What If Zuko Won?

Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar

Epilogue 11: Zuko and Mai, or, Oops I Did It Again

"You know, Uncle, I've been thinking..." Fire Lord Zuko said to the person in all the world he was closest to.

As the reception wound down, some of the participants grew more thoughtful.

Maybe it was the fire ale talking.

Maybe it wasn't.

"Uh oh! Call out the army! Ha! Joking! What's on your mind, nephew?" a jolly, partied-up Iroh replied.

"It's about Mai. We didn't...part...on amicable terms, and I've been thinking, maybe I should do something to change that. Like, right now!

"I don't think a midnight visit to a former girlfriend is the wisest course of action, Zuko." a much more sober Iroh advised. "A woman must be wooed, not..."

"Fire Lord Zuko, sir!" the new Captain of the Guard announced, interrupting the conversation. "The traitors got away, but we did catch this ruffian stealing food!" he said as he presented a bound & shackled young woman to the Fire Nation ruler.

"And I would have gotten away with it, too, if that human jumping bean hadn't hit my arms, making them useless! All I needed was another second to gum the doorknob and open the door..." the petite girl said.

"What? No no no. That's An Sui! She's one of the 'heroes of the war' who fought Zindao and his traitors! You're going to have to let her go!" Zuko ordered the Captain. Then he looked at An Sui and said "You do know the food was free, don't you?"

"So? I do what I want!"

One moment An Sui the prisoner, with two beefy guardsmen flanking her, stood impotently before the Fire Lord. The next, she had his crown in her mouth.

"What the?? Give me that!" an annoyed Zuko yelled as he swiped his royal headpiece out of the brazen teen's mouth. "Get her out of here!"

"That crown's mine, Lordie boy! Mine, you hear me!" An Sui crazily hollered, and then laughed, as the guards dragged her out of the reception hall.

As if Azula wasn't bad enough! Zuko thought as he cleaned the delinquent's spit off of his crown and returned it to its place of prominence atop his head.

Meanwhile, most of the GAang had left the party.

Taranee, bummed that her 'date' for the night, Ruon Jian, had taken off on her, retired early.

Their energetic dancing having tired them out, a sleepy Aang and Hay Lin both called it a night and went to bed (separately, of course).

Toph amused herself for a while playing 'spot the liar', utilizing her ability to sense changes in the vibrations of heartbeats to tell if someone was truthful or not, but grew tired of that parlor game when one of the participants insisted he did own the estates and ships he falsely told his companion he possessed in order to impress her. Toph remembered why she didn't like high society parties and bowed out.

While Will was still physically at the party, mentally she seemed to be somewhere else, and spent most of her time at their table trying different Fire Nation drinks (but at least she didn't guzzle any Fire Ale, thank God!)

"Mmm! Fruity!" she said after she sampled one of Chef's newfangled smoothies (he got the idea for it from Cornelia).

The Earth Guardian, popularly known as the 'Plant Spirit' on the Avatar's world, and whose appeal was multi-National, endured a steady stream of visitors who were dying for some face time with the unusual bender. But at least Irma decided to stick around to keep her company.

"Plant Spirit! Hello! I am Pai Gow! We've tried everything to grow our crops in the Earth Kingdom, and I heard of all the success you had in the village of Park Wei, not to mention the Fire Nation!" the official enthusiastically said upon meeting Cornelia and shaking her hand.

"Crops. Agriculture. Yeahhh..." Cornelia dispassionately mumbled. While she could make plants grow anywhere, she was no botanist, and therefore had little to offer in the way of advice.

Then she spied a possible savior.

"Sen Po? Minister Sen Po! Excuse me, could you come over here?"

"Thanks! This nice gentleman has some questions about agriculture, and I was telling him how it was your policies that rejuvenated the farmland in the Fire Nation!"

"You? But I thought it was the Plant Spirit who was responsible for the dramatic increase in Fire Nation crop yields?" Pai Gow asked.

"Oh no!" Sen Po corrected the Earth Kingdom official. "Sure, the Plant Spirit has been of some...limited help, but the recent success of Fire Nation agriculture has been due to the reforms I instiuted!" he bragged.

"Really? You must tell me more!"

"Of course! First of all, you must..."

"Hold on! Let me find a quill and a parchment!"

"Phew! I've never been so happy to see a windbag politician in my life!" Cornelia exclaimed, then blew a few wispy strands of golden hair off of her face.

"Geez! Everybody wants something from you!" Irma commented.

"That's okay. I don't mind. As long as it isn't too nuts! One time, a woman asked me to bless her pregnant belly! Oh wait. You were there for that one."

Yeah. I remember that. Corny, I've been wondering..." Irma began.

But Cornelia Hale wasn't listening. Instead, she was watching her boyfriend.

"Sorry, Master Piandao. I'd love to discuss more swordfighting techniques with you, but my girlfriend will get upset if I ignore her too long."

"Caleb is so sweet."

"Yeah, he is. Hey, Corny, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Did you become friends with Zuko? "

"Why do you ask that?" Cornelia bristled at the question.

"You act like you don't like him, but then you stuck up for the guy a lot, too."

"Irma, I may have had to ACT friendly around Zuko for a few months, but we're not friends! Okay?"

"Oh. Sure. Makes sense."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Okay."

Silence

"What are you thinking?" a curious Cornelia inquired.

"Nothing." Irma innocently answered, a weak smile playing around the contours of her mouth.

Just then, the Fire Lord's number one aide and Chief of Staff, Shen Ming, plopped himself down at the GAang's table.

"What a day! I had to work late, and then when I finally get to the party, my date is gone! She probably got tired of waiting!" he whined.

"Sounds rough." Will said as she guzzled another of Chef's special non-alcoholic Fire Nation fizzy drink concoctions (what we would call 'carbonated').

"Plus, Ty Lee disappeared." Shen muttered under his breath. Then he turned to the solo Energy Guardian and asked "So, uh...Do you want to dance?"

Will looked at her glass. At ALL of her glasses. They were empty.

"Might as well."

"You're with Cornelia and Taranee, aren't you?" the quick-witted Shen surmised. "You've got that same look about you!"

"Otherworldly?"

"What? No! Well, yes, but not in a bad way! Um, you wouldn't mind telling me about this other world you come from, would you?" the high-ranking Fire Nation official who trained as an engineer, and who was Zuko's oldest friend, wondered as he escorted his new-found dance partner onto the floor.

"Hey, why not?" Will emotionlessly responded. "Burrrrrpppp! 'Scuse me."

"I have to go, Uncle. There's something I have to do." Zuko said as he exited the reception.

"Nephew, do not get your hopes up unnecessarily."

"Whatever happened to thinking positive?"

Uncle doesn't think it's a great idea. But he forgave me, so maybe Mai will. At the very least, I have to try!

Moments before, Cornelia and Irma were hanging out by the Reception food table, snacking on exotic Fire Nation foodstuffs when one of Aang's Earth Kingdom allies came by.

"Cornelia, this is Haru. He's an earth bender." Irma introduced the two to each other. "He and his father helped us with the invasion. Haru, this is…"

"The legendary Plant Spirit! Many tales are told of your vast power, but none mentions your power pales before your great beauty!" Haru said with a devilish smile.

"Oh, isn't he a charmer! Irma, why didn't you warn me?"

"He never acts like that when I'm around!" Irma fumed.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, milady!" Haru gallantly said, then leaned over and kissed Cornelia's hand. "I do hope the Plant Spirit won't confine herself to the Fire Nation and will visit the Earth Kingdom occasionally."

"Oh, uh, well, sure, I'll try to pop in! Um, I don't mean 'pop in' like a plant, I mean, an actual visit, like on a vehicle...But not to see only one person! Not that it'd be an official type 'state' visit, either, errrr…" the flustered Cornelia stammered before the dashing earth bender.

"You'll have to make an appointment with the Plant Spirit's social secretary! She's kind of busy at the moment!" Caleb jumped in from across the room, his voice one of controlled, simmering threat.

"Ah, sure, Caleb. Sorry. N, nice meeting you!" Haru weakly waved goodbye.

"What do you think you're doing? We were just talking!" Cornelia railed at her boyfriend.

"Relax! I wanted to give Haru a hard time! Did you see the look on his face? Talk about funny!" Caleb smiled. "And you...I can't leave you alone for a second, can I?"

"What's that supposed to mean??"

"It's a joke! See, I'm laughing because it's funny! Cornelia!!"

But Miss Hale was having none of Caleb's games and telekinetically pushed him across the floor.

"Ignore him. Huh. Zuko's leaving pretty early. Well, early for the host."

"So?"

"I wonder where he's going?"

"Who cares?"

"He's always being sneaky and hiding things. Let's follow him and see what he's doing!"

Alone, Zuko made his way down the late night street outside of the Palace to a house in the government sector. He looked around, saw no one, and walked up to the door.

"Look! He's paying a visit to his old girlfriend!" Cornelia said to Irma from their hiding place.

"Again, so what??" Irma was growing annoyed with Cornelia's unhealthy obsession with the teen Fire Lord.

"So he broke up with her! I heard it was pretty brutal! He's probably going to apologize."

"Oh, this I've got to see!" At the prospect of witnessing Zuko get his just desserts, Irma's mood changed. "Let's get closer so we can hear what they're saying!"

"You mean eavesdrop? Irma, what you're suggesting is immature, a waste of time better spent doing far more useful things and totally violates their privacy!"

"So you don't want to do it??"

"Of course I do! It'll be hilarious!"

Zuko knocked on the door. After what seemed an eternity, but was only a couple of minutes, the door opened. A few apologetic words were followed by even fewer sharp words, and then...

SLAP!!

SLAMMM!!!

"Did you see that?" an excited Irma whispered as loud as she could so Zuko wouldn't hear her. "Wham! Right in the kisser! That was so great!!"

Depressed by all he had been through, how it all had gone wrong, Zuko sat on the curb and sulked.

Around the corner and out of sight nearby, a still-hungry Cornelia reached into her bag and pulled out a firecake.

"Eating again? You've got quite the appetite, Corny! Better watch that!" Irma joked.

"It's my metabolism. Ever since this whole 'Plant Spirit' thing, it's been skyhigh!"

"Aren't you worried you'll put on weight?"

"No. If I do, I can always turn into a plant or rock, then turn back and I'm my old, thin self again."

"I hate you. I really, really do."

"Cornelia? What are you doing out here?" a puzzled Caleb asked. He had followed the Guardian duo and wondered what was going on.

"Shhh! Zuko just got nailed by his old girlfriend, and I think he's crying!" a happy, gossipy Irma alerted Cal to the situation.

Zuko was then joined by Iroh, who placed a sympathetic hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Have patience, Fire Lord Zuko. It will take more to earn her love, but I am confident you can do it."

"I deserve that. Especially after I tricked Cornelia into falling in love with me with that kiss so I could pay my debt to Koh!"

At this overheard, stunning admission, Cornelia spewed her food!

Then she turned to look at her best friend and lover to get their reaction.

Hearts wounded, Irma and Caleb could only stare at Cornelia in mute horror.

Next:

Do Cornelia & Caleb break up?

Plus, Will & Shen? What's going on there??

Notes / Comments

Park Wei is the name of the place Cornelia had her adventure with Jet in the now-classic Chapter 14 of W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar.

Ty Lee's become a sort of wandering hero, or ronin. Although not all of her 'missions' are heroic, such as her helping out Shen in the warehouse. And she really really really loved putting to the screws to that Azula wannabe, An Sui!

I tried to think up something for Suki to do, but nothing presented itself. She's so tied in with Sokka, except he's dead, and to the Earth Kingdom/Kyoshi Island, except most everything takes place in the Fire Nation, that there's nothing left for her to do. I didn't need anymore girls in the story (there's plenty). I didn't need anymore fighters. Maybe she can encounter the villains in Season 4?

Will's near-constant eating/drinking is her way of expressing her physicality/corporeality, since she was a bodiless energy being for months. She likes having a physical body, but maybe is overdoing it.