A/N Sorry to have kept you guys waiting for so long! Had to take care of a lot of exams and whatnot—boy, was that fun—and I had to pretty much disappear off the face of the planet to study for them. But now I'm back! Yayyy!

In other news, I wanted to do a self-plug and tell you guys that I have an Aang-centric oneshot called the avatar's fear, now up on my profile! I poured my heart and soul into it, so I'd like for you guys to check it out, lemme know what you think of it (of course, you don't have to, y'know...)

Anyways, this takes place a few hours after "Losing Her," and it's a Mai & Aang interaction in the aftermath of the Zutara get-together.

This scene takes inspiration from a scene in FengLi's The Road Not Taken, which I'm, like, 95% certain is discontinued... but whatever! It's an interesting "What if Zutara actually did happen at the end of the series," and it deals with how Team Avatar handles it. Still recommend you check out what they have so far!

The last thing Mai had expected was for anyone to be on that balcony, the one with no railings to prevent a steep plummet.

So of course she found the Avatar lounging there.

The bald boy was sitting in a lotus position with his hands on his knees, facing towards the blood-red sun. From the angle Mai was at, she could see his hands upturned on his knees with his middle finger touching his thumb. Had anyone less trained in detecting body language saw him, they might have assumed that he was wholly relaxed. However, Mai could pick up the subtle tenseness in his back muscles, the stiffness of his posture, even the tense clench of his jaw. Whatever the Avatar was feeling, it was anything but relaxed.

Mai could tell, because she tended to become that way when she felt disrupted.

She lingered at the doorway leading to the balcony, silently wondering if she should take her leave, when the boy suddenly spoke. "I know you're there," he said. His tone was indecipherable, and Mai didn't doubt his expression was the same. A trickle of discomfort went down her back as she thought about how his demeanor felt strangely familiar… "You can sit next to me," the Avatar continued. "I don't bite. In fact, I'd welcome the company."

The way he phrased it made Mai suspect he was up here for the same reason she was, but instead of inquiring her thoughts, she merely strode up to the balcony before situating herself right next to the boy. She chanced a glance at the bald boy with the arrow tattoo. As if sensing her gaze, the Avatar opened his eyes and glanced back at her.

From her limited interactions with the Avatar, Mai had quickly found herself likening him to Ty Lee. He definitely had that bubbly, cheerful disposition that her best friend had, seeming as much as the 12-year-old he was. His eyes were always bursting with life, always containing a sort of glee and childlike wonder, always sparkling brightly; they were even a similar shade of gray as Ty Lee's, albeit a bit more on the gray side.

So it came as a bit of an unpleasant shock to her when he turned dull, empty stone-colored on her, as though all life had been drained from them. She automatically began searching his face, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her, only to find that his expression was unfathomable. His body language, too, was closed off, betraying not a hint of emotion.

And for someone whom Mai considers very like Ty Lee, it was rather unsettling.

As she studied the unusual demeanor of the Avatar, Mai suddenly felt herself get hit with a wave of deja vu. The Avatar's demeanor was unsettling, yes, but there was something about it that she couldn't help but feel that was strangely, painfully familiar…

And then she suddenly realized… the way he was acting reminded her of herself. Reminded her of all the blank facades she had to put on, reminded her of how her parents drilled it into her head to be as reserved and polite as possible, reminded her to be as unexpressive as possible—the perfect child in a family of nobles.

It was not a very pleasant reminder.

The Avatar studied her for a moment, displaying no apparent shock at seeing her. His eyes only looked somewhat… resigned. "You're one of Azula's friends."

Mai swallowed harshly at the reminder, crazed golden eyes flashing through her mind. "Was," she corrected.

The boy tilted his head to the side, his expression shuttered, but Mai easily read that he was curious. "Then who are you now?" he asked quietly.

Well, it's not like she had much else to lose, did she? "I'm Mai," she said, "Zuk—"

She suddenly realized what she had been about to say and froze, the words catching in her throat. The introduction had been so instinctive, like second nature to her, that she hadn't put much thought into the words rolling off her tongue. Then again, she never had to, not before. Before, it had been true.

But now…

The Avatar's eyes softened—Mai wondered what he had gleaned from her near slip-up and wondered if he understood. He tilted his head down in a small bow, although she noted his hands hadn't risen to make the traditional Fire Nation greeting. "I'm Aang," he said softly, none of his usual enthusiasm present.

Mai only nodded back, and together, they turned towards the horizon. The sun slowly crept down from its perch in the sky, giving off a fiery orange glow, and she was abruptly brought back to a certain memory from a while ago…

"Orange is such an awful color."

A snicker. "You're beautiful when you hate the world."

"I don't hate you."

"I don't hate you too."

How simple, Mai reflected, it had been back then. Zuko had been hers, and she had been his. Plain and simple. Black and white.

When did that change?

She was interrupted from her thoughts when the Ava— Aang suddenly cleared his throat. Mai glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to see him tilt his head again. "So you and Zuko were…?"

A painful lump formed in her throat, but she swallowed it down. "Yes," she said curtly. "We were."

Had been.

Not anymore.

She glanced over to look at the boy next to her. She saw apologies and sympathy swirling around in his gray eyes. Whether or not it was because of her situation (she didn't need pity) or because he asked her such a question was beyond her.

Just to be courteous however, she decided to ask him, "And was the Water Tribe girl…?"

"Katara," Aang supplied. He laughed an empty, hollow laugh that made Mai wonder if reciprocating the question had been the best thing to do. "No, no she wasn't." He thumbed the grainy wood on his staff, his eyes going unfocused for a moment. "It's not like I lost her or anything. It's kinda hard to lose something that didn't belong to you in the first place."

To that, Mai had no response.

"But…" Aang squeezed his eyes shut, and Mai noticed tear tracks on his face. Perhaps his walls hadn't been as infallible as she thought he had been. "But it still feels like I lost her anyways."

And Mai understood what he meant.

The two of them sat and looked out on the horizon for a long, silent moment. Mai glanced back at Aang to see that his blank expression was back, his eyes closed off and his body language reserved. She didn't blame him.

Aang tilted his head, still staring at the setting sun, his mask never wavering. "We won the war," he mused quietly, "but we lost in the end."

Mai, understanding what he meant, exhaled as she kept her gaze upon the sanguine sun. She closed her eyes. "So we have."

A/N Give me more content in which Aang and Mai are all buddy-buddy with each other. Like, no, seriously—I know we have the comics and whatnot, but I would REALLY love to see Aang and Mai's friendship in the animated realm. It... strangely fits so well, considering Mai is friends with TY LEE, so of course she would vibe really well with Aang.

Anyways, that's my PSA, and thanks for reading!