If You Leave

A/N: Ok, it's Christmas or what ever you celebrate. 99 most of us sit down and watch one of those really cheesy cartoons where one character decides to leave, and then everything gets ruined. Since Mai is my favorite character,: sighs: I had to give in. The only real difference is, this wont take place during a Christmas event, and there won't be multiple ghosts. I'm thinking just… hm…

No Flames please. Sorry this isn't really a pairing story.

Disclaimer: I don't own avatar. (I'm really getting sick of writing this -- )

Prologue

"I can get aggravated with you."

Mai jabbed the knife deeper and deeper into the chair where she was sitting. Azula was ranting about their failure again. "What's the point? All we ever do is lose the avatar once we have him. And you knew Iroh was going to escape." Mai muttered just a little too loud.

Azula spun around to look at her, "Are you opposing me Mai?" her voice tinged with rage.

Mai rolled her eyes and stood up, "This is pointless. I'm going for a walk."
Azula walked over to grab her shoulder, but Ty Lee stopped her just short.

"Calm down Azula, Mai's just as upset as we are about losing Iroh and Aang."

Azula stopped and let out a deep heated breath. "Fine." She slumped down onto her earth nation throne.

Mai growled deeply as she flopped down onto her black sheets. Her room seemed even darker today. She looked up at her cage holding her baby ferret-bat. It's beady red eyes looked up at her, "Hey yu-yu." It scratched its big ears with its sharp hairless paws that Ty Lee hated. It's furless tail, ears, and paws deterred the girl so, and Mai could not understand why. (Ty Lee's rhino-dog that she kept at home must have been the most hideous thing Mai had ever seen.) Yu-yu screeched for a moment, then retracted its fangs to it's mouth, noting Mai's current bleakness (though it would, to most, seem constant.) "You look well." It flapped its gray wings for a moment, indicating it's wanting out, and then laid back down in the cage. "I think I'm going to leave for a while. It seems that Azula's fed up with me…" Mai huffed, "That's fine. I'm getting a little irritated myself…" Mai glanced down at the dagger attached to her ankle. "…" Where would she go? Surely she wasn't about to abandon the fire nation, and if she left Azula she wouldn't have much left. Zuko was now within his sisters company, but completely ignored her. She would never be within that grasp of affection she wished for. "I'll think on it." She spoke to the dagger.

She sat up for a moment, and sighed aloud. Crossing her legs, and sitting up straight, she began to meditate as she was taught to in the Fire Nation Academy for Girls. She breathed in deep and began to repeat some odd phrase that Ty Lee had told her to use when practicing meditation, and surprisingly enough this had been the only one to actually calm her down. Mai felt a soft breeze touch her face and she sighed outward thinking over the events of the day that had lead her to this state of aggravation. "If I leave, if I disappear or if I die, would the world blink for a moment in my absence?" She grunted to herself.

"Yes." A voice replied.

Mai opened one of her eyes and barked an instinctive "Go Away." Until she noticed the obvious change in her surroundings. "What?" She looked around slowly at first, left, then right, over her shoulders, then at the man who had spoken to her. "…You're…." She paused for a moment, trying to remember her history lessons that she had so quickly brushed aside during school, "Roku?"

He nodded, "Do not allow yourself to be overcome with ridiculous ideas in a moment of strife child."

Mai stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. "I'll do what I want thanks."

Roku shook his head. "Come with me." He walked off into the swamp that Aang had passed through, and disappeared.

"…I'm not walking through that." Mai muttered until a shrill roar came from behind her and a large panda like beast stared her down. She glared at it for a moment, then decided to follow. Grunting as she stepped through the swampy muck. "So where exactly am I?" Mai knew full well that Roku could hear her.

"In the spirit realm my child."

"Sure." Mai muttered. "Alright, so what are we going to do while we're here 'oh great Avatar'?" She was already board with the unappealing events.

"You'd be best to watch yourself little one." Roku commented.

"Sorry." She spoke sarcastically.

"Your absence in the world, that's what we are about to investigate."

"…cool." Mai shrugged, realizing that this would confirm her question. If this was merely her mind going into some trance from meditating and just a dream, she was fine with that. She highly doubted her actual being in the spirit world would ever happen, but it was possible. Iroh said he had done it, so why not her? "So…"

"First, I'll show you how your absence will effect the Avatar's world."

A/n:Shrugs: not much to say. No flames please. (I'm having trouble keeping Mai in character in this one.)