A/N: Finally finished this one! And, as you may have noticed, it doesn't quite fit the qualifications for a drabble...So I decided that from this point on, these prompts are going to be however long I feel like making them, regardless of whatever unofficial rule there seems to be about Maiko prompt length (take that, society! :D) So yeah, once again, (raises glass) here's to me being different!


Prompt #12: Tears

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"No one knows where she went or how he died. It happened so fast."

Azula's words from earlier still played through Mai's head. The princess had been relatively unmoved by the past day's events, which honestly didn't come as much of a surprise to Mai. Although her demeanor didn't have the same sort of aggressiveness that it usually did, and she seemed less prone to ordering her and Ty Lee around, but Mai suspected that was only temporary.

The princess recounted what she knew to Mai and Ty Lee, although her approach was removed and objective, as if she was a complete outsider to the events that had shaken the nation. Except for the parts involving Zuko, in which she spared no mercy.

"You know, it's strange how things have played out lately. First Lu Ten, then dear Uncle's disappearance, and now Grandfather and Mother," she pointed out rather loftily to them as they had tea together that morning. She sipped a bit before she continued with a dangerous smirk, "I wonder who will be next."

Naïve as she was, Ty Lee missed the insinuation. "Well, it's not gonna be you. Mai and I will make sure it's not. Right, Mai?" She looked over at Mai with wide eyes for support. She answered with a quiet, polite, and yet still indifferent, "Of course" before returning to her tea.

"I'm glad I can rely on you girls, at least," Azula replied a little too sweetly; the obvious fact that she could handle herself just fine went unsaid. Ty Lee just gave a big grin and bobbed her head up and down a few times, her erratic braid swinging in time.

"I think it's great that you're handling everything so well," Ty Lee said, adjusting herself so that she was sitting on her haunches. "I wish I could be as strong as you."

"Hm, I know," Azula said dismissively, "Unfortunately, the same can't be said about my brother." Ty Lee giggled and Azula smirked and gave them both that certain conspiratorial look, the tell-tale signs of another one of Azula's gossip sessions, which of course always centered on grilling Zuko.

"He's been moping around the palace ever since he got the news," Azula continued, false remorse laced in her tone, "I don't think Father would be too pleased to hear that the heir to his throne can't even handle his own feelings."

Azula's gaze fell on Mai, her expression soft but her eyes piercing, watching her carefully. Of course she had known about the relationship (or lack thereof) between Mai and the sorely unfortunate Zuko, mostly because she had orchestrated the majority of their interactions. So she dared Mai to disagree with her or start defending him.

But Mai's face remained as impassive as ever (a survival technique she had taught herself). Only a trained expert would notice that she hesitated, just slightly, in meeting Azula's stare. She settled on agreeing with her without outright insulting him.

"He'll learn to suck it up in time."

The stare lasted a few more seconds while Azula's frown deepened a little, as if she was disappointed in Mai's simple agreement. But in half an instant it was gone, replaced by a bored expression as she instead turned her attention to a perfectly manicured hand.

"He will, if he has an ounce of intelligence in him," she replied coolly, "Otherwise, he'll only disappoint Father more...if that's actually possible," she added with a snicker. Ty Lee chimed in with her exaggerated guffaws. Mai only frowned more.

In a decisive move, Mai took it upon herself to conveniently excuse herself to the washroom, informing Azula, then standing almost silently and drifting away.

"Oh, hurry back, Mai," Azula called casually to her quickly-retreating form.


She honestly didn't intend to end up in the garden, but somehow her feet had taken her there. As boring as the garden was, it still beat sitting around pretending to listen to Azula.

It was windier than she thought. The mid-spring cherry blossoms fluttered delicately past her and practically covered the pathway through the garden. Mai had never cared for them much herself; they reminded her too much of the perfume that her mother drowned her in whenever Mai had to attend a formal event.

The source of the blossoms rested near the turtleduck pond, its draping branches extending over the water. Partially obscured by all the branches was a small figure, sending what looked like chunks of bread barely flitting over the surface of the pond, one piece straight after the other. One narrowly missed one of the turtleducklings, prompting the mother to quack angrily and lead her brood away, toward the far end of the pond.

Pulling aside a curtain of branches, she found Prince Zuko sitting there, growling under his breath now that they were gone, but still tearing off chunks of bread from the loaf and whipping them across the water. He didn't even notice when she plopped down aside of him.

"You know, they might actually like to eat if they weren't attacked every time they tried," Mai said dully after a few minutes of him ignoring her and her getting bored.

He jumped a little at her voice, the loaf almost falling in the water. "What are you doing here?" He sneered rudely, crossing lanky arms against his chest. "Did my sister send you here or something?"

Apparently, the week-old fountain prank was still fresh in his mind. And he still partly blamed her for it. Wonderful.

"No," she replied shortly, in the same tone as before.

"Oh." His expression softened, part of his anger melting away. They both stared at the ground for a few more minutes.

"Then why are you here?" He asked blankly, deciding to break the silence.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I was bored."

"Oh." Silence ensued again. Zuko fidgeted with a loose thread on his sleeve. Mai sighed.

"It's not fair...she doesn't even care," he said sullenly, completely out of the blue.

"What?" Surprised, Mai blinked a little, even though she suspected she knew where this was going.

"Azula," he clarified, not bothering to hide the contempt in his tone. "Our whole family's gone, and she doesn't even care! No one does." She noticed he failed to mention the only other remaining member of his family, but somehow she knew that wasn't a mistake.

"Just because they don't care...doesn't mean you're not allowed to," Mai said quietly, suddenly feeling shy around him.

"I know that," he said sourly, propping his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands. Mai tried not to take any offense.

"So what's the problem, then?"

"Who said I had a problem?" He snapped, sending her a glare. She just looked at him. Eventually, he heaved a sigh and looked away. "Ok, fine. Maybe I do."

"...Well?" She asked expectantly.

"I don't know!" He said hotly, turning on her again. "Did you just come here to bug me about this?"

"You brought it up," she reminded him. It didn't help.

He shot her a look before deciding to feel bad for himself and brood silently. Mai watched him carefully, waiting patiently.

In doing so, she started noticing the strangest things about him. Like how his hands, still held in fists under his chin, seemed like they could easily be twice as large as hers. Or how his lips, even when they held a frown, still looked appealing. Or that his skin, in general, was tanner than she remembered it being, confirmed by the fact that it was still white close to his hairline. Maybe he had been practicing firebending forms in the blistering heat that had recently swept the nation...

Mai flushed at the thought and immediately banished it to the depths of her mind, knowing that the pink on her cheeks had nothing to do with the thought of the hot weather.

"I just feel like it's...kind of my fault...I guess." Zuko's voice suddenly entering her thoughts didn't help at all, and it took all of her willpower to school her expression into impassivity and not become any redder. "I saw her before she left, you know," He informed her with a sudden added degree of storytelling zeal.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, licking his lips a little, his eyes now half-lidded and very, very distant. "I think I was the last person to see her. She woke me up in the middle of the night, said something about protecting me and not forgetting who I was...and then she just left. Just like that."

Although it was an interesting and sad piece of information, Mai couldn't exactly say it was surprising. She'd often seen Zuko and his mother together; it was obvious that they were close. Of course she would leave him with something before falling off the face of the earth. Although she had no idea what Ursa was talking about when she said protecting...it only increased the mystery of the royal conspiracy in Mai's mind. But Mai never bothered herself with politics when she didn't have to, considering she got more than enough of that in her own household.

Still, it was a little heart-wrenching to see Zuko so distressed, and she took pity on him for having two of the most unpleasant people she knew of as the only remaining members of his family. Unless the General decided to return to the Fire Nation...that was assuming he survived whatever "spirit world" journey some claimed he was currently taking.

"I'm sorry," she began softly, putting a small hand on his shoulder, hoping it would suffice.

"I should have said something! I could have stopped her! She would've listened to me!" He lamented, only bowing his head more.

Mai knew, even as uninvolved as she was, that that wasn't true, as regrettable as it was, and she wasn't about to let him beat himself up for nothing. "Zuko, I think her mind was already made up—"

"How do you know? You weren't even there!" He retorted nastily, and Mai snapped her hand away as if his shoulder had suddenly ignited. "If I told her to stay, she would have listened! I know she would've..."

He turned his face away from her, now looking just as helpless as she knew he felt. Even with him trying to hide himself like he was, she still saw when a single drop escaped from between heavily scrunched lids, slowly making its way down his face. He must have felt it, because he began angrily wiping at his face with his sleeve, probably just embarrassed that a girl had seen it. Mai didn't care.

Instead, she pulled his arm away before he could rub off his whole face, holding it gently for a little, but still having enough discretion not to look directly at him. They just sat, Zuko trying to regain his broken world, Mai as his silent support.

"I feel like the whole world's against me now. I don't know what to do," he finally mumbled. He pulled a loose blossom from the ground, tearing off the petals one by one, letting the breeze carry them away. "It's like they all expect me not to care, too."

Mai knew the feeling all too well. Her entire life depended on her ability to mask emotion- from her parents, from other aristocrats, from Azula. It wasn't a pleasant thing, but it was at least a little comforting to know that someone shared the predicament.

Maybe those expected not to care could care for each other.

"That doesn't mean you're alone," she told him, voicing her thoughts.

He looked up from the cherry blossom abruptly, donning a befuddled expression. "What d'you—"

She only smiled faintly in response, looking away when she felt pink tinge her cheeks again. It was kind of cute, if only a little annoying, how dense he could be sometimes.

Realization spread across his face almost comically, from his huge eyes to his half-open, gaping mouth. "You? You care?" He asked stupidly, obviously not quite believing the circumstances. Mai didn't say anything, still half-regretting saying anything at all. What it really that hard to believe?

"Why?" He asked, suddenly sounding breathless. She noted that he no longer seemed capable of making direct eye contact.

Because I feel bad, and your family is evil. Because you're a big dweeb and someone has to look out for you. Because I think I l—

She shrugged as casually as she could. "Because it would be stupid not to."

He nodded slowly, numbly, the dopey look still plastered onto his face. "Oh...okay. Thanks." And then it was replaced by a deliberating expression as he mulled some unknown thought over.

"Uh...I'm sorry about the whole fountain thing...by the way," He finally added awkwardly, the words rushed, "I know you didn't have anything to do with it and—"

"It's fine. It doesn't matter," she told him. Even though it did matter to her, just not the way he thought.

"So um...friends?"

"Sure," Mai agreed anticlimactically.

He stood then, brushing the dirt off his pants and then offering Mai a hand. She took it and he pulled her off the ground too. It was warm, like she imagined firebenders' hands always were, and she was too distracted by this and the fact that her assumption from before was correct (her pale hand never looked smaller to her) to notice that he didn't let go of it when he should have.

Then they both realized it at the same moment. Zuko's face flushed, and he whipped his hand away, placing it behind his head and shifting his gaze to the greenery around them.

"I should be getting back. Azula will be wondering where I went," Mai said truthfully, feeling her spirit sink just at the thought of it.

Zuko nodded briskly. "Y-yeah. You should...do that," He finished lamely.

Mai took off at a fast pace back to the palace, her mind too muddled to even brainstorm an excuse to tell Azula.

Zuko watched her the whole way, and couldn't help but think to himself that maybe girls weren't as crazy as he had thought.