Disclaimer: The following chapter is entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the history of any person living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional, except when specifically noted otherwise in the cast and crew credits. All celebrity voices are impersonated and no celebrities have endorsed any aspect of this fic.

Chapter Eleven: In the Darkness of the Night

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It was cold out, once again. They were away from the stuffiness of the dreaded island. It had only been a day since they had left and Gingitsune's final words were still ringing in his head.

"You cannot fight fire with fire. You must… fight fire… with water…"

Whatever she meant by it, Zuko did not know. He felt bad enough that she had killed herself in order to spare a fate worse than death at the hands of the Resistance, but what did that mean for him? His father was killed simply because he was Fire Lord, but he, well, he knew about the Resistance. He now knew everything about them, and along with being the Fire Lord who had once sheltered a hybrid, he was no doubt considered a triple threat now. But it was not enough for his life to be in danger, but now her whole family was in trouble. He was supposed to go protect them, but that was not where he was heading first. He did not need to go home just yet since she told him where he needed to go, but it did not stop him from feeling nervous because if what she said was true, then the Resistance could have easily changed their plans to avoid him.

"You still up, too?" Mai's voice echoed from behind him. He turned his head to watch her walk over barefooted with her robe draped over her. Watching her walk to him while he was leaning over the ship's rail gave him the chills, remembering the countless times that Hiashi had done the same. He shook his head in an attempt to ignore his eye tricks and stared back into the empty waters as Mai took the spot next to him.

"Why are you awake?" he asked her as she mimicked his stance.

"I don't know about you, but I keep dreaming of that girl letting herself fall off the cliff. I can't sleep."

"I know exactly what you mean," he said quietly, not removing his eyes from the water. "I wished there was something I could have done but there isn't. She was right: we're in danger. I don't know why I let you come."

"I'm not a child, Zuko," Mai said defensively. "I can take care of myself. And frankly I think I deserve to know what's going on. You sent that pathetic assistant of your to come get me because you were so desperate for me to come with you and you expect me to simply sit here in the dark without even questioning why I'm following you though Engoku to look for gangbangers?" Zuko did not reply, in fact, he did not move a muscle. Mai glowered at him but decided not to say anything. The two stood in silence once again like they had done again after again. He did not want to say anything to her, not just yet. He was partially hoping that she would just leave so he would not have to talk, but he forced himself not to think it. She had a point, that she gave up all she had to do back home so that she could be here, so why would he expect her to simply take a seat in the back and remain passive? "Who's Hiashi?" she asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"We've been searching this whole time for this girl named Hiashi and everyone seems to know who she is but me. What was her deal?"

"She was an old friend," he answered only partially. "She had a complicated past, and she died by the hands of the Resistance."

"And this was because she was a mudblood?"

"She wasn't a mudblood," Zuko said roughly. "Well, she was, but not a mudblood. Gingitsune called it a magblood, point is, her parents came from two different nations and mudblood's a horrible thing to say."

"I just said—oh, never mind. You're more emotional than a girl sometimes."

"I am not a girl!" he said defensively. Mai smirked slightly and laughed.

"Calm down, I was just joking." There was silence once again, but she obviously had too many question. "Zuko, do you mind me asking you something?"

"No," he replied curtly.

"Why am I here? You obviously don't need me so—"

"I'm not going to answer that," he said sharply.

"Hey, I didn't have to come!" she snapped back. "Your little lackey came over and practically begged me to come. I swear, he looked as if I told him no then he would explode."

"I don't think I feel comfortable telling you—"

"You feel uncomfortable? I'm risking my own image! If people find out that I'm here with you while you're married it's going to ruin my reputation!"

"Well, maybe I didn't plan on staying married, okay?" he yelled at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know if you know this but the only reason I got married is because everyone kept pressuring me to do so. I kept getting all this bullshit from supervisors that the people of the Fire Nation would hate me less if I had a wife and kids, and all this other bullshit nonsense, and I didn't have time to be looking for someone. Not now that our country's in the worse condition than it has ever been in. So I said to just grab the first available person and they did. Unfortunately for me the grab that damned son of a bitch Marukai who only agreed to do it because she assumed she'd be able to do whatever she wanted. And now I'm stuck and I can't get out of it."

"So then why did you agree to it anyways if you hated her so much?"

"It's complicated," he said quietly.

"Somehow I doubt it," she said quietly. "You have a habit of overestimating everything."

"I'm not overestimating," he growled. "It's my father. When my mother left, my father right away started to figure out who I was going to marry. He figured I wasn't going to find a woman once I got older because he assumed no woman wanted to marry me. Literally! That's what he told me! So he talked it over with one of his Noblemen, Piruz, and basically traded me for a promotion. I was stuck. I guess it wouldn't have counted after my father's death, but I guess part of me wanted to keep him happy, so I went through with it. But now I'm stuck with that crazy bitch and she's such a busybody I can't stand it! She's been cheating with this guy she's been seeing for a long time and why she didn't just marry him is beyond me, but it's getting to the point where she's involving herself into everything I do. If I hadn't gone right away when the priestess came to tell me Hiashi had died, I would have never known because that bitch was trying to get rid of them!"

"So… you married her because you wanted to make your father happy?" Mai said in disbelief. "But, your father—"

"Is dead? Never liked me? I know," he interrupted. "He told me right before he died."

"Zuko, I'm so sorry—"

"I was going to carry out his plan to invade the Earth Kingdom. I was willing to do whatever it took. But he just lost it. He was dying and didn't know I was there… or if he did, he didn't care. I will never forget what he told me… he said I was a failure, and that he had no son. I thought doing my best and doing the things he wanted me to do would help me, but in the end, he's still dead, and I don't even know if I should be upset that he's dead or not. He never cared for me so why should I care about him?"

"Zuko—"

"And now whenever I see that damn face of hers, all I can think of is how my father hated me so much he thought no one would like me! And she doesn't help with all that complaining she does and all the problems she's caused me! And that damn kid of hers! Everyone thinks it's mine, but no one makes a point about how it looks nothing like me!" He flipped himself over and buried his head into his hands. "I'm stuck and I can't do anything about it." Zuko sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. It was only then he realized how much he was bottling up, how much he really hated Marukai and why he hated her.

"I don't hate you," Mai said quietly. "Why didn't you ask me?" His hands dropped from his face and turned to look at her.

"What?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"I'm just saying," she said sheepishly and refusing to turn and look at him. "You probably could have picked someone you tolerated."

"I'll be honest, though, I wasn't quite thinking of someone who would use to throw rocks at me," he said dryly. "Besides, I haven't seen you in a while, so I wasn't even sure where you were."

"Well, since you threw Azula in jail I lost my only line of information about you," she smiled.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled. "I know she was your friend, but—"

"Please," she scoffed jovially. "Azula's one of those people who you're only friends with because you don't want to get trampled on. To be honest, she was too high maintenance. And besides, remember how she used to torture us?"

"Yes," he said calmly, but he wanted to laugh. "All the times she tried to get us together—"

"Like when she put an apple on my head and set it on fire?"

"Or when she and Ty Lee pretended you sent me a card for White Day?"

"Or the time she locked us in the closet?" The two of them laughed as they reminisced of embarrassing times of their childhood. The two of them glanced at each other for just the slightest amount of time, but it was enough to brush their faces with the lightest shade of scarlet.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself," he said quietly under his newly long hair, which served a useful purpose of hiding his mortification. "I know you weren't earlier, but I missed this side of you."

Mai smirk slightly and leaned in to his arm. "I missed you, too," she admitted. "I guess that's kind of why I took a job in the palace to begin with." Zuko kept his head low, but he turned it slightly to look at her. She was looking back with an unadulterated affection he had never in his life seen before, and suddenly he felt a twinge of an emotion he had not felt in such a long time. He was happy. Mai's hand gently settled itself on his jaw and she lifted his face to meet hers. He smiled back at her with a smile he had not displayed earnestly in such a long time. He wanted to kiss her, and he thought he was, but from out of nowhere, and from no control of his own, his hand opposite to her suddenly swung inward, striking her harshly in the jaw. She screamed when his hand collided with her cheek, sending her stumbling backwards several paces.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she snarled so loudly it echoed out into the sky. Zuko stared wide eyed at her and looked down at his harm which would not move.

"Mai, I swear, I didn't do that!" he cried. "I don't know what happened—"

"DAMN IT!" she snarled, rubbing the spot his hand struck. "I thought—"

"Mai, stay where you are!" he ordered her. He suddenly knew what was going on. And as if his mind was channeling his thoughts, he suddenly found himself being dragged to the ledge of the ship by the arm so quickly he only had time to grab onto the edge before he could be flung off. His arm was fighting him and he tried to fight it, trying his best to weigh himself down so that he would not slip off the ship.

"Zuko, what's going on?" Mai said in a state of panic. Zuko grunted loudly as he continued to fight the arm that was desperately attempting to drag him into the long plummet into the icy waters that slapped against the ship. With all he could muster he managed to push himself away from the ledge of the ship, crashing into the wall behind him. His arm was still lost from his control. Zuko flexed his fingers in an attempt to regain control but he tried to no avail, instead his forearm decided to bend itself a quarter of the way through. "Oh my god!" Mai shriek as she watched in horror Zuko crying out in pain. She stepped backwards to go back into the ship for help, but suddenly she was overcome, and with no will of her own her hand rose to fire several blades in his direction. "Zuko!" she called out to him. His head shot up from his arm just in time to see the blades coming after him. He dodged all but one that hit him in the arm he could not control.

"Shit!" he growled, pulling the blade from his arm habitually. But that was a bad idea. From the wound came more blood than there should have been. Like a fountain, pints of blood shot out in a stream much too perfectly. His hand shot quickly over the entry would to keep as much blood in as he could, resting all his weight on his arms to assist. "Mai, get help!" he shouted to her. "The Resistance is here!"

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Very short chapter, yes, but I liked it, heck. Umm, not much to say here, like always, please go to my deviant art page, if you have any suggestions for drawings, please tell me, and as always please review. Until next time, Signing Off.