Disgraced [Princess Azula]

⚡5⚡

𝕂𝕐𝔸ℕ 𝕃𝔼𝔸ℕ𝔼𝔻 𝔸𝔾𝔸𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕋 𝕋ℍ𝔼 wall as he tried to catch his breath. He hadn't used that much muscle in a long time, and his head grew dizzy with all the force he used to break the chains around Azula. A sense of accomplishment coursed through his veins, though. He couldn't believe that he broke through the chains. It wasn't just the chains that bound Azula to the chair; it was the chains binding him to his cell in his mind.

"Get me out of this thing," Azula snapped, squirming in the straitjacket. The chair thudded against the floor, and he had to grab it before it collapsed. "We have to hurry."

"Right."

Kyan bent down to get a better view of the stark white straitjacket. It looked like it was sewn shut around her. There must've been something that could get her out, though. The nurses would not have spent a lot of time sewing Azula up into the straitjacket, so there must have been a zipper or something that he could use to get her out of it.

A slice of moonlight suddenly shone through the bars on the window, illuminating something small and metal on her side, right above her arm. "I see the zipper," Kyan said, standing back up. 

"Why are you still standing there? Unzip it!"

Kyan bent down again and grabbed onto the zipper. He tried to tug it down, but it wouldn't budge. Using both hands, he pulled the zipper down the side of her body. Her arm shot out, finally free. 

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" he asked quietly. "I got you out, but how are we supposed to escape?"

Azula threw the straitjacket off of her body and jumped out of the chair. Her feet got tangled up in the remnants of the straitjacket, and she fell forward. Kyan caught her and grunted as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. He stumbled backward against the wall but still held on tightly to her. He didn't want to drop her because she felt so fragile in his arms.

She didn't let go of him just yet. Instead, she lifted her head and stared into his eyes. His breath got caught in his chest when he saw the little glimmer in her eyes. Her hands pushed off of his chest as she said, "I'm going to blow a hole through the wall. When I do that, we have to jump."

Azula turned around and faced the barred window. Kyan didn't even have a chance to ask her what the jumping was all about because she took a deep breath and blasted blue fire toward the window. He shielded his eyes as glass shards flew all over him. When he looked up, the bars around the window were gnarled and twisted out of the way. A frigid breeze blew into the room just as the sirens pierced the air.

Kyan approached the shattered window. The tree outside of the window waved in the breeze. One of its branches almost looked like it was reaching out toward him, trying to get him out of that wretched place. But his head was telling him not to jump because he might injure himself. And if he injured himself, he wouldn't be able to run away. If he didn't jump, though, he would get taken anyway.

He grabbed his makeshift hammer and slipped it into his waistband before turning around and looking out the window again. The tall grass swayed in the breeze, blocking all chance of him seeing Azula in it. Clouds covered the thin moon, too. He couldn't see anything out there, but he had to jump. He just had to.

It felt like he was floating in midair. He wished that the wind would just take him away to a better place. The tree swayed toward him, almost as if it were helping him escape. He latched onto the branch, knocking the air out of his chest. His muscles screamed in pain and he couldn't help but let go, allowing the grass to swallow him up. Yet again, the air was knocked out of his lungs and he gasped, trying to get the air to come back in. 

His breath became labored as he tried to get oxygen to his lungs. He wouldn't be able to run if he couldn't breathe. If he didn't run, he would get caught. And he wouldn't do that ever again. He will never go back to that place if he could help it. 

"Azula?" Kyan called out softly. He needed to find her because he had no idea what to do now. "Azula? Where are you?"

He sat up on the soft grass and glanced around. Azula was nowhere to be seen. One of the doors on the side of the building opened up with a screech. People flooded out of the open door along with torch lights. They were already looking for Kyan and Azula.

He blinked hard and suddenly Azula was right next to him. She was grabbing his arms and pulling him up when he whispered, "Where did you come from?"

"I've been next to you for at least a minute," she whispered back. "I've been calling your name, but you weren't listening."

Kyan glanced at the door of the institution and saw more guards and nurses running out of it. At least he hadn't been imagining that. He stood up with Azula's help, and they hunched behind the thick trunk of the tree. The guards were fanning out, looking for them.

"When I tell you to run, you better run," she hissed in his ear. Her lips brushed against the outer skin of his ear, sending a shiver down his spine. "Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Her eyes scanned the area in front of them. The guards were all heading toward the forest and away from Azula and Kyan. She gripped his hand and whispered, "Now!"

The two of them stood up together and took off running. He wasn't wearing any shoes at all, so his bare feet dug into the dirt and mud. Her hand was cold in his as she kept tugging him forward. She was running much faster than he was, and she kept having to slow down just to stay with him.

"Can't you run any faster?" she said. Her voice hung in the breeze, tickling the back of his neck.

"I don't think so," he replied in between breaths. 

His chest heaved up and down, but he didn't dare stop running. There was a burning in his chest, too, but he ignored the pain. If he didn't think about it, it wasn't as bad. No, it wasn't. The more he ran, the more euphoric he felt. He was getting farther and farther away from the thing he hated most. It was slowly losing its hold on his mind. 

Kyan sucked in the crisp air. It burned his throat and pimpled his skin. Azula's hand in his was the only thing keeping him tethered to the ground. He still felt like he was floating through the air like a hot air balloon. And like a hot air balloon, it has to come down sometime. Kyan just hoped it wouldn't be soon.