my trancey inspiration: Mai has a different kind of happiness with Aang than she did with Zuko. As for Katara and Aang, they can overcome anything but Zuko and Katara must hit bottom because only then will they understand what it is to be completely devoted to someone and vice versa.
Air-Nomad: I was so glad to read your review. That was exactly what I was going for. Aang is just a sweet guy and anybody's emotional pain hurts him. He likes harmony its in his culture so he responds in kind. As for trusting her. It still has some way to go.
coolmac1718: I'm gonna have a hard time making you guys love Katara again aren't I? She is selfish and is very flawed so she responds in a bratty way. She has to see that she isn't the main focus for Aang anymore. Mai will feed her some humble pie, just read.
Shinobi Bender: Thank you. I was really proud of the Maang. They have a innocent sweetness its because Aang understands the regulation Mai has grown up with and he strives to bring out her gushy side. I had such a problem with document manager. This one is hopefully as well done as the last one.
guy:I love your hope for Mai/Aang. I might just do two endings. Katara is an immature teenager with insecurities that stem from her losses. She can't love easily and when she does it scares her and runs.
youn2731: Sadly you are correct. Mai does deserve him more. I watched the Southern Raiders episode and I was appalled at how mean Katara can be to Aang. He can be tolerant, believe me he is nowhere near forgiving her.
MikeJCaboose: No, he will not forgive "Magically." (I spit my cheerios when I read that) He just wants peace that is why he told her that. It will give her something to work for. Mai will not be easily won and Aang knows that.
Sifu arizony: Mai is given very little in canon and I like pulling a personality out of her. I believe she is more sensitive and easily hurt than the others. She just hides it well. Katara pursuing Aang is part of her penance, she is not going to get him on a silver platter.
doctor antony: Aang wanting to be friends is his way of not fighting with her. I do have a ridicously easy time writing Maang. Though I'm a devout Kataang. Go figure!
The long awaited fight. I rewrote this thing like five times and yet not totally satified. I tried but you guys will have to tell me if I did ok. Describing attack moves is harder than I thought.
Zuko will finally make an apparance and all hell's gonna break lose. Poor Aang!
By the time he was ready to face the girls he no longer wanted breakfast. Despite all his meditation the knot in his stomach refused to go away. 'There was no helping it. It was his job to make peace reign. If he could do it with the Fire Nation, how hard could it be with just Mai and Katara?' Aang would later regret those thoughts.
"Twinkletoes. You're finally here. Just in time too." Toph shouted across the courtyard.
"In time for what?" he queried gratefully taking the bowl of rice Sokka handed him. 'Please don't say it, not right now.'
"To break up your girlfriends before they bust the temple." Toph mumbled as a piece of debris flew not more than a few inches from her head.
"What?" he yelled spitting what little rice he had managed to eat. He rounded on Sokka. "Why didn't you come and get me or better yet, why didn't you stop them?" Aang rubbed his temples the beginning of a headache making itself known.
Sokka held out his hands as if holding a scale. "Get between Mai, who could pin me to a tree by my organs or Katara, who can freeze me then pin me to a tree by my organs. Are you crazy? that is one experience I would rather do without."
"She's your sister, how could you be afraid of her? Aren't you the one that was always talking about defending her?" Aang shouted exasperated by their lack of concern. 'Did they not realize how much damage could be done if they weren't stopped.'
"Don't blame Snoozles. I'm a master and I wouldn't go near those two right now." Her hands quickly put up a barrier. The sharp thump of several sharp weapons hitting the other side. "Relax, they just need to get it out of their system. It'll be fine."
"No, I'm sick of fighting. I'm going to put a stop to it. They used to be friends if they can't be that than they'll have to tolerate each other. I will not have my home turned into a battle arena." Aang snapped taking a high dive and gracefully gliding off.
They jumped up and scurried further into the interior when their rock wall was sliced in half. "Do you think he stands a chance?" Sokka asked the blind girl.
Toph put her hand to her chin in contemplation, "He might, he did look pretty angry."
"What set them off anyway? I thought Katara said she was going to apologize to Mai."
Toph hadn't heard the full argument but she knew Katara had mentioned Zuko and that had set the other girl off. "She did but then I heard yelling and something about Aang not being some sort of consolation prize. Then the fighting began and I ducked out of the way."
"If I had known Mai had taken her knives I'd have stopped Katara. Everything was fine before she got here. Is it wrong to wish my sister wasn't here."
Toph patted his back feeling sorry for the poor boy. "I think it's the turmoil you don't want. Sadly we both knew nothing good was going to come out of her dalliance with Zuko. I agree with Mai, Aang is not some sort of puppet. I don't think Katara has grasped that yet. She still assumes he'll follow her around like he used to."
Sometime later Aang reached the bridge and ran across it, heedless of the ravine beneath him. He deflected a lash of water putting on an extra burst of speed. Since he was still recuperating he stumbled to his knees. With a painful hitch in his side, he pushed aside the vegetation and took in the sight before him.
Katara and Mai were standing about thirty feet from each other in what looked like a large bowl cut from the earth. Both panting and struggling to hold on to their weapons. "What makes you think you can waltz back into our lives and do whatever you please?" Mai leaped and slid behind a boulder as Katara unleashed deadly ice pieces.
"Your lives? How long have you known Aang? About a year." Katara snorted. "I've known him since he came out of the iceberg." She brought up a stream of water that caught the knife inches from her nose.
"Says the one who cheated." Mai shouted letting loose a barrage of thin mini knives.
"That's rich coming from the one wearing robes that don't belong to her. How long before you put the moves on Aang." the waterbender shrieked using her trademark water whip to shove the girl hard against the rock quarry they were battling in.
"About as long as you took with Zuko." Mai recovered, running the length of the quarry and flinging another projectile ripping Katara's water pouch in half. "Tell me did he send you away or did you really leave on your own so you could pursue Aang?"
Katara stuck her arms out and yanked the water from the air slapping the other girl down to the ground. "I left. Not that it's any of your business," she retorted.
"Get bored did you. Is there any boy you haven't let on?" Mai mocked. She back flipped and threw the sharp adornment in her hair.
"Does Aang like your hair down? Cause its how he likes mine. Coincidence?" Katara lifted a wave and dropped it on the stunned girl. Mai remained submerged and she kicked hard trying to break free from the water bubble Katara had fashioned.
Her face contorted in fury, Mai launched herself out of the bubble and landed directly on Katara. She pierced Katara's sleeves and slammed them into the ground. She kicked her other pouch away.
Breathing hard Mai kneeled on Katara, her knife inches from the younger girl's throat. "He sleeps with me every night. It's my face he wakes up to. It was me that helped restore his home. I'm the one who is cherished enough to wear his people's colors. I gave him back the confidence you stole from him."
Mai grabbed her by the hair, forcing her head to the right where Aang watched in horror. "What have you done but tear him to pieces. He loves you still and all you can think of is yourself. You don't deserve him." Mai whispered and let go springing away from her.
Katara got up painfully. She sat back on her heels, her guilt splaying across her person. It weighed her down. "It was an accident. I never meant to break your trust. I was overwhelmed with all my duties. You knew the pressure on me from the peace committee to birth Airbenders as soon as possible. You knew and all you could talk about was how wonderful Zuko was. You weren't there for me and he was." she cried.
Mai's scream of outrage was the only warning she gave as she flung a knife at her. Her hair loopie spiraled to the ground and Katara gasped and wiped the blood of her face. "You didn't have to share him with the world."
"Is that why you did it? Is that why couldn't you leave my Zuko alone. Because you couldn't have Aang all to yourself. Zuko was mine. You were my sister, my confidant. How could you take the one thing I most cared about. You knew how I felt about him, I told you and you took him anyway."
Aang's heart went out to Mai, he had often wondered that same question.
"I was so afraid to disappoint Aang." She spoke to the dirt digging her nails into it. "He was so sure I was the one but I was just a fourteen year old. I wasn't ready to have a family. I wanted to be his wife not the Avatar's. I couldn't commit to him without telling him the truth, I didn't want to lose him." Katara broke down, blood and tears mingling on her face.
Mai stood over the girl, "He would have understood. He loved you and he would have found a way for you to be together. He did everything he could to please you." Mai snarled. "In return you went behind his back, behind my back. I will never forgive you."
Katara looked up at her, her eyes wide as she clung to the edge of Mai's clothing. "Mai, please. I need to make amends. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. To make it up to Aang. I'm begging you."
Aang blinked tears obscuring his vision of Katara begging at Mai's feet.
"You want forgiveness, Katara. Turn back time and give us back what you stole. Give back Aang an unbroken heart. Give me back my friend. Can you do that?" Mai asked.
Katara shook her head and let go, her hands helplessly embedded in the earth. Mai looked up and caught Aang's eye. She cut across and climbed out walking to him. He looked away from her. Mai brushed past him but he spun her around angrily. "You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to humiliate her."
"How many times do you suppose she humiliated us by laying with him. How many times did you wake up crying in my arms because of her." Mai twisted out of his grasp. "You weren't there when I caught them. You don't know what I saw. Their image will forever be imprinted in my mind Aang.
Her face hardened, "No amount of her tears will ever wash that away."
He stayed in the same spot, his heart breaking in two for the women he loved and the misery they had caused each other. 'Would his confrontation with Zuko go any better?'