Author's Note: Hey, guys. Sorry for the wait. Been busy. Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it. This one was hard for me to write, from what I remember. It was difficult getting the right sort of emotion into it. Anyways, read and review! Thanks. - Fira

Forty-One

"So, what happened?" Maya asked excitedly, later that night. Uncle had not let her go down with him and Admiral Zhao to talk to Zuko. She understood why. It would make her seem like someone other than a crewmember. Quietly, she sat beside the fire with the rest of them. She was the only one who had noticed Uncle's quick shake of the head – as it had only been directed at her.

Impatiently, she had waited for ten or so minutes. Then Zhao came back up on deck and walked away down the gangplank. She had waited another three minutes, for good measure, and then vaulted past Uncle down the stairs to Zuko's room, banging loudly on his door.

Now she was standing there in his room, waiting for an answer.

Zuko was furious, pacing angrily back and forth. "He took my crew! To go on some sort of stupid mission to the North Pole! Why the hell does he wanna go there, anyways? Ugh!"

"Zuko, think about it," Maya said. "The Avatar needs to master the elements, right? What's the first element on the list?"

"Shit. He's gonna capture the Avatar before I do!" Zuko spun around and slammed his fists against the wall. Then he put his head against it gently and said, "He even figured out that I'm the Blue Spirit."

Maya thought back to her dream of the masked boy chasing Aang around, and flinched when she remembered the feel of her flesh beginning to burn. "So it really was you."

"What?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, remembering that Zuko didn't know that she knew.

He turned to look at her. "What am I going to do?" His eyes were wide, and pained.

This was the most vulnerable she had ever seen him. Even when he had been telling her about his father burning him, he'd been distant. Now, his pain was raw and up close. She felt as if she were intruding. She took a deep breath. "Did you ever think that maybe you were better than your father, Zuko? That you didn't need his approval for you to be a good person? Maybe you should leave this whole Avatar thing behind."

"Not this again!" he shouted. "I'm not giving up my throne!"

"Ah, so it's power you're after," she replied.

"No! That's not it either! Ugh! Just leave me alone! You're giving me another headache!" Zuko turned away and rubbed his temples.

Sighing, she turned to leave. "Sorry for trying to help."

Silently, she left, and shut the door behind her.

A little while later, Uncle found Maya up on deck. "Why don't you join me for a walk, Maya," he said. "All the crewmembers have already left, so it's a bit lonely. I tried to get Zuko to come, but he would not even talk to me."

"I wonder why…" she muttered sarcastically. Then she gasped. "Wait. You said the crewmembers already left?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Zhao thinks I'm a crewmember. When he doesn't see me with the others, he's going to know we were lying!"

Uncle put his head in hands for a moment. Then he looked up. "Well…" he said slowly. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's go enjoy our walk."

"Okay."

Uncle took Maya's arm, which made her giggle. It was a very gentlemanly thing to do. He hummed his Four Seasons song as they walked down the gangplank.

For about half an hour, everything was perfect. Maya continued walking beside Uncle, enjoying the cool night air, even if it was a bit too chilly for her liking. She was beginning to relax a bit, and think about nothing in particular.

That was when the explosion went off.

Maya and Uncle both spun around, and Maya saw immediately that it was Zuko's ship that was on fire. Even as she watched, another explosion went off – and then another. Great chunks of wood flew into the air, along with fluttering pieces of the Fire Navy flag. The heat, even from this far away, was unbearable. She stood and stared for a long moment, uncomprehending. And then a fleeting thought entered her mind. Zuko's still in there. Before she knew what she was doing, she had wrenched away from Uncle and was sprinting back to the docks.

Vaguely, as if from a dream, she heard herself screaming at the top of her lungs, "Zuko! Zuko! No!"

Tears streamed down her face as she realized with a sickening feeling that yes, she did love him. Without knowing it, she continued screaming his name, over and over and over again, hoping that, by sheer force of will, she could make him still be alive. But she knew no one could possibly survive an explosion of such magnitude – let alone three.

She screamed again, this time without saying anything. It was a carnal scream, an instinctual scream. It would have frightened her, had she realized she was making it. She thought back to everything that had ever happened between Zuko and her. But she was too distraught to make sense of anything. All she knew was that she loved him. And that he was dead.

She screamed until her voice went out, and then slowly curled into a ball on the deck and cried. She did not notice that Uncle was standing right beside her, crying silently. The pain in her chest went on for what seemed like hours. She couldn't breathe. It consumed her. She had no idea how someone like Zuko could affect her so deeply, but somehow, he did.

And then suddenly, there was a splash beside the docks. Dazed, and with a full-on migraine, Maya looked up. It was as if there was a veil over her vision. Everything was blurry. Probably from crying. And then she heard an, "Unh!" as something pulled itself up out of the water and onto the dock.

"Zuko," she heard Uncle say.

"What?" she croaked, voice still raw from screaming. Suddenly, she sat up and yanked this person – whoever it was – right up close to her.

"Ow!" this person said. "Watch it… I don't know how much more I can take. I think some of my bones might be broken."

It definitely sounded like Zuko. "Zuko?" she whispered, not quite believing just yet.

"Yes, it's me. Did you forget who I was already?" He sounded weak, and in pain, but it was really him. And he was really alive.

"I'm not dreaming, right?"

"No," Uncle murmured.

That was all she needed to hear. She burst into tears again and fell on top of Zuko, clutching to him, much to his surprise and annoyance. "Zuko," she blubbered.

"What? Get off me, Maya! I appreciate that you're glad I'm alive, but I'm kind of in pain right now."

She was suddenly angry, and utterly hysterical. "You don't understand!" she screamed, shaking him a little. "I thought you were dead!"

For once in his life, Zuko was shocked into silence. He had understood perfectly well what Maya had thought. It was the amount of force and emotion she had put behind the words that had surprised him. He said nothing.

Maya continued to clutch at him, sobbing, feeling hot tears run trails down her face and mix with the cold seawater that was drenching Zuko. She dug her fingernails into his chest and sobbed harder. She had almost lost him. It had almost been too late. And still, she could not tell him. He would never fall for someone like her. She was half Water Tribe. "Zuko," she murmured.

Slowly, she felt his hand rest on her back. It surprised her, as he had never so much as patted her shoulder before. His hand was warm, despite the fact that he had just been swimming in the ocean. Maybe it was his firebending kicking in. "Maya," he said quietly, and she could feel his chest reverberate when he spoke. The way he had said her name right then had given her chills. She started shaking even harder. She looked up at him.

"Zuko," she said again.

His eyes softened. "Thank you. For caring about me. I know it hasn't been easy being around me, but… Thank you."

She smiled, and laughed a little, giving a choked sob at the same time. "You're welcome, Zuko."

Still, she could not tell him. Not yet.