Accidental Avatar 3: Totally Lit

Beachside Confessions

Zuko dropped the old family portrait into the flames, watching dispassionately as the ring of fire slowly devoured his face. Like it had once before.

Ty Lee sat nearby, watching with a confused expression.

"What are you doing?" she questioned.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he shot back.

"But it's a painting of your family," she said.

"You think I care?"

"I think you do," her voice overlapped with another, and he turned sharply to see that the other Amaya had returned and was standing behind Ty Lee with an identical expression on her face.

How had he never seen the similarities in them before?

"You don't know me," he snapped, addressing them both. "So why don't you just mind your own business?"

He turned away, unable to look at them, when he saw Ty Lee's expression drop.

"I know you," Ty Lee whispered, looking down sadly.

"No, you don't," he waved his arms angrily. "You're stuck in your little Ty Lee world, where everything's great all the time."

"Zuko, leave her alone," Mai said warningly, Amaya's voice overlapping again.

This only made him angrier, and so he chose to take it out on Ty Lee. Because he already knew where to poke to get the response he wanted.

"'I'm so pretty, look at me. I can walk on my hands, whoo!'," Zuko got up, throwing himself into a handstand. 

The angle allowed him a good look at Ty Lee's expression, which was hurt and sad. Amaya's was just... disappointed.

He got what he wanted, so why didn't he feel better? Instead, he allowed himself to fall to the sand.

"Circus freak!" he spat.

He could hear Ty Lee start to cry, Azula laughing heartlessly.

"Yes, I'm a circus freak. Go ahead and laugh all you want," Ty Lee stood up angrily as she threw the last part at Azula, who looked away. "You wanna know why I joined the circus?"

"Here we go," Azula rolled her eyes.

"Do you have any idea what my home life was like, growing up with six sisters who look exactly like me?" Ty Lee demanded. "It was like, I don't even have my own name."

She threw herself down into the sand as tears streamed from her eyes. 

"I joined the circus because I was scared of spending the rest of my life as part of a matched set. At least, I'm different now. Circus freak is a compliment!"

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

Ty Lee flipped up onto her feet, hands on her hips as she angrily glared at Mai.

"I'm sorry, what?" she snapped.

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

Ty Lee stalked towards Mai with every accusation, a deep frown on her face.

"Well, what's your excuse, Mai?" she demanded. "You were an only child for fifteen years, but even with all that attention, your aura is this dingy, pasty, grey..."