screamed with joy as she leapt from the top of the waterfall, her tattoos pointing towards the guards' hiding spot.
"An airbender! That means the Avatar is nearby! We should send a message to the Fire Lord!"
"A black ribbon message! This is so exciting!"
---
Two boys built an elaborate sandcastle, laughing with glee. Then Azula's foot crushed it.
A teenage boy spotted Ty Lee and his eyes widened. "Hey, need some help unpacking the bag?"
"Sure, thanks!"
Azula scowled, jealousy bubbling up as the boy arranged Ty Lee's beach towel.
Ugh. It was so perfectly straight. Just like Ty Lee probably-
"If you could scooch just a little more to the right," Ty Lee said, and the boy moved to block out the sun. "Thanks!"
She laughed and flipped her hair, the sun glinting off it. Another boy handed her a shell. "Thanks! This is so pretty!"
"Not as pretty as you are."
Another boy scowled. "The shell's not so great!"
"Ahem, shade, shade."
Mai sighed as she looked between Azula and Ty Lee.
---
The three girls stalked up to the volleyball court. "Hey, beach bums! We're playing next!"
The trio huddled. "See that girl with pigtails?" Azula whispered. "When she runs towards the ball, there's the slightest hesitation in her left foot. I'm willing to bet she has a childhood injury there. Keep serving the ball to her left and we'll destroy her. Dismissed!"
Azula threw the ball up and served it towards the other team, who missed it completely. Mai ran towards the ball and kicked it into the air, aiming for the pigtail girl's left side. She dove and missed.
Two boys glanced over.
Ty Lee ran towards the ball, landing on the net. Mai hit the ball with her knee and the boys nodded.
Azula kicked the ball so hard it was set ablaze and hit the net.
Azula laughed in front of the flaming net. "Yes, we have defeated you for all time! You shall never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation! Well, that was fun."
One of the boys walked up to Ty Lee. "We're having a party tonight. Want to come?"
"Sure! I love parties!"
The other boy gestured to Mai. "Your friend is also invited."
Azula scowled. "What about me? Aren't you going to invite me? You don't know who I am, don't you."
"Don't you know who we are? We're Chan and Ruon Jian."
"Yeah!" Ruon Jian agreed.
Chan smirked. "But fine, you're invited. Just so you know, though, some of the most important teenagers in the Fire Nation will be at the party...so try to act normal, will you?"
"We'll do our best."
---
"Why didn't you tell those guys who you were?" Ty Lee asked when they returned to the beach house.
Azula shrugged. "I guess I was intrigued. I'm so used to people worshiping me."
"They should."
"Yes, and I love it! But for once, I wanted to see how people would treat me if they didn't know who I am."
"Like waves washing away the footprints on the sand," Lo and Li said. "Ember Island gives everyone a clean slate. Ember Island reveals the true you." They clapped their hands. "To the party!"
---
The raven eagle removed the scroll from the messenger hawk's back and landed on a metallic arm.
The paper burned in his hand.
---
"Uh, you're a little early," Chan said. "No one else is here yet."
"I heard you telling someone you'd be partying dusk til dawn," Azula explained. "It's dusk, so we're here now."
"But that's an expression-"
"We're the perfect party guests because we are very punctual."
Chan shrugged. "Alright then. My dad's an admiral. He doesn't know I'm having a party, so don't mess anything up."
---
"That's a sharp outift, Chan," Azula said. "Careful. You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battle ship...because it's so sharp."
"Uh...thanks."
"Hey, first ones here, huh?" Ruon Jian asked, leaning against the table. "So, what do you think of me?"
Mai gave him a blank look. "I don't have any opinion of you. I hardly know you."
"So how do you know Ty Lee?" a boy asked.
"I met her at the beach today. She was pretty impressed by the sand pagoda I made for her."
"Well I met her first!"
Then the boys spotted Ty Lee and cornered her.
"It doesn't matter who I met first!" Ty Lee protested. "I like you all!"
"But which one of us do you like?"
"Yeah, tell us!"
"I don't know, I don't know!" Ty Lee panicked and Chi-blocked them with a flurry of punches and kicks. She cartwheeled over to Azula. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here! Those boys won't leave me alone."
Azula gritted her teeth. "Come on, Ty Lee. Even you can't be this ignorant."
"What are you talking about?"
Now it was Azula's turn to panic. "Those boys only like you because you make it so easy for them. You're not a challenge, you're a tease. It's not like they actually care who you are."
Ty Lee sniffed and burst into tears.
Azula immediately grabbed her hands, trying to comfort her but not knowing how. "Hey, calm down, calm down. I didn't mean what I said. Maybe I just said it because I was a little...jealous."
Ty Lee was so surprised she stopped crying. "What? You're jealous of me? You're the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world!"
"Well, you're right about all those things. But for some reason, a lot of the people I meet act as if I'm going to do something horrible to them."
"But you probably would do something horrible to them!" Azula looked away. "I'm sure they're just intimidated by you. Ok, look. If you want a boy to like you, just look at him and smile a lot and laugh at everything he says, even if it's not funny."
What if I want a girl to like me?
"Well, that sounds really shallow and stupid. Let's try it."
Ty Lee leaned against the walls. "Oh hey there, sweet sugar cakes. How're you liking this party?"
Azula burst into unnatural laughter.
Ty Lee led her away. "Alright, let's try again. If you like someone, don't be afraid to tell them! The worst they can do is reject you."
"Alright," Azula said. "Ty Lee, I like you."
"Thanks, Azula! I like you too."
"No, I mean...I like you."
Ty Lee's eyes widened. "Like like me?"
"I like like you."
The boys, who'd recovered from Ty Lee's Chi-blocking, glowered. "Hey, Chan," one of them whispered. "Ty Lee likes Azula."
Chan scowled and stalked up to the two girls. "Hey, knock it off! We don't deal with lesbians at this party!"
Azula was stunned for a moment, and then she recovered. "And why not?"
"This party is about guys looking at cute girls, and cute girls looking at guys, not cute girls looking at each other! You two are out of here."
Azula looked like she was about to burn the house down, and Ty Lee tugged on her arm. "Come on, Azula. They're not worth it."
Mai watched and sighed.
---
Azula stalked into the cabin. She picked up a portrait of the family. Zuko sat by their father's side and Azula was held by her mother.
She pocketed the portrait.
---
"Guys," Toph whispered. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but a metal man is coming."
Rina rubbed her eyes, and then started when light shone into her eyes. A man stood on a cliff, the moonlight reflecting off his metal arm.
He took a deep breath and a beam shot out of the tattoo on his forehead. It hit the cliff just behind Katara, but she ducked out of the way just in time.
The cliff blew up.
Toph bent the rock away from Katara and threw it at the man. He blew it up with another beam. Katara tried to stop the explosion with water, her efforts producing a cloud of steam.
---
"Azula?" Ty Lee asked, walking up to her...maybe more than a friend. "You know it doesn't matter what they think, right?"
Azula scowled. "Come on, this place is depressing."
---
"This is crazy!" Sokka yelled as they dodged another beam. "How can we defeat a guy who can blow stuff up with his mind?"
"Get on Sang!" Zuko yelled. "I'll try to distract him."
The team got onto Sang's back as Zuko ran through a field of rock pillars. He ducked behind one of the pillars. The man narrowed his eyes and fired another beam, Zuko throwing up a fire shield just in time.
The man stalked through the pillars, looking for Zuko. He found him and fired another blast.
Zuko stood his ground, thrusting his hands forward and destroying the blast with a wave of fire.
When the smoke cleared, he was gone.
---
"I'm ok," he said, climbing onto Sang. Katara pulled him into a hug as soon as he was onboard.
"Well that was random," Toph said.
"I don't think so." Rina glanced down. "He knows who we are."
---
Azula warmed her hands by the fire, throwing the portrait of her family into it.
"What are you doing?" Ty Lee asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"But it's a painting of your family!"
"You think I care?" Azula snapped.
"I think you do."
"You don't know me, so why don't you mind your own business?"
"I know you," Ty Lee said softly.
"No, you don't! You're stuck in your little Ty Lee world, where everything's great all the time. All 'I'm so pretty, I can walk on my hands, whoo!' Circus freak."
Ty Lee sniffed. "You want to know why I joined the circus? Do you have any idea what life was like, growing up with six identical sisters? 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 a matched set. At least I'm different now! Circus freak is a compliment!" Azula looked at her worriedly.
"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends," Mai said as she sat down beside them.
Azula scowled. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Attention issues, Azula. She couldn't get enough attention as a kid, so she's trying to make up for it now."
"Well, what's your excuse, Mai?" Ty Lee snapped. "You were an only child for fifteen years, but even with all that attention, your aura is a dingy, pasty gray."
"I don't believe in auras."
Azula raised an eyebrow.
Mai scowled. "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 and I got everything I wanted. As long as I behaved...and sat still...and didn't speak until 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." Azula shifted in the sand. "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."
"Yeah," Mai muttered. "I guess you wouldn't understand. You're so...perfect."
"Well yes, I guess you're right. I could sit here and complain about how my mother's journal made it very clear that she loved Zuko more than me. Or how Zuko chose some pretty girl with prettier words about hope and love over me. But I don't really care. My brother thinks I'm a monster. He's right, of course, but it still hurts."
"What Lo and Li said came true," Ty Lee said quietly. "The beach really did help us learn about ourselves." She picked up a smooth stone. "I feel all smoothed. Do you feel it too?"
Azula nodded. The two leaned in and kissed.
"Finally," Mai muttered. "The pining is over."
Then Azula broke the kiss. "You know what would really make this trip more memorable?"
---
"What do you want?" Chan snapped. "I told you, no lesbians at my party!"
Azula smirked. "We've got some bad news, Chan."
Mai pulled out a knife. "Party's over."
She threw the knife down the wall, cutting tapestries in half. Ty Lee leapt onto the rafters and swung across the chandeliers, pulling them down. Azula sliced the tables in half with blasts of fire.
The three laughed in the burning wreckage of Chan's house.