Hello, Everyone!
this chapter was supposed to be published a week ago but it was delayed due to editing issues :(
I hope you enjoy this one and have a good read :)
Don't forget to review afterwards, Please.
The plane landed safely, they're finally back in Caldera City. Azula and Zuko arrived at the airport of the big city, they took their bags and left the airport, they kept staring at the scene for what felt like hours, but in fact only three minutes, breathing the air of home.
nostalgia was hitting hard, it was having its way with them on a very deep level, they haven't been to home in almost two years, they might have left it in shame, but the memories of the good old days were the only things on their minds, Zuko remembered the family gatherings, the friends he made along the way at school and college, Azula was feeling more of the same, except she was starting to see it in a different way than when she first left the city, she noticed the change as soon as the plane landed at the airport, she remembered the only two friends she made when she was at Caldera City, the friends that got used to her bullying and accepted her with her flaws, she was ecstatic to show them this new side of herself, as they were about to arrive to pick them up.
and speaking of which, there they are.
"Mai! Ty Lee!" Azula shouted to the two people that stood with a car at the entrance of the airport ready to pick up the two siblings.
as soon as they heard the sound, Ty Lee ran to Azula and enveloped her in a hug, while Mai walked to her and stood behind her, stealing glances at Zuko, who noticed it.
"We missed you so much!" Ty Lee said with tears in her eyes.
"I missed you too." Azula responded, returning Ty Lee's hug.
Mai just kept silent for a while until Ty Lee broke the hug with Azula, and she came in front of Azula and gave her a hug as well, "Still as beautiful as ever." Mai said with her specially dull voice that Azula got used to when they were kids, so she took the compliment without being offended.
"Thank you, Mai. I believe this is the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Azula said as she broke the hug and looked at Mai with a smile.
Mai gave her half a smile back, "Well, don't get used to it.. but seriously, it's good to see you." Mai finished, she couldn't stop stealing glances at Zuko who was at the moment hugging Ty Lee.
"It's good to see you, Zukes." Ty Lee said as she broke the hug with Zuko.
"Thanks, Ty. It's good to see you too." Zuko responded, returning the hug.
as soon as Ty Lee broke the hug, it started a staring contest between Zuko and Mai, who kept looking at each other like they want to say something, Azula and Ty Lee noticed the awkward silence, so they decided to break it,
starting with Ty Lee who said, "Well, since my house is full of stupid girls who wouldn't let you stay in peace, we decided to go to Mai's house."
Azula caught on with what Ty Lee's doing and said, "Sounds good, Let's go.", she picked up her bags and started following Ty Lee towards Mai's car, Zuko did the same but not without looking at Mai for a while before leaving, Mai stood there for a while as well, then she sighed and started making her way to the car, she took the driver's seat, Zuko put the bags in the trunk of the car and took the passenger seat while Ty Lee and Azula took the backseat.
Ty Lee and Azula kept talking in the back, catching up on all that was going, while Zuko and Mai just kept staring glances at each other along the road without speaking a word unless asked from Ty Lee or Azula, the drive there was hell for Mai and Zuko, but for Ty Lee and Azula, it was really great, the girls really missed each other, they kept reminiscing about childhood moments, and also high school moments, Azula remembered the time when she ruined Ty Lee's date by sending her older sister who looked just like her to attend the date and ruin it, she made the boy run away in fear of her attitude, Azula immediately regretted doing that and even with her old attitude, she apologized to Ty Lee back then, Ty Lee got really stunned by Azula's out of the ordinary apology that she instantly forgave her.
They kept remembering moments between Mai and Azula as well, when it was Azula's family was having dinner with their grandfather, the head of the family whom they don't see often, whenever there was a family dinner, she had to be the best dressed, to make her grandfather proud of her, there was this one time when Mai got really angry with Azula that she got a bowl of blue ink and stained her dress with it, Azula got really made that she tied Mai to a pillar in their old mansion and kept her there for a almost a day, even Mai smiled a bit as she remembered it.
Azula and Ty Lee tried as they could to lighten the mood of the car, but they failed miserably as no matter how long they talked, and how nostalgic the moments they reminisced about, it still wouldn't strike a cord with Mai and Zuko, they just kept stealing glances at each other, but none of them ever spoke a word unless asked, and they would respond with sentences words like, "Yeah it was great." and "Yeah, I remember.", they were hopeless.
the torture finally came to an end as they arrived at Mai's house, Mai's family received them with open arms as Mai's father used to work for Ozai, Azula's father, and no matter how much people would shame him, he still loves him like the brother he never had, even though at this moment, Azula despises her father, but she still found it beautiful that someone would love him this much, he's still not a complete monster after all. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee took the girls' room in the house, they decided to have a sleepover like old times, while Zuko stayed with Mai's little brother, Tom-Tom in the boys room, when Zuko left Caldera City, Tom-Tom was nothing more than a child, He's now in elementary school, even though it's been only two years, but Zuko noticed the difference in height on the boy, he got taller than Zuko's waist now, which is remarkable, two years ago he was at Zuko's knees.
But Zuko paid no attention to that, as he kept thinking about the dark-haired girl in the house, he remembered all those events back then with Mai, when they were in a relationship, he still remembers the day he sent her a text on Whatsapp saying that he was leaving Caldera City, never to return, he also told her to never wait for him, as he's probably never going to return, he told her to find a new boyfriend and try living her life without him, every time Zuko remembered the letter he sent her back then, he keep hitting his head to the wall, to punish himself for being incredibly stupid, he knew that he made a mistake, he could have confronted her face to face and told her of the situation at hand, told her that he couldn't stay in this country anymore and that he had to leave, but no, he only sent her a Whatsapp message, how stupid.
Zuko found it impossible to get some sleep, and so he decided to go explore the area, it was 2 past midnight and so everyone was asleep, Zuko left the room quietly so to not wake Tom-Tom, he went to the garden of Mai's villa, it looked really beautiful at night, the pool reflecting the shining moonlight, and the moon lilies appearing more blossoming than ever, it all would have been great.. if it wasn't for the person that Zuko found sitting there on the bench beside the pool, smoking a cigarette.
Zuko knew exactly who that person is, and so guilt overtook him, as he saw her smoking that cigarette and puffing in the air as if she was trying to get rid of a bad feeling, the way he used to when he was smoking, Zuko knew it was inevitable, he has to confront the matter with the girl he used to date, their relationship ended on a bad note.. literally.
but he knew the day would come to fix this, maybe it won't be as the way they were before, because Zuko has already found love in someone else, but he only hoped that Mai did the same, and all he wanted to do was to be her friend again. He got closer to her and stood beside her, before he uttered a word though, she beat him to it,
"Do you want a cigarette?" She asked.
Zuko was startled to say the least, but he replied the usual response that he's been responding with whenever someone would offer him a cigarette for the past couple of weeks,
"I quit smoking." He said.
Mai snorted, "You seem to do that a lot these days."
Zuko was confused by this, "What? Smoking?"
Mai stood up from the bench and came face to face with him for the first time since their break-up,
"No, Quitting." She said, before she threw the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, she then passed by Zuko and took her leave, but not without bumping into his shoulder intentionally.
Zuko then tried to catch up with her, "Mai, come on, don't be like this, can't we just talk?" He asked.
She stopped dead in her tracks and turned back and gave him a look that made him cower back in fear,
"You didn't strike me as the type of guy to talk? Maybe we can chat on Whatsapp, would that be more comfortable for you?" Mai asked sarcastically, but her eyes never showed any kind of humor, in fact, it showed anger, rage, which really amazed Zuko since this is one of the few moments that he's ever seen Mai show any kind of emotions ever.
"I didn't mean for our relationship to end like this. You have to understand, I wasn't in my right mind at the time, and I'm really sorry for what happened."
"Sorry is never gonna cut it, Zuko."
"I know, but just hear me out, alright? Please." Zuko asked politely, and Mai had no choice but to nod, after some hesitation of course.
Zuko took a deep breath, "After my father got arrested, I got really low, he might have been really cruel with me, but his presence was enough to make me feel safe, after his arrest, I felt like I was bare. I've never experienced anything like this in my entire life, and then it got even worse when my mother left. You don't deserve any of this, Mai, you don't deserve to be with a guy that belongs to the most scandalous in Caldera City, I wanted to tell you all of this in person because I thought I was doing other things after sending you that Whatsapp message.." Zuko stopped after saying that and looked at the ground.
"Doing other things? Like what? running away never to be seen again? Yeah, I know."
Zuko was silent for a moment, before speaking up again with a not so steady voice,
"No, things like committing suicide."
That shocked Mai to silence, she couldn't say a word afterwards,
so Zuko spoke again, "I sent you that message with the rope attached to my ceiling, I was going to do it.. if it wasn't for my sister.." Zuko said, with Mai staring at him in shock the whole time,
"I stood on the chair and was about to snap my neck with a simple move of my legs, that's when Azula entered the room. She just looked at me in shock, and simply said with tears in her eyes, 'so, you're gonna leave me too?'" Zuko recalled the memory and tears started falling from his eyes.
Mai just couldn't handle it anymore, tears streamed down her cheeks as well, Zuko would have been surprised because this is the first time he's ever seen her cry, but he was in too much agony himself that he didn't even realize it,
Zuko then smiled sadly and continued, "But don't worry about us, we're all fine now. I'm not here to tell you to get back together, Mai, we're here to visit our dad and uncle and then we'll get back to Ba Sing Se. I just wanted to make sure that I never make the same mistake of leaving on a bad note again, I don't want to make the same mistake again, Mai. I know it's hard for you to forgive me, but You have my word, I'm not leaving Caldera City until we're friends again, Good night, Mai." Zuko said, and he immediately left the garden, leaving a shocked and unable to speak Mai there.
It was really hard to recall those agonizing moments, but Mai needed to know the truth to forgive him, but Zuko was glad that with the last sentence he made it clear to Mai that he doesn't want to get back to her as a lover, he made it clear to Mai that he just wants to leave on a good note this time.
His vow still stands, He won't leave Caldera City until he's on good terms with Mai.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed :)
and Don't forget to review, please.