Phew, finally. This chapter was such a struggle, but finally we're here. Just one more chapter left!
Chapter 25
Mai couldn't believe her luck. Lady Anzu, either purposefully or through sheer incompetence, had ignored how the blade she held against Mai's bindings was a hair's breadth from freeing her. In a minute the rope would give, and then she would have both her hands and a weapon. Not enough to escape, but she'd be able to do a good deal of damage on her way out.
And a voice in the back of her mind kept reminding her that Ty Lee had escaped, and would come back as soon as she was able to. Likely with Zuko, who would reduce the warehouse to ashes in pursuit of her. Mai trusted in that in the same way she trusted that her blade would find its mark. All she had to do was survive until that moment.
"I know why they hate me," she snapped at Minister Ito. "But what about you? I thought you were loyal to Zuko."
"I am loyal," he drawled. "To the Fire Nation, to the royal family, and yes, to Zuko. He will make an excellent Fire Lord, perhaps our best ever. Except for his choice of you." With a sneer, he crossed the room to stand in front of her, so close that she could feel his breath on her cheeks. "In these perilous times, to choose a nonbender from a family of Ozai loyalists - traitors! But he is too young and too infatuated to think through this with a clear head, and too headstrong to listen to counsel. So I have done what I had to do."
Her hands cramped from the angle she had to hold them to reach the blade, and still that last eighth inch wouldn't budge. She had to keep talking. If she could keep him close until she had full use of her hands… But her mind came up blank. Words had never been her strength. Where was Ty Lee when she needed her?
Ito took a step back.
"Are those really your reasons, Minister?" Lady Anzu tittered from behind her. "I admit, I wondered why anyone would oppose Lady Mai except for jealousy."
He paused, smirking. "Jealousy? My dear lady, it appears the jealous one is you."
"You would not object to my becoming the Fire Lady?"
Mai nearly retched from the fake sweetness in Anzu's voice, but Ito puffed out his chest.
"A woman as fine as you is wasted on the Fire Lord. You belong with someone who will appreciate your many talents."
"Uncle! Gross," Dai Yu said from the other side of the room. Mai quite agreed. Dirty old man.
"I quite agree, Minister," Anzu said. "I admit, I did once dream of joining my fortune to the Crown and enjoying all the prestige that goes with it, but I have come to realize that my talents are best appreciated elsewhere."
Ito closed the gap again, though this time he leaned towards Anzu.
"Tell me more," he purred, and Mai couldn't stop the disgusted curl of her lips. It was one thing for Anzu to throw herself at Zuko, but quite another for her to seduce a man old enough to be her grandfather.
Anzu laughed gaily. "Surely you have heard through the rumor mill? I have been in talks with General Saito about marrying his oldest son."
The leer froze on Ito's face. Mai felt her bonds pop loose, but she hardly noticed.
"Hinata?" she gasped. Surely she was lying.
"It was Ty Lee who first put the idea in my head. And you must admit, on paper it's a perfect match. Our combined fortunes would rival that of the crown, and as one of the Fire Lord's closest confidants, he has great power and influence. And, well, he's not hard to look at, either." She giggled. "How could I say no?"
"You are engaged to the Fire Lord's personal guard?" Ito seethed, his fists balling as he shoved Mai out of the way to get to Anzu. She fell to the floor, groaning from the pain that lanced through her ankle from the impact. And more than that, from the sight of the knife in Anzu's hand, now out of her reach.
"You implied otherwise when we spoke earlier," he continued, grabbing Anzu's elbow.
"My dear Minister Ito," she said sweetly. "You heard what you wanted to hear. Perhaps if you could think clearly past your infatuation, you would have been able to make better decisions."
And with those words, she tossed the knife into Mai's lap.
The room exploded into action.
Ito shot a stream of fire at Anzu, who brought up her hands to counter it before producing fire daggers of her own.
Dai Yu screamed and charged. Mai hurled the knife at Dai Yu as she dove for cover behind a barrel.
Dai Yu flew back as the knife sliced through the side of her neck, pinning her to the back wall by the collar of her dress. Blood began seeping from her neck, but she glared with every ounce of hatred Mai had ever seen on her.
She sent a blast of fire towards Mai's hiding place, hitting the barrel, which immediately caught fire.
An acrid smell filled the air, one that Mai recognized.
"Blasting jelly!" With a panicked cry she scrambled out of the corner, half crawling, half running in her haste to put as much distance between her and the barrel before it exploded.
But her foot wasn't cooperating, and she knew she wouldn't make it.
Arms wrapped around her, lifting her from the floor and dragging her towards the door.
"Hurry," Anzu gasped, and Mai had just enough time to marvel that she was being saved by Lady Anzu before a wave of heat pushed them out the door and into the hall. She slammed against the far wall, the wind knocked out of her, and stars exploded before her eyes.
Her vision cleared, and she saw fire crackling from every wooden beam. Choking smoke filled the air. Anzu lay on the floor, unmoving except for the slight rise and fall of her chest. At least she was alive.
She had to get out before the fire had engulfed all her escape routes. Bending over, she tried to drag Anzu onto her back. But her injured ankle protested, and the two of them collapsed again onto the floor.
Maybe she could crawl out, dragging Anzu behind her? She gritted her teeth and wrapped an arm around Anzu's waist and began slowly making her way down the hall. Sweat dripped down her face and smoke clogged her lungs, but several minutes later she had nearly reached the door. A strange feeling of eyes watching her, nothing more than instinct, caused her to glance back over her shoulder
A figure of a woman stood at the end of the hallway, hair hanging down half her head, the other half scorched to the skin. Her face was burned almost beyond recognition, but enough of her features remained to identify her as Dai Yu.
With a wave of her hand, Dai Yu lowered the fire levels around her and advanced towards Mai and Anzu in an off-balance, staggering run.
Dai Yu had murder written on her face, and Mai had no weapon, no allies, no method of escape. No way to fight back. A sinking, crippling fear began to take hold of her, and her breaths came in tight, shallow puffs.
"You ruined everything!" Dai Yu growled, raising her fists into a firebending stance.
Mai glanced down at Anzu, willing her to wake up long enough to fight back, but she lay as still as ever.
Then, she saw it: a delicate hair pin in the shape of a lotus flower, encrusted with jewels and jade. A pin with sharp metal points on the ends.
Dai Yu yelled and punched a ball of fire at them.
Mai yanked the pin out and sent it sailing towards Dai Yu, using her free hand to roll herself and Anzu out of the fireball's path.
Dai Yu shrieked in pain and clutched at the hairpin sticking out of her chest. She stumbled towards Mai, her face clouded with fury. A shudder racked her body, but she clenched her fists and continued to advance.
"If I'm going to die," she said through a rattling breath, "you're going to come with me."
She raised her hands in a firebending pose and drew in a deep breath.
Mai had no more weapons and nowhere to escape, trapped as she was in the corner. She tensed her muscles and prepared for the worst.
Instead, Anzu dropped in a heap onto the ground. Behind her stood Ty Lee.
Mai took a deep, shuddering breath and instantly regretted it. The smoke filled her lungs and sent her into a coughing fit.
"Mai!" Ty lee gasped, crouching down beside her. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." That was a lie, but Ty Lee didn't have to know it. "Better than Anzu, at least."
"I'm going to get you both out of here," she promised, putting an arm around Anzu. "I've got the other Kyoshi Warriors outside. They're fighting the fire."
Mai was beginning to feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen, but with Ty Lee now supporting Anzu's weight, they were moving twice as fast. The door was almost in reach. They would survive.
And then the ceiling in front of them caved in. Hot cinders showered onto them, singeing clothes and hair and skin. Fire licked at the rubble, growing in intensity until it was a raging inferno.
They were trapped.
Zuko heard the explosion several blocks away. The shockwave rattled the buildings nearby, and he could immediately sense the resulting fire. He had no way of knowing that it came from Ito's warehouse and that Mai was inside, but still he knew. His insides clenched and his mouth ran dry as he increased his pace to a full-out run. Sokka, Hinata, and Kei Lo kept pace with him, and several minutes later the front of the warehouse came into view. Kyoshi Warriors had formed a line, throwing buckets of water on the building, but it didn't seem to be having much effect.
He didn't pause to reflect, but merely gave a brief nod at Hinata and barreled towards the door of the warehouse, which had already been kicked in. But they were forced to skid to a halt at the wall of fire that burned just inside.
The flames crackled, consuming the wood and feeding on the air. With a deep breath, he tried to suppress them, but they had too much fuel, and the inferno continued to rage.
Fine. So the only way in was through.
He bent a protective firewall around himself and charged into the fire. It pressed into his shield, but his fire held, and he burst out on the other side.
His eyes smarted from the smoke, but he could see three figures huddled on the ground: Ty Lee, Anzu, and Mai.
Forgetting everything else, he dropped to her side.
"Mai!"
"Zuko," she rasped.
The smoke burned his lungs and the intense heat prickled at his skin, but none of that mattered. She was alive.
"Let's get you out of here."
"Can't walk." She coughed.
Nodding, he swept her into his arms. "I've got you."
She winced at the movement and reached down to clutch at her ankle.
"Sorry," he said, holding her closer.
"I'm fine," she insisted. "Where's Ty Lee?"
"Here." She waved her arm at Zuko, a weak but cheerful smile on her face and gingerly got to her feet.
"And Anzu," Mai continued, clutching at his sleeve. "You have to save-" She broke off in a coughing fit.
"Lady Anzu?" Why would she care about her?
"She saved me."
She may as well have said that a purple pentapus had saved her, for all he understood it. But if it mattered to her, he would see it done. He glanced over his shoulder to see Hinata making his way towards the exit.
"Hinata's got her. She'll be fine."
Anzu was cradled in his arms, almost tenderly, as he made his way towards the exit. Zuko shook his head in disbelief, and was about to follow him when he saw another body lying halfway down the hall. It was burned beyond recognition, but was clearly female. A hairpin stuck out from her throat in a way that only Mai could have managed. Dai Yu, then.
The flames crept ever closer to her, and in a moment she would be consumed.
It was nothing less than she deserved.
But Kei Lo's words kept playing in his head. She's my sister. Surely you, of all people, understand.
And he did. If this had been Azula, he would have wanted her rescued. No matter what she had done.
But how could he save her? Mai wasn't in any condition to hold onto him under her own strength.
He shook his head. "I have to get Dai Yu out, too."
"No you don't," Mai coughed. "Don't you dare risk your life for her."
"It's the honorable thing to do," he said quietly, passing Mai to Ty Lee, settling her on Ty Lee's back piggyback style. "Get her out of here for me. I'll get you past the fire."
He created a fire shield around the two of them. As Ty Lee ran through the fire, he could just hear Mai's cry of, "Zuko, you idiot!"
The things he did for honor…
He fought his way back through the hall to reach Dai Yu, and even in that short time, the fire had intensified to the point where he had to actively use his firebending to clear a path forward.
She lay on the ground with a hairpin sticking out of her chest, her face burned almost beyond recognition. Memories flew before him of recovering from his own severe burns, and he almost felt pity for what she would go through if she survived this.
He threw her body over his shoulder as if she were a sack of rice, and began stumbling down the hall. Holding her impeded his firebending, and the flames encroached even further upon him.
At the end of the hall, a raging fire completely blocked the exit, and he did the only thing he could. Bending a loose ball of fire around the two of them, he ran for it.
They burst out the door in a rush of flames.
Dropping Dai Yu just outside the entrance, he stumbled forward and he collapsed on the ground. He took three blissful breaths before scanning the area for Mai and Ty Lee. All he saw was Suki, stalking his way with purpose.
She grabbed his sleeve and hauled him to his feet. "You've got to fight the fire, Zuko. We need more firebenders."
"Let it burn," he said darkly, pulling out of her grasp. It was nothing less than Ito deserved.
Suki's face hardened. "You will not. The flames will spread to the other buildings, and you can't afford to have your entire warehouse district burned down."
His teeth ground together in frustration, but she was right. The people of the Fire Nation would suffer if the warehouses burned down.
Groaning, he clambered to his feet and jogged over to where Hinata was already helping the Fire Brigade suppress the fire. Another explosion rocked the warehouse, and the fire raged, consuming the warehouse faster than they could bend it back.
Flames jumped to a neighboring building, and then another. Chaos broke out as the Fire Brigade began to divide themselves.
"Don't worry about this one," he yelled above the roar. "Save the other warehouses!"
He knew what he had to do.
His breath wasn't as centered as it ought to have been, considering the smoke damage to his lungs, but what he lacked in breath he could make up for in focus.
Mai was safe. The Fire Brigade would save the warehouse district. All he had to do was burn this fire out safely.
Fire was life, but it could also be destruction. The goal now was to accomplish both at once.
He called forth a wall of dragon fire, enclosing the building in it on all sides. Then, when he was certain the wall would hold, he fed the flames inside it until they were burning many times hotter than normal, turning from orange and yellow to a bright, dazzling white. A white so intense it was almost blue.
Inch by inch, he shrunk his fire wall. He could feel the pressure building from the fire within, and then with a mighty bang, the warehouse exploded. The dragon fire shield pulsed, throbbed, threatened to break, and Zuko stumbled back a step. But it held.
Having consumed all its fuel, the warehouse fire sputtered and died, and he released the shield.
Wiping the sweat and soot off his brow, he took in the charred ground where the building had once stood. Nothing remained - no posts, no walls, no furniture. No fire. Only faint wisps of smoke rising from the smoldering earth.
"Look at you, always playing the hero at fires. Have you decided to join the Fire Brigade?"
He spun around to see Mai leaning on Ty Lee, her voice hoarse, and her clothing singed. His brain stopped functioning at the sight of her, and so he could not be held responsible for the inanity that came from his mouth.
"I came to rescue you."
She looked at the remains of the warehouse before quirking a brow at him. "But I was doing so well on my own."
He huffed out a breath, something in-between a laugh and sigh of relief, and pulled her into his arms. She smelled sweaty and smoky and bloody, but he buried his face in her hair and breathed it in anyway.
"You're okay," he murmured.
"Mmm," she hummed against his chest. "But I will be so much better after a bath and a meal."
"I can make that happen."
"One of the many perks of being Fire Lady." She tilted her head towards his and hooked her hands around his neck. "I suppose it makes up for the constant death threats."
Guilt washed over him, and his insides clenched hard. "Mai, I'm sorry."
Her face softened. "I'd tell you it wasn't your fault, but you won't believe me."
"You almost died," he scolded.
"But Ito and Dai Yu died instead." She put her hand on his cheek. "And since they're the ones who have been trying to kill me, I'd say my risk of death has decreased dramatically in the last hour."
The tight fist that held his insides clenched again, before releasing in a burst of anger.
"Ito, that traitor. He said he believed in me!"
"He did. He believed in you so much that he couldn't stand to see me ruin everything you could become."
She said it so matter-of-factly, as if that wasn't the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. Zuko pulled back from the embrace, holding her shoulders and glaring down at her.
"You and Uncle believed in me when no one else did. You are good for me. And anyone who can't see that is worthless to me." He made a split-second decision. "I'm going to purge my council-"
"A little drastic," she drawled.
"-and outlaw my fan club."
"Perfectly reasonable," she agreed, her eyes twinkling.
"I'm serious, Mai. I'm not going to let people keep doing this to you."
"I know." She kissed his cheek, then took his hand. "Let's go home."
"Where are Ty Lee and Hinata?"
He wasn't going anywhere without them for a long, long while.
"Ty Lee is with the Kyoshi Warriors over there. And Hinata, well…." She gestured to a warehouse across the street, eyebrow raised mockingly.
He followed her gaze to see Hinata pressing Lady Anzu against the wall, her arms locked around his neck and their lips intimately entwined.
Jaw dropping, he turned back to Mai. She shrugged, amusement tugging at her lips.
"It seems they're engaged."
"What?!"
