A/N: Hello. Wow, I haven't written anything in a while… anyway, this is just a Mai-centric oneshot that takes place after TBR. WARNING: If you haven't seen The Boiling Rock,this contains minor spoilers. Many thanks to my awesome beta, 3VAD127.
Disclaimer: Avatar belongs to Mike and Bryan. Not me… sadly.
Mai blinked as light came flooding into her dark cell. It's Azula no doubt, Mai thought as a figure appeared at the door.
"Well, well, well," an all too familiar voice echoed through the small room, "look what you've become, Mai. You used to be a nobleman's daughter whom everyone thought highly of. You were one of my personal friends and a weapons specialist; now you're just a grimy, disgusting traitor."
"Correction, Azula," Mai spoke for the first time in weeks. "I was never your friend. My parents forced me to tolerate you. The truth is, I couldn't stand you, and I still can't."
Azula's face contorted with raw fury and hatred. "No one defies me like that! No one!" The princess stepped toward her pale prisoner. She slapped Mai, her fingernails leaving a bloody trail on the traitor's cheek.
Much to Azula's surprise, Mai laughed. "You never scared me, Azula, and you never will."
That just angered the princess more. Heaving her foot back, she kicked the prisoner hard in the ribs. Mai coughed as a thin stream of blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, but she still smiled. "Azula, there is nothing in this world that you can do to me that could possibly hurt me as much as being away from Zuko does."
Mai saw Azula grit her teeth as she created a ball of fire in one hand. But, much to the traitor's surprise, the princess' fire was no longer blue. It was the normal orangish-red. She had the fire dangerously close to her prisoner's face when Mai heard the sound of a sword being pulled out of its sheath. Azula's head shot around to look at none other than her brother.
"Oh, hello, Zuzu. Here to rescue your girlfriend?" She smirked as she turned toward Zuko.
"Why would it concern you?" he growled.
Azula smirked and said, "This will be over quickly."
Zuko put the swords back in their sheath and took a fighting stance as Azula started to generate lightning. Something made Zuko drop his stance. She wasn't generating lightning. She was going through the movements, but there was no lightning on her fingertips like there should be. As Azula did the last movement, he ducked and covered his head with his hands. The prince heard a boom, and then he looked up to see his sister being thrown against the opposite wall, knocking her unconscious.
"What did that witch do to you?!" Zuko said, rushing over to Mai at the sight of the blood on her face.
"Well, you know," she gasped, "a few scratches and a couple broken ribs."
"I have to get you out of here!" he said, clawing at the metal chains that bound her to the wall.
"It's no use, Zuko." Mai coughed again, more blood trickling out of her mouth. "You need keys."
"Oh, yeah," the prince said determinedly. "Well, this is how I do things." Zuko unsheathed his broadswords again and sliced furiously at the metal. Instantly, the chains fell off Mai's wrists.
"Thanks," she croaked. Mai pushed herself up off the ground but collapsed, leaving Zuko barely enough time to catch her.
"Stop it!" Mai hissed in pain as Zuko tried to shift her in his arms. "There's no way I can walk like this, Zuko. We're not going to make it out of here."
"Let's see," Zuko contemplated. "Sokka estimated that a guard shows up about every fifteen minutes. It's been about ten since the last one left. We can do it."
"But how?" Mai moaned. "I can hardly move."
"Mai," the Prince said with a glint in his eye. "I'm going to carry you."
"But, Zu—"
"No buts!"
"But—"
"Nope." Zuko laid her gently on the floor and picked her up in his arms. "This might hurt a bit, but I'll try to be as smooth as I can."
"Like that was ever possible," she retorted. And then something hit her, like, well… like when she realized that she loved Zuko… Ty Lee. "Zuko!" Mai yelled when they got out of the cell. "What about Ty Lee!"
"Yeah, what about her?"
"She helped me; she's in prison too! We have to save her!"
"Mai, we don't have time!"
"She's in there!" Mai pointed to a cell three doors down.
"Oh, all right," Zuko said nervously, "you stay here." He set her down.
"Like I would go anywhere," she mumbled
Zuko ran to the door that Mai had pointed to. Taking a deep breath, he put his hand to the lock and melted it off. The door swung open to reveal Ty Lee tying herself up in what looked like a human pretzel.
"Come on, we have to go!" Zuko said urgently.
"Zuko!" Ty Lee squealed. "Oh, I knew you'd come!" The contortionist got up and hugged the prince tightly.
"Yeah, we gotta go in like, three minutes, or we'll be in huge trouble. Come on!" Zuko ran out of the cell and rushed toward Mai, Ty Lee in tow.
"Mai, what happened?!" Ty Lee asked, horrified after seeing the condition of her friend.
"No time to explain, Ty Lee. Let's go!" Mai responded as Zuko gathered her in his arms. He carried the pale woman up two flights of steps and out a door before stopping at a ledge near the top of the prison, always with Ty Lee close behind.
"Ty Lee," the prince whispered, "knock on the ledge three times, really fast." Doing as she was told, Ty Lee watched in amazement as Appa appeared out from under the ledge. On the giant flying bison were Aang and Katara. Aang to drive, and Katara to heal if needed.
"Come on!" Zuko said, "we have to hurry! Katara, help me lift Mai into the saddle!"
"What's wrong with her?" the Waterbender asked.
"I'll tell you later. Let's go!" After getting Mai up, Prince Zuko jumped into the saddle while Ty Lee did some kind of fancy flip.
"Yip, yip!" Aang yelled, snapping Appa's reins.
"So what happened to her?" Katara asked Zuko once they were safely out of the volcano.
"Azula happened." He looked over the now still form of Mai.
"I see. Well, I better start working on her." Katara bent water out of her pouch and put it over Mai's ribcage. "Doesn't seem to be too much damage," she assessed after a few minutes of probing. "She does have a few broken ribs, but that's it."
"Good," Zuko sighed in relief. He ran his hand down a pale arm and stopped at her hand, just content to sit there by her.
Mai was aware of all of these things, she just didn't let Zuko know. As the noblewoman drifted off into a contented sleep, the last thing on her mind was, Betraying Azula was so worth it.