A/N: I've been a Tyzula and assorted popfemslash fan for a long time, but Mai/June is what made me feel the need to write write write. I couldn't get this story out of my head and there's so much good Mai/June but so little of it. This will be long because I have a lot planned and am pretty excited. I only hope I can give these two a story that does them justice. Thank you so much for clicking and I really hope you like the story so far.
love in a land of ash
I don't want to set the world on fire
I just want to start a flame in your heart.
"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" – The Inkspots
chapter one
There was no fathoming the depths of Mai's hatred for this place.
She grew up in the Fire Nation. It was terrible there, but it was better than Omashu. Three years ago, she watched the world burn from her bedroom window and it bored her. When the sun rose again, everything was different out there in the scorched distance, but Omashu was still exactly the same.
The walls towered over the crowded city that stretched out in a circle around her home. She thought the view was boring. A wasteland of burnt earth, well-maintained walls, a safe little city, her fortress of a house, and her prison cell of a bedroom.
Her main hobby was currently chipping the Fire Nation paint off of the walls of her room and slowly revealing a lost Earth Kingdom mural beneath. Chipping paint was the most interesting thing that this city had to offer.
Until the sun went down. Mai would silently sit through dinner, nodding and dissecting pot stickers, and then meander back to her room before locking the door and quietly prying open her window.
She would crawl out of that window and move like a shadow across rooftops.
And, despite having more money than anyone else in the Wasteland, she would steal. Not anything people needed. She stole worthless things and priceless things both, but they always were needless décor. Storefronts, in the stores – houses were the most exciting – and down by the army barracks. That was the riskiest place to rob, which meant Mai liked it best.
Mai stole things when she was younger and had friends and a life. She remembered grabbing any random number of forgotten objects and watching Azula and Ty Lee run across the street, Azula clinging to Ty Lee to make sure Mai would get caught first.
Ty Lee probably wasn't okay. Zuko definitely wasn't okay. Azula, Mai heard from sporadically until she got some high military rank as a predecessor to the crown and the letters stopped. Mai's replies were usually only a few words anyway.
The comet changed the way the world worked. Mai hated change.
The night that changed her life, she was out on one of her heists, breaking into a huge house in which she was less likely to get caught, but risking more if she did get caught. The window was locked, but her knife skills made quick work of that.
She dropped down into the house and started to look around. There were tons of expensive items, but the idea of stealing something so easy bored her to tears.
Mai crept through the upstairs hall until she found something of interest.
A piece of paper someone tried to conceal inside of a potted plant. They were not very successful; it stood out like a sore thumb in the right light.
She was immediately drawn to the parchment. It was a flier and it was not an official one, that was certain. An . . . underground fighting ring? Mai liked the sound of that. Yeah, it was illegal, but she just broke into a house.
Mai folded it up, decided it was her loot of the night, and swung back out through the window. She ran across rooftops and got home in time to pretend to be a good girl. Or, at least a sullen teenager who didn't have the desire to sneak out.
Azula left the Fire Nation before dawn.
She was uncertain about her mission, but she exuded confidence like she always did. The ship would take a week to reach the harbor and it would give her time to piece things together. She would be able to think and work through what she was doing.
It felt like being Zuko. . . and she did not enjoy feeling like Zuko. She did not have her crown revoked, she was not harmed, she was not legally banished. She was just sent away for two years under false pretenses because her father made a mistake.
He called it her fault, and she had the concern that he was looking to get rid of her like her brother. Azula could not have fucked up that terribly, but, she had to admit that her brother did not either.
"You get complete control over a province," he had said when he first informed her of the situation, and Azula would have liked that idea if it weren't for the fact that she wanted complete control over an empire.
Azula locked herself in her room for the entirety of the journey.
In Omashu, Mai watched her mother smiling way too much. It could not be good.
"I have good news," mother said at breakfast.
It was a disgustingly sunny day and Mai was forced to eat fruit. Mai hated fruit, but she also hated starving to death.
"Can it wait until I'm awake?" Mai asked and her mother ignored her.
"Princess Azula is coming to stay with us," mother gladly announced.
Mai was startled, but she didn't show it. "That actually was good news. I wasn't prepared for that."
Mother frowned, but Mai knew she couldn't afford to be angry when her daughter was cooperating for once. She poured Mai more tea. The sudden kindness was expected; now that Azula was coming, Mai was a vital political pawn. They were best friends before the comet. Mai hadn't had a friend since then. Maybe it would break the monotony.
"It's all so wonderful. Such an honor," mother continued and Mai stopped listening for the sake of her sanity.
That night, the flier led Mai to the army barracks. And after that, to the basement of one of the main buildings. It was packed, smelled like sweat and Mai was beginning to regret coming. The cheering nearly punctured her eardrums.
But then she caught sight of the fight and realized that tonight might not be boring. She had never seen two dudes beating each other up like that with bare fists. No bending, no stupid sparring rules, blood everywhere. Mai had a strange feeling inside. Excitement?
Oh spirits, Mai was excited.
She opened her purse.
Hours had passed and Mai hadn't noticed. She blended in and bet with no knowledge of who she was spending her money on. But when people started leaving, she realized she was going to have some trouble staying hidden.
Mai peeled her gaze from the ring after hearing the crunch of bone and wondered if she should leave before the crowd thinned any further. But she just stayed there, silently, feeling like a fool. She was frozen up until the moment the woman who beat the guy to a bloody pulp in the sixth fight approached her.
"You look out of place," she drawled and Mai scratched her eyebrow.
"Yeah. Whatever." She wished she had a better comeback than that.
"I know you. You're the lovely heir to our city's throne." The girl stops and looks Mai up and down. "There aren't many fans of your family present."
"You're not kicking me out or attacking me."
"No. Because I am a woman of many trades, all of which involving one thing." She holds up one finger and Mai's eyes drifted to focus on it. And then the girl poked Mai on the shoulder. "Money."
Yeah, she was drunk. That was damned obvious.
Mai looked at the girl who seemed to think she was tough and shook her head. "If you're asking me to bribe you…"
"I'm offering you an interesting hobby. You seem into the fights," said the young woman and Mai thought she recognized her. But it was too hard to tell in the smoky room.
"Get to the point," Mai ordered.
"Oh, you're feisty, huh? I'm always looking for sleazy rich people who want to watch other people beat each other senseless." She took another swig of her drink.
"You're kidding," Mai began, but she was interrupted by a very bad sound.
Soldiers. And not the ones who were enjoying the fight. Mai had been in enough altercations with rebels to know this meant something bad, and she shoved the girl out of her way as she rushed through the crowd and kicked her way up a wall. She grabbed the basement windowsill as swords and arrows came out.
She unlatched it and crawled through before she could get shot in the spine.
Mai glanced around and saw that there were more where that came from. She analyzed the uniforms and saw how clean and gilded they were. When the fuck did Ozai send in new soldiers? Why the fuck did Ozai send in new soldiers? These pricks were fresh out of the Fire Nation. They weren't even dusty yet.
Someone pushed her back and she tore a knife out from her waist.
"Stop gawking. I don't think these guys recognize you." Oh, wonderful, drunk tough girl with the stupid drawling tone and prison tattoo. "You're in as much trouble as we are. And people are dropping like spider-flies."
Mai pushed herself back up. "I can take care of myself."
"Right. I believe you." Sarcasm.
Alright, she was good at sarcasm, but Mai still didn't like her.
The heiress spun on her heel and ran towards the middle wall. She had only scaled them once in her life, and she fell. But these soldiers meant business and weren't giving her much of a choice. Mai grabbed onto the crumbled chunks and felt a thick layer of dust. Always the dust.
She got about a third of the way up before an arrow landed next to her head. Mai might not have thought through this climbing a wall with only shadows to hide her.
"Hey honeybunny, need any help?" And there was a hand reaching down for her.
And another arrow. Mai grabbed onto her and sighed as she was pulled up and to the window she was aiming for.
"I would've made it," Mai protested, and she started to run through the hollowed out hall in the wall.
"Sure. Of course." Drunk tough girl laughed and ran after Mai.
Mai sighed.
It wasn't hard to get to the market square roofs once Mai was away from the soldiers. Drunk tough girl was on the crimson slope with her.
"I'm June," said drunk tough girl.
"You obviously know who I am," Mai replied.
"Yeah. Who doesn't?" June rubbed her neck and Mai could tell she was trying to be aloof. Maybe she was aloof, but it wasn't as impressive as other people might find it.
"Do you often get raided by the military? I mean, fighting is illegal but not that illegal," Mai said dryly.
"New guys in town. I wonder why." June tapped one finger on her lips. Mai rolled her eyes. "Maybe a certain important person arriving in three days."
"How'd you know?" Mai was genuinely curious.
"I know things." June cocked an eyebrow.
Mai rolled her eyes for the billionth time tonight. "So cryptic. I'm swooning over your mystique."
June picked at her fingernails and admitted, "I work outside of the city pretty often."
"You're a mercenary." It wasn't too hard to realize.
"Bounty hunter, mercenary, businesswoman when it comes to my underground ring that managed to get raided. I got an offer to escort her and obviously said no."
"You're a dissenter?" Figures.
But June laughed like Mai said something Ty Lee would say. "I don't give a fuck about factions and I'm loyal to exactly one person: myself."
That was pathetic. "So, why'd you say no?" Mai inquired.
"They were cheap bastards. I don't get out of bed for less than two thousand and they offered the honor and resume credentials of serving royalty."
Mai almost laughed. That was exactly something the Imperial Fire Nation would do.
"She can defend herself. Mercs are a waste of resources."
"Oh, are you in love?" June slurred.
"No." Mai squinted at the market; she thought she saw someone. Thankfully, it was a cat. "You must not get a lot of work. If you get over two thousand a job, you would be rubbing elbows with rich assholes like my parents."
"I have better things to spend my money on. And I have a place outside of the city. It's nice. Maybe you should visit." The last part had mocking sex layered on it.
"Stop hitting on me." Mai felt ridiculous, but she hid it. "Your stupid fighting ring almost got me killed."
"I am not hitting on you, honeybunny."
"It sounds like it. It sounds like you don't respect my authority."
"Authority?" June snorted. "You're an angsty sixteen-year-old who turned down free booze. I one time heard that an heiress is nothing compared to a royal, a royal is nothing compared to a god, and a god is nothing to a nonbeliever."
"That's pretty poignant for a drunk."
June didn't say anything. Well, until she leaned to the side and Mai suddenly had damp lips that tasted like hard alcohol on hers.
That was a kiss. She was kissed by someone who called her honeybunny.
Mai had no idea why that just happened.
"You're showing emotion for the first time all night. You look more scared than when you had arrows getting shot at you. Oh, was that your first kiss?" June laughed and Mai clenched one fist.
"No. I'm just not used to people who go around kissing strangers for fun."
"Aww, but didn't anybody tell you life is supposed to be fun?"
"Not many things get me excited." Mai quickly regretted that phrasing.
"Maybe I could, honeybunny." That was the worst tone June used all night. Mai contemplated shoving her off of the roof and watching her limbs break, but she had self-control. Unlike drunken brawler over here.
"Your overconfidence doesn't make you look tough; it just makes you look like a bitch."
"I'm not aiming for tough. I'm aiming for bitch." June gave Mai a lopsided grin and a condescending gaze.
Mai felt her cheeks flush and hated herself for it. "Good work then. Have a treat."
June shook her head, laughed and stood up. She walked to the edge of the roof and said, "Find me at Pan's if you ever decide you don't want to be boring."
"Don't count on it."
"Oh, I know. You're the real tough girl, right?" June collected herself and jumped off of their hiding place.
Mai didn't know what she was supposed make of that.
Not-so-far-away, Azula smirked at a flier of her own. She was at the harbor, which was a disgusting place that she could not believe she was even in.
"We're making a little stop on our way," Azula said to her commander. "I have an old friend to catch up with."
Or track down, Azula supposed.
Ty Lee never did stay in one place for long.
But Azula was ready to rip the fingernails out of anyone at the circus who knew where to collect her.