a/n: I am so sorry I haven't updated until now. School has been such a pain and that really limited my time. Anyways, here's chapter 23! Enjoy and thank you for reading~~~!!!!

disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

+Avatar World+

The night overtook Mai by surprise. She hadn't felt the sunlight weakening until the room was pitch dark and she could no longer tell if she was looking up or down. Of course, she remembered that she had been staring up at the wooden ceiling while lying on her bed but she could just have easily been hanging from her toe, looking straight down at the dark floor. Her life was already upside down so why wouldn't she be?

Today was a moonless night. Nothing illuminated the sky outside and the stars seemed to have grown shy over the days. Not even the wind seemed tempted to brush her shoulder gently. Mai lay quite still, trying to feel something. She felt numb, cold and utterly alone.

Without even the smallest rustling, Mai rolled out of bed and cautiously stood. Having slept in this room on her many visits, she could navigate it without light but she suddenly felt wary. She wondered why she was even questioning the room that held no dangers for her. Why was she suddenly so nervous?

And then, like the sound of whistling wind seeping through a crack in the wall, she heard a voice. A voice so chilling yet familiar, Mai's entire body froze where she stood, unable to lift a finger.

"Zuko?" her voice was so hoarse she wondered if someone else had whispered it. Her throat felt tight and the back of her eyes stung. She blinked but saw nothing and heard only her irregular breathing.

Had she imagined it?

A few more minutes passed. Mai stood rooted to the spot, unable to move in case… in case what? What exactly was she expecting? Why was she torturing herself with something so illogical, stupid and unlikely? The odds of Zuko being in her room right now in the dark without saying anything were very long so why these emotions?

She felt them rolling down her cheeks. Salty tears. She carefully stuck out her tongue to taste one, to make sure she was really crying. The sharp, tangy flavor lingered on the tip of her tongue for a while then faded as she tightly pressed lips together.

Not bothering to stop the stream of tears, she knelt on the floor in the darkness, and lay sideways in a fetal position. In the emptiness she was submerged in, Mai was free to cry silently and desperately alone.

+Yumi+

The neighborhood was the clear definition of modern day slums. Almost everything in sight was a depressing shade of concrete gray stained with something far more malodorous than acid rain.

Yumi eyed a hardware store to her left which had evidently gone out of business when one use cellphones still existed. A peeling poster advertising a disposable mobile phone was still taped to the only window which hadn't been smashed to pieces or boarded up. The looping letters which used to give the shop a name had long been stolen by vandals for whatever reason. All in all, not one of the most pleasant places to live.

Yumi's eyes followed a chain of similar boarded up shops to a large warehouse a couple of blocks away. It was about 11 floors high, making it easily the largest building for miles around. She smiled, in spite of herself, knowing perfectly why Clivian had chosen such a dismal location for their meeting. He obviously wanted to imply that he meant business as always and she would be at his mercy. In reality, he had so much more to lose than she did. He knew that but was hoping she didn't.

Her steps were light as she speeded toward the building, to her brother and to an end to the miserable lie she had lived for nearly a decade.

+Jones+

The motel he had rushed out of had the tiniest parking lot leading out to the main road and the lack of cars on disturbed him. He knew that heyday was a hick town where you'd have to bite of your own fingers to get a decent internet connection but did these people ride on horseback and tow around rickshaws? Cars. Trucks. Minivans. They were all gone. The parking lot was emptier than the bowl of ideas inside Jones's own head. How the hell was he supposed to chase Yumi anywhere on foot? And even if he found a vehicle he could hotwire, how the hell did he find Yumi? More importantly, how did he know Katara was still with her and alive?

Sprinting around the perimeter of the motel, he ran straight into the cramped lobby and skidded to a halt in front of the reception desk. The dumpy looking woman who had handed them their key yesterday was nowhere to be seen.

Agitated, Jones repeatedly tapped the rusted bell on top of the counter. There was no answer.

"Hello?" Jones called out desperately. He glanced around the lobby. Two armchairs backed against the wall and a small coffee table were grouped in a corner. Next to the reception desk was a rack of magazines which seemed to date back at least five years. Jones was about to leave when he spotted the floor near the rack. A dark stain streaked the carpet and, on closer inspection, some of the pages had telltale marks of blood on them.

Stepping around the counter, Jones looked behind it. The dark stain stopped underneath the counter where there lay the reception lady with blood matting her wiry hair.

+Avatar World+

They had made great progress so far. There were out of the forest now and were now on the winding road to the Fire Palace. They had decided to take the main road as it was faster though the downside was that there were more people. However, people coming in the opposite direction seldom glanced at the plain farmer or his daughter and none seemed to recognize them.

Azula had outdone herself toasting the owner of the donkey-drawn cart to a crisp so there had been no question of swapping clothes. Instead, he had opted to steal a farmer's habit from the clotheslines of an unsuspecting family. He was now donning a coarse brown shirt and gray slacks

Azula had been another problem. She had looked cross at the prospect of changing into the plain gray dress he had brought along with his farmer's habit. Puckering her lips and narrowing her eyes in anger, she wrapped her bony arms around her armor and shook her head. Not wanting to cause a scene, though they were well hidden inside the forest, Ozai had coaxed her with sweet words and many alterations of the phrase "you would make me proud" until she had finally agreed to wear the dress after he had promised her a dozen times to allow her to wear the armor when they had finished their task.

Ozai reflected on this snag as a sign of Azula's growing disobedience. For many a years, he had grown accustomed to her undying loyalty, insane or not, but it troubled him to know that as far as power went, his disturbed daughter far superior. If he were to lose his hold on her, she could easily be the undoing of him. However, this could be the paranoia of a wary survivor. If so, he need not worry so much but instead, keeper a tighter leash on his only assistant.

"Are we there yet, Father?" Azula asked grumpily next to him.

Ignoring her tone of voice, Ozai answered sweetly, "Not quite, my dear. But we will be there soon enough."

"Do you promise?" she asked childishly, looking up at him with her mad-dog eyes.

Again in that sugary tone the father answered, "Yes, my child. We will be there soon enough."

The girl beside him smiled like a two-year-old on her birthday and began whispering to herself. That mantra she always repeated when she was happy.

"I am Daddy's favorite. I am Daddy's favorite. He loves me the most. He loves me the most…."

The clipclopping of the donkey continued as father and daughter fell silent, absorbed in their own thoughts.

a/n: Please review and thanks again for reading~!!! I love you guys! XDDD