Fool Me Twice. . .
Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender
Zuko didn't know what Mai's problem was. They had parted in pleasant enough terms. She'd gone to bed early for Agni's sake! What had he done? The Fire Lord tried to think back to last night to see if he could remember anything he did that might have caused her anger. They all had eaten dinner; no one had said anything mean to Mai, had they said anything at all to her? No, not that he could remember. He supposed he had been a bit preoccupied with his own agenda that night. Still, Mai was use to sulking in the corner, ignoring her couldn't be the reason why she had taken off.
After dinner, most everyone had gone to their bedrooms, all except Himself and Katara. They had gotten up from the table; he had asked her if she would like to see the gardens outside. She had agreed, so they went out in the royal gardens to walk and chit chat. He had been wondering all night a specific question to ask her, and had finally gotten up the nerve to ask her.
"So, you and Aang…Are you together?" Katara looked a bit uncomfortable when he asked her this. She sat down on the nearby fountain and patted the seat beside her. Zuko sat and listened intently to what she had to say.
"He wants me to, and we hang out together almost every day, but I just can't…" She trailed off her sentence.
"What?" Zuko tried to get her to continue.
"I keep waiting for someone else to ask." She told him, her copper cheeks turning a shade of pink.
Zuko, being the type that didn't get subtle hints asked stupidly, "Who?"
Katara had rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's this guy, that I've always had this crush on, but he has a girlfriend right now. So I keep waiting to see if they'll make it or not, hoping that maybe he'll see I'm the right one…" Zuko's mind slowly put together the pieces, and his realization made him blush.
Katara took notice of his blush, and turned her face away from him, a bit ashamed for telling him the truth of the matter. "Katara." He spoke her name; his hand reached out and touched her shaking hand.
"Please, don't think too badly of me." She told him, embarrassed at her selfish desire.
It was true, Zuko was seeing Mai at the moment, but nothing meaningful had happened between them. He hadn't even seen the girl naked. They slept in separate beds, hung out during the day when it suits them, they shared fleeting kisses, but was it something he wanted to stick with forever? Deep down, he knew in his heart what he had really wanted, but he had always assumed Aang had called dibs on her. He didn't want to take something that belonged to the Avatar. So he sort of settled for Mai. Which sounded horrible, the word 'settled' but in all honesty, she wasn't the only thing he wanted in his life. There had always been a small voice, a hope in the back of his mind that maybe, someday, he could be with the girl he dreamed about. The girl whose name he had been calling out lately in his sleep. Katara.
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about you in that way." He told her, making her blue eyes gaze up at him with silent disbelief. They looked at one another, both thinking of how many times they had wanted to be able to tell each other their feelings. Katara took her right hand and placed it gently against the scarred part of his face.
"I'm in love with you Zuko. I have been for a long time now. Even if I'm wrong in doing so, I don't care anymore." She leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the lips.
Shortly after, he had taken her to his bedroom, where they proceeded to make love. He never wanted her to leave his side. Everything they did to one another, felt natural and right. Her breathing in his ear was warm and heavy as he entered her; claiming her for himself, marking her as his very own. She would never feel another man's touch the way she felt his. His mind was euphoric, the reality that he still was with Mai never even occurred to him. All he could think about was Katara, and all the things he wanted to do to her. When they had finished, the couple laid silently on the bed, both deep in thought of what was to come afterwards. She needed to leave before people began to awaken, so with a farewell kiss and a promise of returning to him when time allowed, she left.
When he was alone in his bed, the reality of what he had done still had not hit him. He felt too damn good to feel guilty about something so beautiful, so right. He would not and could not believe himself a bad person for following his heart. He rolled onto his side and fell into a blissful sleep.
Even when he had run into Mai, the thought of cheating on her for Katara had never crossed his mind. He had assumed she was just pissy about something else, and that that was why she had left the palace. But now, looking back on everything, maybe she had found out? Maybe she knew what he had done, had they forgotten to close the door all the way? Either way, what's done was done. He couldn't take back making love to Katara, and he didn't want to. Mai was a strong individual; she would cope and someday find someone else to fall in love with. Still, he had this feeling, that maybe doing this would somehow bite him in ass one day…
"He betrayed you, didn't he Mai?" Mai looked away from the cell, her head hung in silence.
"He betrayed you like he did his own family, what did you really expect?" Mai kept her head ducked down, ashamed. "Release me Mai, we'll get him back. Together." Mai looked up into those half mad eyes, the eyes she grew up with as a child.
"I need to think." Mai said, her voice echoing off the walls of the desolate tower.
"Take your time, it's not like I'm going anywhere." The other female voice began to laugh hysterically. Mai turned her back on the fallen princess and left to think about her options.