disclaimer: I own nothing avatar, mike and Bryan are the geniuses.
As Mai lay awake in her bed,she had figured everything out. Her disaster date the night before helped her realize that she was still madly in love with Zuko. Not seeing him for weeks on end made her absolutely miserable. She had to see him, right now.
She barely made it through her morning shift. Lunch came, on her break, she wrote her aunt a note:
I have to go out for a while, there's some unfinished business... Be back by tomorrow night. I am taking Tom Tom with me.
She woke Tom Tom up and strapped the drowsy toddler on to her back.
"Where we going?" he asked.
"We're going out for a while, we'll be home later, I promise." she replied.
She dashed out of the door, making certain as not to be caught. She turned down the corner into an alleyway, and when the coast was clear, she walked out onto the main street, across town from the flower shop. Then, she ran ten blocks down to Capitol City.
When she finally reached the palace, she decided not to be caught by the guards. Instead, she went in the secret entrance that she had snuck through so many times to see Zuko. She ran down the endless corridors, and into the throne room. He wasn't there. A voice rang out from behind her,
"Mai!? Is that really you!?
She turned around to see her childhood friend, Ty lee, making a mad dash towards her. The young warrior dashed across the room and gave her old friend a tight hug.
Mai looked around, seeing nobody else. "Where is he?"
Before Ty lee could respond, Suki entered the room.
"Well, well, well. I never thought you'd come back," she said with a giggle, after a quick hug, the room turned silent. Mai glanced back at Tom Tom.
"Ty, take Tom Tom to see the turtle ducks. Suki and I need to catch up."
The young warrior untied the toddler and led him off into the courtyard.
When they were out of hearing range, the conversation began again.
"Where is he?" Suki heard the longing in her voice and saw it in her eyes, for the first time, she saw how vulnerable Mai could actually be.
"I don't know what to tell you, all I know is he went to find his mother, I haven't heard from them in weeks. "
"Wow, he actually meant what he said...shocker."
The room got quiet again, but Suki broke the silence before too long,
"So, what made you come back? And who is the kid?"
"The kid is my brother... My dad was holding him hostage in his crazy New Ozai group." Mai replied.
"That's rough." she hesitated, "Do you want me to tell him you were here?"
Mai thought for a moment, "No," she said, "I have an idea, follow me."
Mai dashed down the long corridor, into his room. She remembered she had the picture of them in her tunic. She pulled it out, flipped it over on the desk and wrote on the back with some ink. She wrote the following:
It's me. Look, I am really sorry. I miss you, I miss us. I know I made everything harder than it had to be, but I love you. Come find me when you get this.
Yours always,
Mai.
She sat on the bed, waiting for the ink to dry. Just sitting there made all the memories come back, all the times she fell asleep in his arms, all the nights that he spent venting over the stress of the crown, and all the times they shared in private. When the ink finally dried, she put the picture face up on his pillow. She walked out to the courtyard , tied Tom Tom up on her back, and hugged her friends goodbye.
She didn't feel like going back to the flower shop that night, instead she remembered that the key to her parents house was under the flower pots. She went into the house and settled in for the night. After she put Tom Tom down for the night, she went back into her room and laid down on her bed, window kept open. As she was drifting off, she stared at the palace. That night, she dreamt of Zuko coming back, and they would be together. In the middle of the night, she sat up, woken out of a dream, in the dark, she fell back on to pillow.
"Come back to me," she whimpered into the dark, only seconds later, she fell back asleep.