I'm just going back to the basics and writing what I wish we could have seen. Nothing fancy. Don't expect freaking Shakespeare or anything.

The August sunlight filtered lazily from the balcony into the long, empty hall, warming Zuko's face and exposed torso. As he stiffly yanked his hand through the sleeve of his coronation robe, a sharp pain shot up his arm to his chest. He let out an involuntary groan of pain, sucking a sharp hiss of air through his clenched teeth. That was the arm Azula's lightning had flowed through while making its way to his heart. Although there were no scars on the outside of Zuko's left arm like the one under the bandages on his chest, it still pained him whenever he wasn't careful enough.

"You need some help with that?" Zuko whipped around to face the source of the familiar, sultry voice. Mai was leaning against the doorframe, giving him one of her rare smiles.

"Mai! You're okay!" he said happily, surprised. Zuko was genuinely glad to see her free. She hadn't deserved to be locked up, and she had sacrificed herself to save him. But... he wasn't sure how he felt about her presence at that moment. He stayed standing where he was, rooted to the spot. "They let you out of prison?"

Mai instead crossed over to him, lifting his arm and gently pulling the robe over his shoulder. "My uncle pulled some strings." Her usually monotonous voice had more expression in it than Zuko had ever heard from her. She pulled his sash around his waist and tied it in one fluid motion before stepping back around to face him. "And it doesn't hurt when the new Fire Lord is your boyfriend." Mai reached up to rest her hands on his shoulders.

Zuko wasn't sure what his face looked like right then, but he watched as Mai's smile faded. "What? What is it?" Her voice fell back into its usual monotone.

He sighed. "I- Mai, I..."

Mai's hands slipped off of his shoulders as she took a step back. "You what?" she asked suspiciously.

"I- I don't know..."

"Zuko, could you try making a little sense?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You're dumping me again, aren't you?"

Zuko stayed silent. He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make him sound like a huge jerk.

Mai turned away. Zuko knew it was to hide her face from him so that he wouldn't see her get emotional- what little emotion she showed other than anger. Mai always did this when they fought. She hated looking weak. She hated feeling weak. And he was one of the only things that made her feel weak. Zuko felt a pang of guilt.

"I had thought that after everything that's happened, you and I would be together. But I guess I was wrong." She said stiffly.

"Mai-"

She spun back around to face him. "You said in your letter that you were breaking up with me because of the war, or your destiny, or whatever!" Her voice rose. "You gave me that whole 'it's not you, it's me' spiel! I thought you left me for something bigger than the two of us. The whole time I was in prison- oh, you remember when I went to prison for saving you? Remember that? The whole time I was in prison, I told myself that you left me for the sake of honor. Because that's what you told me. And I was stupid enough to really believed you."

"Mai, I'm sorry, I-"

"I'm out of prison now, Zuko! The war is over! You're done fighting and hiding! The Fire Nation's yours now. What's your new excuse?"

Zuko was silent for a second, making sure she had gotten everything she had wanted to say out of her system. When Mai was hurt, she lashed out. Zuko knew he must have really hurt her.

Mai glared at him, raising an eyebrow expectantly. Clearly it wasn't a rhetorical question. What was his excuse? He owed her an explanation, but he wasn't sure he had one... or at least not one it would be wise to give his angry ex-girlfriend.

"Look, Mai... I meant everything I said in that letter, and the things I said when I saw you at your uncle's prison. I had to leave to help the Avatar. You know I couldn't have just sat idly by and watch while my father and sister destroyed the Earth Kingdom and killed more innocent people. I didn't want to leave you. Mai, I loved you."

Mai's lips tightened into a thin line at the past-tense "loved," but other than that her dark expression remained the same. "So what changed? You don't see me for a few weeks and suddenly I'm a stranger to you?"

Her. "I don't know. I wish I had some better explanation for you. Just... so much has happened to both of us..."

She made a noise that was somewhere between a scoff and a snicker, a dangerous, sarcastic smirk playing on her lips. "'Both of us.' Why do I get the feeling that I'm not included in 'both of us'?"

Zuko's stomach did a flip. He didn't respond.

"I don't want an explanation, Zuko. I just want the truth." She looked at her feet. "Don't make me say what I'm thinking."

"I don't know what you're thinking." That was partially a lie. Zuko hoped he didn't know what Mai was thinking.

"The Avatar's Water tribe girl was with you when Azula was defeated, wasn't she?" Mai accused, scanning his face. "Ty Lee claims you weren't the one who defeated Azula like everyone's saying. She says that Azula shot you down with her lightning, and that you weren't able to defeat her, and that's how you were injured. Ty Lee told me that since there's no way you could have defeated Azula after being electrocuted, the peasant girl stepped in and won the fight, not you. Ty Lee is prone to gossip, that's true, but this does seem to make sense..." her eyes traveled down to the bandages on his chest, "for a number of reasons." Her eyes snapped back up to meet his, anger under the surface. "How did you manage to survive, Zuko? Nobody survives Azula's lightning. Nobody but the Avatar, but unless there's something else you haven't told me, you're not an Avatar."

He exhaled. "Katara healed me. Some waterbenders have the ability to heal, and after she'd subdued Azula, she came back and saved me. She's an excellent healer."

"Ah. There it is. The truth."

"That's the truth you were looking for? No, I didn't defeat Azula. I failed. Katara should get the credit, but people would rather believe that their gracious prince was the real hero. And I survived deadly lightning because Katara was there." Zuko fiddled uneasily with the loose fabric of his robe.

"Yes, I get it, Katara's very talented. You seem to have plenty to say about her."

"That's because you're making me talk about her! You wanted to know who saved me, and I told you!"

"Yes, you certainly did tell me. You've told me plenty." She paused. Then, almost casually, she asked, "And when did you fall in love with this Katara?"

Zuko opened his mouth as if to protest, then closed it again. He and Mai stared at each other in silence. But to Zuko's surprise, her face slowly began to soften from fury to what seemed like resignation.

"Mai..." he reached out to touch her shoulder. She shook him off.

She sighed wearily. "I had thought that we'd be together after everything was done. I-" she blushed deep red, "I care about you, Zuko. Ugh, I sound like such an idiot. Don't think I'm not going to keep being angry with you. I'm not going to stop being angry with you, probably not ever. I don't like looking like a clown. But whatever. I can see that we're not meant to be. Deep down, I think I've always kind of known it wouldn't last."

"Yeah," Zuko quietly agreed. "Me too."

Mai looked back up, but didn't quite make eye contact. "We had some good times together, though, didn't we?"

"Definitely." Zuko raised an eyebrow, then added lightly, "Actually, I seem to remember that we kind of hated each other most of the time."

Mai almost smiled at that. Almost. She gave a dismissive shrug before turning around to walk out. Suddenly she stopped and turned around. "Hey, Zuko?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you make me a deal?"

"Sure..." Zuko said, somewhat suspiciously.

"Stay the hell out of my life, and I'll won't kick you or your new girlfriend's ass anytime soon."

Zuko smiled at that, and Mai reluctantly smirked back, though her eyes were still filled with sadness. Zuko watched as she disappeared through the doorway. He listened as her footsteps faded away.

Sighing, Zuko turned back to face the balcony. Katara wasn't his. Although he felt guilty for once again hurting Mai, he felt somehow... lighter. Even if Katara didn't feel the same way about him- no. No. She doesn't feel the same way, he silenced the optimistic voice in his head. The stupid thing had been acting up far too often lately. Even though Katara doesn't feel the same way about him, Zuko was still fairly certain that breaking things off with Mai was the right thing to do. He couldn't live a lie. That's not who he was anymore.

Mai literally quotes Joan Jett every chance she gets. It's canon now. In prison, Mai just listened to "I Hate Myself for Loving You" on a loop.

Also, I lowkey was thinking of some of Tyrion and Shae's arguments on Game of Thrones (when Shae's accusing him of being into Sansa) when I wrote this. It shows.

I didn't proofread this, so you might find some grammatical mistakes and repetition. Aaaaaand that's my trademark style of writing!

Anyways, I'm going to add on a couple more scenes, so stay tuned if you like where this is going!