Avatar: the last airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon.
It's terrible when you can't trust the people who are closest to you.
These words kept repeating themselves in her head, and Mai knew why. Azula had the Dai Li under her command now and she wouldn't be surprised if she forgot about her and Ty Lee... if she didn't plainly dispose of them both now that they were unneeded. She needed to have a discussion with the princess who was, according to the Dai Li agents she encountered, inspecting the ramparts. Mai presumed it was more out of boredom than out of concern.
She walked out of the immense palace, setting foot on no less grand rampart. Three royal guards were standing there, one of whom was holding a green torch that was providing them enough light to see Mai's face. According to the dirty looks they gave her as she walked past them, they knew about Azula's coup and her own involvement. Though she knew they would not dare to do anything against any of them.
Still haunted by the words she wished not to hear anymore, Mai thought of the other closest people to her. Her family first came to mind. She recalled how she feared Azula's admonishment to be deadly. How she feared for her brother's safety after she and Ty Lee failed to free him. Ty Lee. She was one of the nicest girls she ever met and yet she admired Azula so much she would kill others or even herself just to please her. Mai hated Azula for that, as well as for whatever torture she wouldn't fail to inflict to Zuko.
She noticed a lone figure many meters ahead of her. As she continued to walk, a guard and his torch passed by the person and Mai saw Azula staring at her. "What do you want?" She asked as soon as the earthbender was out of earshot. Her voice was as harsh as her eyes were cold, but it only gave Mai more reasons for her action.
"I just wanted to talk." Mai replied with the bored tone she had mastered.
Azula rolled her eyes. "And this can't wait for tomorrow?" She frowned. "This better be important."
"I am concerned, you see." She came closer. "I was thinking about your talk about trust and people closest to you." Azula frowned more while Mai looked around to make sure no guard was around. There was not. She put her hand on Azula's shoulder and moved her head beside Azula's ear in order to whisper. "And I can't help noticing how close the Dai Li seems to you now..."
The princess relaxed her expression. "Don't worry about that." She looked down the wall before continuing. "They won't betray me. They won't da-a-" Her eyes widened as the bitter taste of blood soiled her tongue. "-a-are to..." She continued weakly as she looked down to see a tainted blade, reflecting in the moonlight, come out of her chest. "W-why?" She managed to stutter as she felt life escape her.
"That's for Ty Lee." Mai whispered as she shoved the dying Azula over the rampart. She had already walked away when the crash of her fall was heard.
-
The next morning, Mai was playing with the guilty dagger in the room she shared with Ty Lee and late Azula when Zuko opened the door.
"Oh, sorry." He said, not realizing he was talking to one of his old acquaintances. She motioned for him to walk in and he did so, closing the door behind him. "I was told it's Azula's room... Do you know where she is?"
Mai stopped twiddling her knife. "No idea." She lied. "As for you, have you seen a bubbly, pink-clad girl who loves to bend in crazy angles?" She then asked, wondering why she didn't find Ty Lee when she came back to their room after the murder. She saw him mouth 'Ty Lee?' questioningly but the whole scene was interrupted when someone knocked on the door. Zuko opened to discover a woman wearing a robe and bearing a huge smile.
"Sorry to bother you." Zuko stepped away as she walked in. "I have bad news."
"Your lips are stuck with that smile forever?" Mai deadpanned, twiddling with her dagger again.
"No!" She replied cheerfully. "The most esteemed Fire Princess Azula was found dead in the garden not long ago." Zuko's jaw dropped whereas Mai kept a watch over both of them. "The Dai Li think she fell from the rampart. She died in spite of Lady Ty Lee dampening her fall."
Mai's heart stopped for a second and she lost control of her knife, which jabbed into the wall she was facing. "WHAT?" She screamed as she jumped in front of the woman, suddenly aggravated by the constant smile she had while bearing such bad news.
"Yes. The guards told us she went to promenade in the garden. She was sadly at the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn't survive to the shock." Joo Dee announced merrily, tilting her head and smiling more.
Irony is such a nasty thing, is it not? Now that the 'Ozai's Angels kill each other with only one survivor left' installment is finished, prepare for new, less predictable oneshots in the next chapters!