Having always loved A:tLA, I thought it was high time I wrote a fanfiction. Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender. I'm just a fan who loves it.

"Destiny is dead,

in the hands of bad luck,

before it might have made some sense,

but now it's all ****ed up." -Green Day, Insomniac, "Stuart and the Ave."

Mai's POV

She could no longer stand it. The way he always seemed distracted when she wanted to talk to him, his lack of interest in anything, it all just combined in such a way to disgust the heck out of Mai. He was Fire Lord now, what more could he possibly want? He had his mother back, the world was at peace, and his, no their, friends came to visit fairly often. So what was wrong with Zuko?

These questions and more had been plaguing the dark-haired girl named Mai for some weeks now. She is the fiancée of Fire Lord Zuko. Her life should be perfect; the war has been over for five years now. Instead, Mai spends her days roaming the Fire Nation capitol looking for something to do because of the sheer frustration she feels when she is around Zuko.

Everything was going great until that awful day, a month ago, when she came to visit. They had been making wedding plans like there was no tomorrow. Mai's days were spent trying on wedding dresses and getting people lined up while her bride's maids, Ty Lee, Katara, and Suki, watched on. Suki had recently been married herself, to Katara the waterbender's older brother Sokka. It was only a matter of time before Ty Lee married her earthbending boyfriend Haru, and Katara and Avatar Aang had been a pair since the end of the war. That only left one person in Team Avatar who hadn't been paired off with someone. Toph Bei Fong, the blind earthbender girl and the one who had taught Aang to earthbend.

Mai had not had any reason to dislike Toph. In fact, she had rather liked Toph. Toph knew when to keep to herself and never pried, unlike Mai's best friend Ty Lee. Maybe Toph being blind gave her a sixth sense for those kinds of things, but whatever it was, Mai liked it. Toph was pretty, but more in the way you would say a flower was pretty than in the way you would say a woman was beautiful or something.

On that particular day, Toph had managed to convince her overprotective parents to let her come from the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation by herself. After all, Toph was seventeen now and her "earth sense" more developed than ever. Toph could take care of herself, despite being blind. That was another thing Mai liked about Toph. Toph never let anyone tell her what she could or could not do.

Toph had come into the palace in a blaze of glory, managing to upset three servants in the process. She had come into Mai's quarters and had been offering unhelpful, but witty, advice on dress selection when Ty Lee and Suki got the idea into their heads to dress Toph up.

"Come on, Toph. It'll be fun," Ty Lee had said to her.

"Yeah, Toph, just this once, try it," Suki had begged.

Toph had simply snorted and replied frostily, "Well, it's not like I'll be able to see how ridiculous you make me look. So what the heck, I've got nothing better to do, go ahead."

Suki and Ty Lee had led her off into the bathing rooms, leaving Mai and Katara alone to decide on a good dress. Roughly an hour later Ty Lee had emerged, looking ecstatic. "You guys are not going to believe your eyes!" she had squealed, "May I present to you future Fire Lady Mai, and you Princess Katara, daughter of the last chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Lady Toph Bei Fong of the Earth Kingdom."

Mai and Katara had exchanged a glance, wondering what elicited the formality on Ty Lee's part. When Toph emerged from the bathing rooms, Suki clutching her arm in almost reverence, they had understood.

Toph had stood there, not in her usually messy Earth Kingdom garb, but in a flowing, strapless, green silk dress that ended just above her ankles. Her feet were bare as usual, but the dirt had been scrubbed from her toenails, and for that matter, her fingernails as well. Her hair was down and fell to her shoulders, and her bangs had been brushed back and secured with a flowery headband, different from the green one she usually sported. Her face was the most breathtaking part of the whole ensemble, however. A very light blush had been applied to her cheeks, giving her the look of having just been out on a hot summer day. This was not what made it though. It was the pale wintergreen eye shadow that had been applied around her eyes that drew a person in. The eye shadow brought out the pale green of her sightless eyes so as to make their perpetual murkiness unnoticeable and instead brought out the true beauty that resided in them.

All of this would have been wonderful if Mai's fiancée had not chosen that exact moment to let himself into her room unannounced. Zuko had opened the door, and then he had just stood there, staring at Toph like she just come down from the sky and forgotten her angel's wings. "Who-who is she?" he had asked, his voice full of some emotion Mai still did not want to acknowledge.

Then Toph, in her way, had returned that with, "What you don't recognize me Twinkle Toes? Do I really look that bad?"

Zuko, with his way with words, had stuttered out, "Uh, quite the opposite, Toph. You look, um, you look…"

"I look what?" Toph had asked him, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"You look…magnificent," Zuko had managed to get out, sounding breathless.

At the praise Toph cheeks had flushed a deeper red than the blush that was already on them. Mai had felt a strange tinge annoyance creeping up in her at the praise Zuko had given Toph. She had glared across the room at her fiancée, but his scarred eye was turned toward her and he didn't seem to notice. Actually, he really didn't seem to be noticing anything much at the moment besides Toph.

"You really think so?" Toph had then asked Zuko, a thrill of excitement barely creeping into her question.

"Yeah, I really do," Zuko had replied, a weird little smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Mai had sighed loudly and interjected into their conversation, "Well, now that we've established how nice Toph looks, shall we get back to my dress?"

Zuko had started, as if he had just realized that Mai was in the room. He had murmured something about pressing business elsewhere and then left. Everyone else had seemed to understand that something awkward had just taken place and went back to what they were doing before.

That was it. That was the day when Mai's life had went from being great to the exact opposite. She suspected Zuko's sudden lack of interest in her was because of Toph. He had realized that the blind, twelve-year-old girl he'd first become friends with had grown into a quite beautiful young woman. Toph was the one person who hadn't doubted Zuko's sincerity when he said he wanted to join Team Avatar. She was the one who had been willing to give him a chance. Obviously, Toph had always felt something for Zuko; whether or not she knew it was the question. Mai thought that if Toph did not know that she felt something for Zuko, then Mai might still have a chance. If Toph did know, and if she knew that Zuko was beginning to feel something for her, than Mai might as well pack her bags. No, she thought, I've got to stick things out. Perhaps everything will turn out for the best.

At that moment Zuko came out onto to the veranda where Mai had been seated and interrupted her thoughts.

"Hello, Mai. Lovely day, isn't it?" Zuko said to her, for once seeming happy to see her.

Mai's hopes soared. "It's okay, a little warm for my taste," she remarked, and then she frowned. What were they doing discussing the weather?

"Yes, yes," Zuko replied, back to being distracted. "Toph is coming to see us next week," he said barely contained excitement in his tone.

That was the last straw. The only reason Zuko had come out to talk to her was to tell her that Toph was coming.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll enjoy that," she retorted, her voice dripping sarcasm.

Her statement made Zuko turn around to look at Mai. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, seemingly confused.

"Don't play dumb with me, Zuko. I've seen the way your eyes go all glassy and you get that stupid little grin on your face whenever you talk about her. Ever since that day you saw her in my room, when Suki and Ty Lee made her up, you've acted like I'm not even here. I get it. You like her more than you like me. Well, you won't have to be conflicted anymore, because I'm leaving," Mai finished shouting, and then she turned and went into the palace.

"Mai wait! I-" Zuko called, trying to follow her.

"Save it, Zuko. Nothing you could say now can change the damage that's already been done. I'm doing you a favor by leaving," she stated, her eyes welling up with tears. She went into her room and started throwing clothes into a bag and gathering some of her possessions. She stopped then, and she stared at the engagement ring Zuko had given her.

Not knowing what else to do, she pulled off the diamond studded band and sat it on the nightstand by her bed. As an afterthought, she went to her desk, pulled out a piece of parchment, and scribbled a fast note, setting it on the nightstand beside the ring.

With that, Mai took one last look at the room that had been her home, shut the door, and left.

Well, what do you all think? Reviews please!

Oh, and I decided to begin every chapter with the line from a Green Day song. Please excuse the starred out words. I didn't want to change it too much from the original, and I don't like to swear if I can help it, so I changed it up a little. Oh, and I don't own Green Day either. Yeesh, I couldn't imagine what BJ would do if someone tried to own him... XD

~Cori