"The gods may throw a dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It's simple and it's plain
Why should I complain?"
-The Winner Takes It All by ABBA
As far as Mai was concerned, today was unnecessary, tiring and simply meant to torture her.
She had a wedding to attend, on she absolutely couldn't get out of going to; her parents were making sure of that. It wasn't exactly a secret that Mai would have preferred to be doing anything else, like walking on hot coals, or maybe stabbing herself in the heart.
That was kind of what she felt like had happened, anyway. Except it was more like Zuko had been the one to stab her in the heart, and twist the blade.
Whatever.
It was the Fire Lord's wedding that day, and if it were up to Mai, she'd be far away, not anywhere in the Fire Nation at all. Who wants to see an ex-boyfriend get married, especially while still in love with him?
But it wasn't as if she could really turn down an invitation from the Fire Lord, even considering the circumstances. She was forced to go, and look pretty and pretend that seeing him marry that girl from the water tribe wasn't the most painful thing she could imagine.
Mai couldn't even keep up her normal bout of complaining that day as servants helped dress her, and put on her make-up; it was such an important event, that she couldn't be trusted to do it herself.
She'd been force to put up with months of this, of seeing Zuko and Katara together at any important gala or party. They always seemed so happy together, goodness knows Katara was more openly affectionate in public. But then again, she seemed more openly…everything, in comparison to Mai. She smiled, and laughed, and had clear, obvious reactions to everything.
And Mai couldn't help but to spend so many nights wide awake, wondering if that was what Zuko saw in Katara, that made him change his mind about her, about Mai.
She wanted to hate him, at least for the first couple weeks after the break up. He'd broken up with her, and had come clean; he hadn't been faithful to her. Things had happened with Katara, for weeks. Things he couldn't ignore or keep from her anymore.
He said he'd been doing it for her, to not hurt her anymore. How could he not realize that by confessing that, he was putting her through more pain and heartache than she could have ever imagined?
But, as her anger ebbed away, she couldn't hate Zuko. He was flawed, hopelessly flawed, but he was Zuko; her Zuko.
Or rather, Katara's Zuko, now.
At every single important event that she was forced to go to, Mai made sure she was never alone with Zuko or Katara. She simply wouldn't be able to deal with it. But there was no way she could ever avoid it today. It was tradition for the guests of the wedding party to personally give their well wishes to the newly wed couple.
She would have to face them. And even worse, give them good wishes to their marriage.
The wedding, of course, was breathtaking, and Katara looked beautiful, and Zuko looked more handsome than she had ever seen him. It was long, and she could see that Zuko was a little uncomfortable with the drawn out ceremony, but he took it in stride as he always did.
And when it was over, and they had their first kiss as a married couple, Zuko had the most sublimely happy look on his face.
Despite Mai's years of self control to contain any and all sort of emotion, she'd nearly started to cry then.
It wasn't fair. What had it been about Katara? Had it been how freely she expressed her emotions? Was it because she was exotic looking? Because she was a bender? Had she and Zuko bonded in ways Mai couldn't imagine when they'd traveled together during the war? Or for her overall cheerful disposition?
But she didn't want to think about that now, or else she would burst into tears.
And she knew Zuko would be happy. Katara, from what Mai saw during the brief times they'd spent together, was a good person; good and kind and caring.
Taking a calming breath, Mai stood. It would soon be her family's turn to go forward, and give the Fire Lord and Lady their well wishes, and she did not want to give any indication of how hard it was for her.
Katara had won, and she had lost Zuko, and nothing could be done to change that.
I've been dying to use this song as a basis for some story, and finally, I've used it!
I hope you enjoyed it!
Please leave constructive criticisms.