Avatar: the last airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon.

Ba Sing Se, unconquerable metropolis against which six hundred days of brutal siege and the height of Fire Nation technology failed miserably, had fallen to a teenaged princess and her escort. The Dai Li, supposed protectors of the greatest stronghold known to man, was corrupt and sided with Azula, thus ensuring her control of the impenetrable city.

She had ordered the Dai Li to leave the throne room, in order to be left alone with her two companions. Mai and Ty Lee, both wearing their Earth Kingdom attire, stood in front of her, awaiting her remarks. Matters would soon be settled.

"You were almost perfect, Ty Lee." Azula started as she walked to the acrobat, allowing a faint smile to appear on her lips. "Almost. You focus too much on this Water Tribe warrior. I can't take any chance. Understood, Ty Lee?" She pressed on.

"Yeah." She giggled nervously. "He doesn't seem to like me anyways."

"Good."

"Besides, Zuko is cute too." Ty Lee continued. "And he might even like me!" She added enthusiastically.

Azula fought the urge to put on a disgusted expression as Mai sighed and rolled her eyes. "...Sure. At least he's on our side." She eventually replied, uncertain of the reaction to have. "Why don't you... go and ask him if he does?"

Ty Lee obliged so. Azula watched her leaping out of the room. When she was out of earshot, she turned to Mai.

"You seem untroubled by Ty Lee's surprising interest in my brother, Mai." She stated, slightly raising her eyebrows.

She sighed in irritation. "I got over this crush years ago."

"Indeed." She walked around her, always looking at Mai as if her eyes were staring right through her head. "And it appears that you got over following orders too, as well as protecting your friends."

Mai tensed. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the drill fiasco?" Azula asked, stopping in front of her and looking coldly in her eyes. "You could have provided a valuable help against those two siblings. Ty Lee told me how she was stuck in the slurry and how you disobeyed me. Your knifes could have turned this defeat into a victory." Her voice became glacial. "Had you followed my orders and gone after them, we could have won back then. And you didn't even try to prevent the prisoners to escape even though the only real opposition you had was a blind earthbender." Her voice seemed to have decreased the temperature of the room a great deal by now.

"And how does it relate to not protecting my friends?" Mai retorted, hiding her nervousness the best she could.

"Quite simple. Ty Lee could have died twice because of your apathy. She would be dead now, her lungs drowned in mud or her back broken if any of them felt the need to be more definitive. If it wasn't for our enemies' mercy." She spat the word. Mai suppressed a chill at Azula's gruesome descriptions.

Azula walked away from her, towards the throne. "You disappoint me, Mai. I expected much more of you."

Mai knew where it was going. She promptly crouched and reached for the stilettos hidden under the sleeves of her trousers. Before long, she came back to her previous position save for her arms behind her back, each hand holding a deadly projectile.

Unbeknownst to Mai, Azula prepared herself too. She discreetly performed the moves to summon her most powerful attack. "After the drill fiasco, Ty Lee reported your actions after we split up." She turned her head in order to glance at Mai. "'She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me.' Does it sound familiar, Mai?" She finished as she whirled around, pointing a finger at her target and ready to shoot.

-

Ty Lee hopped around in the hall leading to the throne room, wondering where Zuko could possibly be, when the characteristic mighty crash and blinding illumination of a lightning strike interrupted her train of thought. She twirled around, horror distorting her face, and stood stunned. After a few seconds, she ran back into the room. "Mai!"

She spotted her friend on the floor, smoke rising from her burnt chest. She knelt beside her and clutched her body. Her arms rested along her body, her eyes were closed and her face was forever fixed in a stern expression in spite of the gaping hole in her rib cage. "Mai..."

Azula had killed her in cold blood. But Ty Lee suddenly noticed that the princess was not yelling at her for grieving for a person she just executed. She looked towards the throne and gasped. Azula was also sprawled on the floor. She carefully let go of Mai's body and moved to her other companion. Blood was dripping for her mouth, a stiletto piercing her throat and another her forehead.

Ty Lee collapsed on her knees in-between her friends' corpses. Tears were soon running freely down her cheeks. "I'm alone now..."

Quite morbid, I know. This is the result of my reflection as to why Mai was still safe and sound around Azula when she proved to be not very motivated in following her directives.