The replacement scenes from this episode went a little longer than I expected, so I've had to split it into two. Enjoy!

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Boiling Rock Pt 2 (Scene 1) – When Mai finally corners Zuko in the prison

Zuko slumped in the chair, eyes firmly fixed on the ground. He couldn't look to his right where Mai leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Or if he was being honest, he didn't dare to look. He couldn't blame her for being angry, or at least as angry as Mai would ever show, outwardly.

Her anger was in her silence that weighted the air between them, despite the door being wide open. It didn't so much crackle as coil, pinning him against the cold metal with its tendrils and waiting to be acknowledged. He struggled to find some words, any words.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Because I know you so well," came her dry response. He didn't even need to look at her to know she'd be glaring at him with narrowed eyes.

Coming here hadn't even been his idea. "But, how—"

Footsteps clicked against the metal floor, circled behind him. "The warden's my uncle, you idiot."

Zuko groaned, buried his face in his hands. Idiot indeed. He should have remembered that.

He didn't know how to deal with her cold anger. It would be so much better if she would yell at him, slap him, shout in his face. Give him something to react to and push against so they could drag their thoughts and emotions out into the open and do something about them instead of sitting here stupidly.

He could still hear Katara's voice from the crystal caverns in Ba Sing Se, accusing him of spreading war and violence and hatred. His own raised voice, retorting that she had no idea what she was talking about. Her eventual admission of all the Fire Nation—his nation—had taken from her, including her mother. His own admission that they'd done the same to him.

If only he could yell at Mai like that, and they could sort their issues out. But that would hurt her even more, instead of fixing anything. He'd already hurt her enough with his abrupt departure, but he'd also known she could never understand. She was loyal to her country, and to Azula.

From behind, there was a rustle of fabric and paper. He looked up to a familiar sheet he'd hoped never to see again.

"The truth is," Mai said, "I guess I don't know you. All I get is a letter? You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart."

He'd known, of course, that he'd be hurting Mai when he left. He could hardly take her with him even if she'd been willing to go, not when her family might have been branded traitors and locked up like Uncle. Not when she cared about what happened to them despite the constant indifference she affected.

Not when she still didn't know what it was she wanted.

His hands twisted against one another, and his voice cracked on the words. "I didn't mean to—"

"You didn't mean to?" Amazing how she could combine incredulousness and disdain so perfectly. "Dear Mai, I'm sorry that you have to find out this way, but I'm leaving."

"Stop!" How could he make her understand why he'd had to leave? How could he make her see something that had taken him an uncle he didn't deserve, and a banishment, and getting everything he'd ever thought he wanted, to see for himself? "This isn't about you. This is about the Fire Nation!"

"Thanks, Zuko." She flung the letter at him, and he finally found the courage to meet her gaze. "That makes me feel all better."

He stood up and tried to close the gap between them, but she backed away. "Mai, I never wanted to hurt you." He tried again, took another step forward. She took another one back. "But I have to do this to save my country."

That got her attention. She stepped forward, hands reaching into her sleeves. "Save it? You're betraying your country!"

"That's not how I see it." He met her gaze, willed her to understand. "Please, Mai—"

She withdrew her hands, and they were blessedly empty. He wouldn't be stumbling out of here with stab wounds… yet.

"I know we were taught that the Fire Nation is the greatest civilisation, and the War was how we shared that greatness with the world. I believed it too." He didn't know why he was so desperate for her to understand, but the desperation drove the words out of him anyway. "We're destroying the world instead. We're destroying ourselves, chasing all this glory and honour, whatever the cost."

Mai leaned back against the wall, nails tapping on the linen of her dress. She'd calmed herself enough to imitate Azula's devil-may-care look, masking whatever emotions she was feeling inside. Even now, Zuko struggled to read her.

"My father's entire political career that our family sacrificed so much for, and the provinces he administrated and took care of, that was all pointless?" Her hands tightened into fists. "That was destroying the world and the Fire Nation?"

"That's what I'm trying to say!" Already he was on the verge of yelling, which would only make Mai shut him out completely. He pictured how Aang and Katara meditated each day, and took a deep breath to calm himself. "We're weakening ourselves from the inside, so focused on our honour that we think it's acceptable to challenge a thirteen-year-old boy to an Agni Kai, or, or…" He remembered what she'd told him of her own journeys with Azula. "Or trade off our own family member for a powerful king."

Her arms fell limply to her sides. He'd hit her hard and he pressed his advantage. "I know you didn't want to sacrifice Tom-Tom, but you did it because Azula said so and you knew what was expected of you and your family. But the Mai who would do that isn't the real you. Just like at the war meeting, I was the perfect son, but I wasn't the real Zuko."

"Tell me then." She tried to hide the tremble of her words with sharpness, but he could still hear it. "Everything we had before you ran off to save the world. That wasn't the real Zuko either?"

"Aaaaaargh!" His frustrated yell echoed off the walls. "That's not it!'

The guards at the door drew their weapons but were quelled by a gesture from Mai and quickly shuffled out of sight.

"Then what was it?" Her voice dropped dangerously low. "Because I'd rather like to know why you played with my heart."

Zuko paced from one wall to another, his shadow stretching across the small cell. "I gave you everything I was at the time. All my secrets and my fears. I loved you."

"Oh, just what a girl wants to hear." She stopped him as he spun on his heel at the wall, and pushed him roughly against it with one hand. "Not I love you, but I loved you."

He had loved her, though, or at least he believed he had. It was easy to think yourself in love with someone within the comfortable confines of a ruling city; within the expectations of the upper classes. But standing here where he was a traitor and she was the Warden's niece, he was forced to confront all the ways he'd changed. And all the ways she hadn't.

"This is who I am now." He gently pushed her hand aside and straightened, brushing his hair from his face so his scar was in full view. Daring her to look at all of him. "I know what kind of person I want to be, and what I want people to remember of my life when I'm gone, and damn anyone's expectations of me." She looked aside, and he shifted to catch her gaze again. "Forget who your parents or Azula want you to be, or what they want you to do, or—" He lowered his voice with his gaze, "—or who you're expected to be with. Who are you, Mai, and what do you want?"

She slapped him hard enough to make his eyes water. "You thought I was your girlfriend just because you were Prince Zuko? Thanks for letting me know what you really thought of me."

He wanted to blast some fireballs right now. Why couldn't he say anything right?

"I didn't mean that either!"

Mai glared at him. "No, because you don't mean anything you say, do you?"

"All I mean is—"

He stopped, unable to find the words. He could hardly tell her what she needed. Neither could he tell her that he needed someone who wouldn't just accept him but who would made him want to do be better. Someone who didn't mind that he displayed his emotions so freely, and stood up to him with her own. Who showed him how to care for a nation, by how she cared for those around her despite the drudgery or lack of appreciation at times.

Well, damn. That was not a path he wanted to explore right now, with his ex-girlfriend in front of him.

"I meant that we're different people, Mai." She didn't look convinced. "We're—"

He was cut off as a guard loomed in the doorway, though his menacing aura was diminished by the way he fidgeted with his sword. "Ma'am, there's a riot going on! I'm here to protect you!"

It was time for the escape. He had to get to the prison yard and meet up with Sokka, Suki, and the rest. He growled under his breath. Again, he knew what he had to do, but he wouldn't have time to explain it to Mai.

Zuko laughed and stepped aside to leave a clear space between Mai and the guard. It also conveniently left him standing closer to the door. He pointed at Mai. "Believe me, she doesn't need any protecting."

The guard strode toward her anyway. "I'm sorry, but I'm under direct orders from your uncle to make sure nothing happens."

Which left Zuko with an clear run to the door. He wasn't worried about the guard getting in his way, but he was worried about Mai. She was a little too good with her knives for his comfort.

He aimed his blast of fire at the gap between the guard and Mai. The guard leapt in front of Mai to protect her, which also blocked Zuko from her line of sight as he raced for the door. She flung the guard aside and raced after him, but she was too late.

He slammed the door shut, a heavy iron wall between them. The guard had left the keys in the lock, and the tumblers clicked into place with an echoing finality.

"I hope you find what it is you really want," he whispered, the only parting words he could think of.

As he turned away, her glare made him certain that the only thing she wanted right now was to rip out his heart in return.