Zuko arrived in the Fire Nation that evening, half of him wished he were still in Ba Sing Se with his uncle. Where the night life would just be getting started. Normaly he didn't join the parties, considering who he was and how easily he could be recognized now, but he did enjoy watching it. Mai didn't. But that was to be expected.
As Mai led the way to the palace, Zuko was deep in thought about his friends' safety. No doubt Sokka would know where to go and how to get there, but Katara could argue her way into making him do what she thought was right.
"Do you think they're at the North Pole yet?" he asked Mai when they entered the elegant tearoom where a pot of freshly brewed tea was waiting for them on the short dark wood table.
"Why does it matter so much to you? You never cared when I stayed out late with Ty Lee. Why should these people mean anymore to you than I do?" She demanded. Her voice was still blank but with a hint of anger in it. He honestly couldn't imagine why, she didn't strive on attention the way Katara might, of need constant talking to by Sokka. Could she feel jealous? Could she feel jealousy? The big question, he assumed, was could she feel?
"What? Mai, they're my friends, they mean just as much to me as you do." He replied as she sat down on one of the red couches, her expression giving nothing to help his assumption.
"I'm just glad we're away from them and that boring city. Did you hear them fighting?" she rolled her eye's, "talk about pathetic." He tried not to take that to personally, he knew she hated his friends, and he might not always get along with Ty Lee, but at least he tolerated her, for the most part anyway.
"Mai, they're my friends, can't you at least try to like them?" He pleaded softly. When she shook her head stubbornly Zuko's fury burned inside him, his temper getting the better of him, the candles on the walls rose to the ceiling as his bending took over. It didn't make her expression any lighter; only angrier and duller, if the two could go together.
"Zuko, if they come here… I'll… I'll…" she stammered as she stood up to face him.
"You'll do what Mai? Try to kill them again?" he asked rhetorically. He knew she had just as bad a temper as him, and should have known better than to make it worse.
"Yes." Her sure answer made Zuko's face drop, the candles went out in a puff of smoke and filled the room with a hazy blur.
They were quiet for a few moments, wile the teenagers tried to figure out what had just happened. Who had betrayed whom. He knew she didn't mean what she had said, but it didn't make the realization that she hated them that much hurt any less. They didn't agree on the way Zuko was changing the Fire Nation, that much was obvious. But didn't she love him enough to take his side on certain things? If she trusted him why didn't she trust the people he did?
Zuko was the first to break the awkward silence.
"Mai, you would never-"
"It isn't just them Zuko," she interrupted. "It's you too. Every time they're around… you change, I don't know how but you do. They're all you talk about." He gave a grim laugh. "And for once I actually thought you might only be thinking of me."
"I'm always thinking of you Mai, but right now I've got a lot on my mind. Azula's getting worse… and I cant stand knowing her life is over." He subconsciously changed the subject, knowing full well he was baiting her. Though it was true, he did pity Azula, as much a he despised her, she was too young for her life to be so abruptly ended.
"She deserves it Zuko, she's a power obsessed freak!" Mai ranted. Zuko's eyes narrowed, he knew it was the truth, and he couldn't agree more with her, but it was another thing they disagreed on; Azula's ability to change.
"Either way, she's still a person. I don't understand why you don't try to help her get better?" Zuko asked angrily. "At least Ty Lee is trying, your just letting her rot in jail!"
"Because she's insane Zuko, why can't you understand that she should be killed!"
"You don't mean that Mai, she was your best friend for years, just because she's got mental problems doesn't make her a different person." Zuko retorted. Truthfully, Mai had never liked Azula, she was cruel, abusive, and downright mean, but at the time Mai had had enough desire of self-preservation to know where things would be going with her, and which end to be on.
"She's not different, but I am. You are different," she took a deep breath. "I don't like the new you Zuko, I like the old you."
She stomped heavily out of the musky room, leaving Zuko alone and confused in the dark room.
O0o0
Mai wandered threw the palace gardens mindlessly. Her head was still aching from the smoke, though the encounter had been over an hour ago. She wasn't sure of the exact time, but she knew it would still be long before the sun ever rose over the mountains.
She sighed heavily and grabbed her temple as her head throbbed again.
She never liked it when Firebenders lost they're temper, it only resulted in flames and burning. Normal people would find an ulterior motive for blowing off steam, so to speak, but with Firebenders it was all the same.
The hem of her dress had scorch marks, and she was still sweating from the heat. The night's cold air felt good against her hot skin. She was absently aware of the approaching body, but was too tired to take a fighting stance.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a pink figure running up to her. And, like she usually did nowadays, Ty Lee's eyes were red and puffy from previously shed tears, and were brimming with new ones. She came over to Mai with her newly saddened face.
"I can't stand it any longer," she declared stubbornly. "I'm going to see her." Mai looked blankly at her friend. Ty Lee wasn't the stubborn type, and could usually be swayed from a decision effortlessly. But she looked truly set on her announcement, and she wasn't going to take any attempt at persuasion.
"And you're going by yourself?" Mai asked, Ty Lee slumped her shoulders but answered a soft and nearly inaudible 'yes'.
Mai sighed disapprovingly.
"You can't go by yourself, she's dangerous. Have Zuko take you in the morning." Mai turned away ready to leave but Ty Lee grabbed her arm, harder than necessary.
"I can't wait, I need to see her now." She demanded. Mai turned her head to look at her friend. Her hair had lost its shine, and her skin was not only paler than usual and even tinted slightly gray, but she was sprouting a few pimples. Ty Lee wasn't one who got pimples and dealt with it easily, Mai had known her to hide out in her room for days just because of a single zit.
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" She asked rhetorically, and then winced when she realized what her answer would be.
"I want you to come with me." Mai's eyes narrowed as she tried not to glare at her like she had just decided to commit suicide.
"No. Wait for Zuko to take you," Mai turned again but She cartwheeled in front of her, effectively blocking her path.
"I don't want to go with Zuko, I want to go with you. I think if we go and talk to her she will feel better, Zuko said she is sick, I think it's because she thinks she doesn't have any one to talk to. I think… maybe… she's just depressed." Mai snorted.
"You think she's depressed? She's insane. Talking to her isn't going to do any good." Ty Lee pouted childishly. Then jutted her bottom lip out when she saw Mai's expression lighten.
"Will you go with me?" She begged. Mai thought over it for a brief moment, she had nothing else to do.
"If it will make you happy, ok." Ty lee smiled for the first time in months, then, grabbing her Mai's wrist, pulled her towards the prison gates on the other side of the volcano walls.
The guards let them in without trouble, Fire Lord Zuko had made clear that the girls could go in when ever they liked and would be offered no trouble.
Ty Lee led the way to her cell, she knew it by memory, and at the door she turned to Mai. Her expression one of true appreciation.
"Thank you for coming, I really think this is what she needs." Mai just nodded as the guard opened the door for them.
O0o0
Azula lazily gazed at the opening cell door; the bright light hurt her golden eyes, momentarily blinding her as two dark figures walked into the cramped cell cautiously. For a moment they're faces were blurred, she only saw a haze of pink and black, after some blinking Azula's eye's focused and she recognized her old friends. Mai looked much the same, possibly angrier and a little dirty, her clothing singed, but her look of utter bordome remained. Ty Lee on the other hand, look like a complete mess. Her hair unkempt, her face un washed, and her eyes red and puffy from crying. Azula remembered her being more happy, but all she saw now was a hallow shell of the hyper girl who she had once known.
"What are you doing here?" her voice, barely above a whisper, was husky from lack of use, and half full of hatred and surprise that her old friends cared enough to come and see her. She must be having one of the hallucinations the doctors kept hinting about. She was sure her old friends didn't care about her, they had every reason to hate her. So why were they here?
Ty Lee fell to her knees in front of the iron bars between them, her hands gripping the iron with a strength that had obviously weakened slightly since the end of the war.
"We came to see you, it isn't the same without you around. Zuko says-" Azula stiffened.
"Zuko. I should have known he would send you here to check up on me. He thinks I'm crazy doesn't he?" she demanded, interrupting Ty Lee's explanations. Mai gave Ty Lee a blank stare, which looked back at Azula meaningfully.
"Yes, he does." Mai answered. Azula didn't look at the girl who was first to betray her, she could never forgiven her for that disturbing day where she realized she didn't have a real and trustworthy friend. When Ty Lee spoke again her voice was cracked and soft.
"I don't think you are." The simple statement made the emptiness in Azula's chest ache, her hands twitched and she looked at her old friend and felt much more than words could describe. She jerked her face away from the others' view.
"I was, but not anymore. Zuko doesn't understand, he thinks I'm the same. He doesn't realize why I became that way." She rambled, relieved to get these things off her chest.
"He knows more than you think." Mai spat acidly.
"I'm not saying he's dumb, I know better than that." She said casually, like she used to speak, fluid and calm. Her voice wasn't filled with the hatred it was only moments ago, she was regaining the tone she had had before the insanity struck. A voice of velvet, never missing a beat. A tone of perfection.
"What I mean is," she continued. "I thought Father was right about everything, even when I was younger. I thought he was the rightful Fire Lord. And he was." Ty Lee's eyebrows rose.
"But he's the reason your in here, he made you-"
"Zuko's the one who put me in here!" Azula yelled. "He ruined everything, I was supposed to be the next Fire Lord. I'm the rightful heir to the throne. He thinks he's helping the Fire Nation, he's destroying it!" the small lantern the in room burst into blue flames as Azula's fury at her brother rose.
"He's betraying his country." Mai whispered to herself. Ty lee looked up at her and silently begged for her help. Mai sighed but did as her friend wanted. "Azula, the reason we came here was to-"
"You came here to check on me! Zuko sent you!" Azula's greasy black hair fell in her face as her mind started to lost its grip. Mai took a step back as Azula looked up with blood shot eyes, eyes that could kill. They were no longer filled with the pride and perfection that they had been; now they were filled with desire and hysteria.
Ty Lee didn't look scared; she stared at Azula in pity, wishing she could help her old friend. Wanting only the girl underneath all the pain and misery.
"I want to help you Azula," she whispered so softly only her lips moved. "Remember that night at the beach? Remember what you said about your mother?" Azula's eyes narrowed curiously, had she forgotten that night at Ember Island? Ty Lee went on.
"I think that's why you're like this, if you saw that your mother really did care for you- maybe you'd be happy again." Azula sat up and spoke calmly to Ty Lee.
"My mother? She thought I was a Monster. She always liked Zuko more, even when I was a better Firebender than him. I only worked that hard to try and please her and Father."
"Azula, if you convince Zuko your better, He'll let you go." Ty Lee pleaded.
"No…." Azula seemed to regain her sanity. "I have a better idea of escaping."