Well I'm back !!
They tried to stop me but I prevailed!
Okay so this is totally "Push Me Over The Edge"'s sequelso you haven't read that I would highly recommend checking it out or else the following will not make sense... like at all.
So yeah... Again this is a Zutara!
Don't like don't read and everyone's happy!
I do not own avatar ... I can wish, dream and beg but I still wont
Chapter One My Second Chance - Mai
If there was one thing Mai had learned through all her life experiences, it was not to trust anyone. She learned that the day her guards had turned on her, the day that Zuko fled for his own life and left her...the day when when Thi had invaded. The dark day's after that, where she spent each one in anguish, praying to any god-like force that would listen just to her, to take her life from her.
But still, she had lived...
Mai knew the feeling of falling, the wind in her hair, as for a few glorious seconds she flew through the air, weighing nothing, feeling nothing. For those few seconds she had not been beaten, for those few seconds she had not been raped...for a few seconds none of those horrible things had happened.
It had all been a bad dream.
It was the stuff of nightmares and as she fell off the cliff face, she woke up and came back to her senses... with a ear splitting scream. Only to have it be cut short as she hit the water that gushed in a dark swirling mass far below. Darkness and pain, darkness and pain.
And the every pulling, dragging, suffocating water forcing her down deeper...
xxxxxxx
"AH!", Mai screamed, scrabbling into a sitting position, sending the sheets twisting around the bed as she failed about. Her heart pounding in her ears as beads of cold sweat dripped slowly down her back, making her shiver even though a warm breeze was pouring in through a open window.
"Zuko!", she whispered shakily, looking over to her side where the Fire Lord was still fast asleep. His chest rising and falling evenly, his face relaxed as he dreamed of untainted things, left undisturbed by her outburst.
Sliding out of bed she pulled on her red silk robe from a nearby chair and slid silently over to the balcony, where she hoped the cool night air would clear her head. Mai practically drank the air into her lungs, trying her hardest to push all the memories from her mind and slow her still thudding heartbeat.
"Mai?", she turned to see Zuko, now sitting up and rubbing his eyes sleepily he looked over at her, a slightly alarmed expression on his scared face.
The man could sleep through an avalanche, but just the slightest movement or shift of weight on the bed would made him wake up in seconds. She smiled and shook her head at him, but she shouldn't think poorly of him...he had been the shoulder she leaned on these past few years.
Mai knew she leaned on him hard, it had almost been six years since...
Since the nightmares...
He got quickly out of bed, sensing her mood. Walking slowly over to her he wrapped his arms around her carefully. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, Zuko would protect her, he had sworn to her he would. On the night she had final told him everything that had really happened to her in his absence, he grabbed her hands and swore to her that no one would ever touch her like that again.
That as long as he lived, he would protect her.
"Mai?", she opened her eyes
"Yes"
"Feeling better?", he asked resting his head on her shoulder
"Much", she sighed
"Think you can go back to sleep now?" he asked.
She shrugged but let him lead her back to bed. He wrapped the sheets around her and kissed her forehead softly.
"Aren't you going back to sleep?", she asked, confused when he didn't join her.
"No, I'm awake now", his voice was muffled as he dug through a closet "I'll just finish the final preparations for Katara and Jouki"
Mai's eyes snapped open. Thats right they were coming tomorrow. She sat back up and watched as Zuko pulled a shirt on over his head. It was the first day of summer, and just like the first day of all the summer's since Katara's child could walk, she would come here.
For most of the summer.
Just the two of them.
"Already?", she sighed, not even attempting to guess the time.
"No use trying to sleep when the mind and body are restless" He replied.
She was tempted to point out that he had been out cold only a few minutes ago, but decided to bite her tongue instead.
"Besides its not that early", he finished.
She looked out at the sky that was still as black as a chunk of freshly mined coal or a bottle of rich, newly mixed ink.
"It sounds like your making poor excuses", she said slowly, watching him with a judgmental eye as he finished dressing.
He looked at her and rolled his amber eyes, "I just want everything to go smoothly tomorrow"
"Its just the two of them, not the king of the water benders or something!"
"They have a king?", Zuko asked, in a way where Mai couldn't tell if he was being serious or just making fun of her.
Mai sighed and flopped back down. Why the summer anyway? Why just Katara and the kid? She really didn't want to think about the water bender or her son right now. Zuko walked back over to her oblivious to her sour mood, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
"You know where to find me if you need me" he said before slipping silently out the door.
'Yeah' Mai thought dryly 'attached to Jouki at the hip'
Maybe it was because Mai could no longer bare children that lead Zuko to form such a strong relationship with the young boy. Maybe despite all the times Zuko had said he didn't care about her 'condition' were lies to make her feel better.
What kind of a queen was she if she could not give Zuko a child?
Mai sighed and buried herself deeper into the covers, praying the nightmares would leave her in piece for the rest of the night.
Memories have left you broken
and the scars have never healed
the emptiness in you is growing
theres so little left to feel
your scared to look back on the days before
too tired to move on, now you think your only one
If you're afraid to fly then I guess you never will
-Its the only one you've got
by three doors down
I only have a vague idea of what I want to happen in part of the story so if you have a idea please drop me a review
when I say idea I don't mean
"GET TOPH AND ANTHONY TOGETHER DAMN IT" (cough, Cho, cough)
or
"Zutara sucks, Kaang rules!"
I mean actual plot lines please people
I'll love you forever and give you a very yummy cookie...
