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Chapter 30

"Alright!" Ty Lee announced, spreading a sheet of blank paper across the dining table. "I did a little research in the library, and found some ways to increase memory." She uncapped an ink pen and began to scribble down some barely legible notes.

Toph cleared her throat, as if to make a point that she can't see. Ty Lee stared at first, then blinked in realization.

"Oh! Sorry," She apologized, then shook her head,"In the books I read, it said that the first key to improving memory is proper nutrition." Ty Lee shot a look at Mai, who shuddered.

---

10 minutes later

---

"I can't do this any more!" Mai murmured, gulping down the last sip of her 20th fruit smoothie.

"Do you remember any thing?" Ty Lee asked hopefully. Toph just shook her head.

"I remember I hate grapefruit." Mai muttered.

---

"Okay, so that didn't really work out so well." Ty Lee said, crossing out the plan on the top of the page. "The next suggestion was to get rest. Sometimes dreams can stir memories." She shot another playful look at Mai, who pretended not to notice.

"Come on!" Ty Lee yelled, and tugged her towards her bedroom. "Or, do you prefer Zuko's room?" She giggled.

Mai scowled,"Stop it."

"Fine fine." She sighed in defeat, and pushed her threw the doors and onto her bed. "Sleep!"

"Yeah, 'cuz that's totally 'gonna help her sleep." Toph said, taking a seat at the desk.

Ty Lee ignored her,"Would it help if we leave?"

Mai shrugged,"I don't mind. Just be quiet."

---

1 minute later

---

Ty Lee stood suddenly,"THIS IS SO BORING! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE! AHHHHH-"

---

"Let's try option C." Ty Lee suggested, crossing out the second plan on the list. "Another idea was to exercise."

Mai groaned,"I'm tired of this."

"Me too. And these things they're telling us to do aren't things that are immediately going to help. It takes time. It's not like she takes a bite of an apple and takes a nap then automatically remembers everything." Toph explained, annoyed.

Mai realized that Toph was usually quiet. But when she did say things, it always made sense.

Ty Lee sighed,"Then, you need to try everything! Maybe if Zuko touched you or something."

Mai frowned,"I said stop it."

She laughed,"Maybe we could play Seven Minutes in Heaven."

"Stop-"

"Or we could just lock them in the closet and see what happens-"

"I said stop!!!" Mai screamed, jolting up from her chair and clenching her fists. Tears were leaking from her eyes.

"Sorry Mai- I was just teasing you."

"How would you feel if you had to live in some house you didn't know, with people you didn't know, who keep making jokes about you doing .... bad things with somebody you didn't know?!?!?"

Ty Lee was silent, and Toph looked away.

"Sorry." Ty Lee whispered after a while.

Mai spun on her heel and rushed back down the corridors towards her room. She was in such a hurry she didn't notice she was hurling straight towards someone.

"Mai-" But before he could finish, she slammed him out of the way. He frowned and quickly took hold of her arm.

"Mai what's wrong?" He asked. Mai could hear it was Zuko.

"Nothing!" She shouted.

"I know when somethings wrong." Zuko said softly, placing his hand on her cheek.

"Stop." She mouthed. Her hands curled into fists. "I don't know you!" Mai tried to rip herself from his grasp, but she couldn't. She shook her head, why couldn't she get away?

Weak.

The word kept flashing in her mind. The thought of being weak made her tremble in fear. She hated the word.

"You do know me, you just can't remember it." She heard Zuko whisper harshly.

Then, he let her go.

---

Zuko sat down on the edge of his bed, and sighed. He knew something was wrong with Mai, and he wanted to help. But there were so many other things to do, so much more on his mind. Like, how he would tell Iroh about what he did. What he, somehow, wished he could take back.

Let your anger out, then let it go,

He remembered Aang saying a long time ago. Why couldn't he just let things go more easily? His hand involuntarily reached up to his scar. He shook his head and forced his hand down. He promised himself he wouldn't regret his scar anymore. That instead of being reminded of the day he was banished, that he would be reminded of the day he was put on the right path.

He was interrupted by Sokka speeding down the hall towards his room. He slammed the doors wide open, and caught his breath. Zuko stared at him wide-eyed.

"Zuko, I'm sorry if this is a bad time but-" Sokka stopped to catch his breath. "But, I need your help. Katara left to find Aang all on her own." He explained quickly.

Zuko blinked,"Why? If she wanted to go now she could have just asked us-"

"I know! But she wanted to do this for some stupid reason." Sokka yelled. Zuko was quiet for a moment, then met Sokka's stare.

"I'll help you find her."

Sokka smiled,"Thanks, I have to go get my things..." He ran back out of the room and towards his room.

Zuko shook his head, and reached for his sword. It was the only thing he really needed. But before he left, something caught his eye.

"The necklace." He murmured to himself. For some reason, something was screaming at him to take it with him.

"Zuko-" Sokka started as he hurled back inside the room,"What's that?"

Zuko shoved it in his pocket,"Nothing."

Sokka shrugged it off and lead them to Appa's stable. On the way, Zuko noticed that the servants were glaring again. He wondered why they were upset, and he wondered if they were the only ones that were upset. He stopped walking, and it took Sokka a couple moments to realize Zuko's absence. He turned around,"What is it?"

Zuko turned towards the gates,"I'll be right back." He nodded towards the gatekeepers, who were also glaring. They reluctantly obeyed, and the giant doors slowly opened. The people outside first stared in shock, then glared just as the servants. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by angry families and workers.

"Erm-" Zuko started, only to be interrupted by a fisherman in the back.

"Well look who it is!" He shouted.

Another man shouted,"Looks like he's leaving. Again."

The man from before said,"Where you off to now? Gonna go live it up in Ember Island with that little girlfriend of yours, leaving the Fire Nation open to invaders?"

Zuko blinked in disbelief,"No- No! Even if I do decide to leave, we still have the army. A-and we don't have to worry about invaders."

"You really think every person in the world agrees with your plan?" An elderly woman shouted, making her way to the front of the crowd.

"Of course I don't, but still-"

"While you left, I was robbed!" A boy about Zuko's age yelled.

"That was probably just a coincidence-"

"So was I!" A middle-aged woman said, and hushed her crying baby.

"I saw two of them! They were wearing masks!" An older man yelled, making his way past the crowd of angry people.

"They tried to take my daughters!" He continued.

Zuko froze,"They what? What did the masks look like?!" He was practically shouting.

"H-he... I m-mean, I only caught a g-glimpse." The man stuttered, caught off gaurd.

"How old are they?"

"I said I only caught a glimpse!"

"I mean your daughters!"

The man blinked,"One is sixteen, the other is fourteen... Why?" Zuko tuned the rest of the voices out. Fourteen...? That young? Maybe it wasn't the same men who took Mai... It couldn't be, he locked them up.... Right? Or were the men he just heard of now, the real ones who took Mai?

"Alright that's enough!" Sokka's voice interrupted his thoughts. "This time, we'll send a message to the general telling him to send guards around the town at night or something, happy?!" Zuko was in shock at how serious Sokka sounded. He was never serious. Except when he was talking about meat.

The villagers nodded and mumbled and shrugged dumbly, and Sokka spun around towards Appa's stable.

---

Mai rapidly threw everything she picked out of her closet into her bag. She had to get out of this place. She couldn't hurt Zuko any more. She couldn't hurt herself any more. She whirled around and froze at the sight of a huge pile of wrinkled close on top of her bag. For some reason she felt like crying. But something wasn't letting her. It was the same something that was telling her to run away.

"Ow!" Mai gasped, and fell to her knees. Memories were flashing in her head. She felt the rush of adrenaline spread through her veins as she took a firm grip of her knives. She was holding them so tightly, that the blades were cutting into her palm. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn't notice. She was being surrounded. One versus two: just the way she wanted it. It was dark, and the cold wind slammed against her body as she whirled around the slick pavement, hurling knives when ever they got nearer. She wasn't afraid. She had done this before. This would be easy. But then she stopped in her tracks, and became unmoving. What is this? Then Mai saw why she froze, it was the small flame that was rising from one of their hands. The memory quickly flashed away, and was replaced by another one. Now she was running, as fast as her legs could take her. She was running to him. Mai knew he would protect her from them. She loved him. And it was then she realized she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

"Zu-" She shouted, but before she could say it, a cold, hard hand was slammed against her mouth. No no no no no! Her head was screaming, but she was making no sound. It was like a nightmare.

The other man stood in front of her, and removed half of his mask, so is mouth was showing.

"Finally caught you." He said. His voice was rough and dry. Mai waited impatiently.

"Look hunny, we can either do this the hard way, or the easy way." He continued. Mai waited for the other man's hand to loosen. As soon as it did, she plunged her teeth into his skin, and he let out a shriek of pain. He thrashed away from her, and she darted away from him. The other man snatched her arm and slammed her against the side of a building.

"I think you're going to want to cooperate." He started again, and turned to point down the alley way. "You see that rope on the ground?"

Mai didn't answer. Instead she glared at him, hoping to scare him.

"It's a special kind of rope. Which means, if I decide to light it on fire, it would carry the flame all the way down the alley way, and to the fountain." He explained curtly. Mai's eyes widened. Zukos there. "And thennn," He made an exploding gesture with his free hand.

He showed a sly smile, then flickered a small flame in the middle of his palm.

"No! No don't please! What do you want?!" She begged.

He was quiet.

"I'll do anything just- just don't hurt him, please! I-I'll do what ever you want!" Mai screamed.

He was still quiet. Mai would rather rip all her hair out than gamble for Zuko's life.

"Alright." He said after a while. "Good choice. I really didn't want to have to do that...I don't really want to have to do this either but... Since you offered." There was another flash, but then it was dark.

That was as far as she could remember.