Don't Think This Means That I Forgive You
A/N: This was a prompt I was given in which I had to use no dialogue.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, or any of the characters; they belong to Mike and Bryan!
As Mai sits in her prison cell after committing treason, she thinks about the exiled prince for whom she betrayed Azula.
She still remembered the look in his eyes as she glared at him from the other side of the prison cell door. They were fierce, and they had told her that this was what he had to do and he was sorry that he had to do it.
She was furious with him for what he'd done to her recently. He'd left her alone, a note being his only goodbye; he'd done a complete 180, changing sides and joining the Avatar to fight against the nation that was his home and her's. It was the pinnacle of betrayal to the country and to her.
He'd never hinted, never asked her if she would join him, and never straight out told her what he was doing and where he was going…until he left. She'd learned it all eventually, through a letter he'd rolled up and left on his bed for her to find.
He'd ripped out her heart, and apparently he'd been too cowardly to do it while looking her right in the eyes. Did he have any idea how much it would hurt her when he left the letter on the bed and walked away?
And then when she came to visit him in his prison cell—he'd been stupid enough to get himself caught—he told her that it wasn't about her, it was all about the Fire Nation and how he was saving it, which she believed to be a lie. He wasn't saving anyone by switching teams and helping the Avatar.
He'd told her that he didn't mean to hurt her…So then why did he leave a letter instead of sitting her down and discussing it with her? Did he think a letter was the better way to tell her because he'd be gone already and that way she couldn't object or stop him? If it was, it was cowardly. Cowardly, spineless, and heartless.
And although she still hadn't forgiven him—not as she ran to the gondolas in time to see him attempt to escape and not even as she sat in the dark and damp cell in which Azula had imprisoned her—she'd still helped him escape, and she'd still taken the heat from Azula for her act of treason. She'd saved his life, but not because she wanted to change sides like he had, but because she loved him. She would never have let the guards cut the lines with Zuko on that gondola.
Even after all the crap he'd put her through, she'd still risked her own life to help save him and aid him in his escape.
And even though she resented the terrible things he'd done to her which made her blood boil and made her want to grate her teeth, she still felt a powerful, warm surge of emotion run through her blood whenever she thought of him and their time together.
Even in the darkest cell in the deepest portion of the prison Azula had locked her and Ty Lee in, whenever Mai closed her eyes she could easily envision the sight of the setting sun as Zuko and she sat on a quiet hill leaning against each other, simply enjoying being together and in each others' presence. She could feel the ghost of the sun's warmth on her face. Whenever she thought of it, she felt an echo of the content, the comfort, and the love she'd felt at that moment. It wasn't the same, for it wasn't as strong and as real, but it provided her with a little comfort as she sat in her small, square cell, waiting for the long, lonely, and boring hours to pass by.
And no matter how hard the Fire Nation Princess tried to smear the image of Zuko that Mai had painted in her mind and held close to her, she never even managed to get the paintbrush on the canvas, because Mai refused to let her.