Author's Note: For Ali Wildgoose, who demanded kissing.

Zuko stumbled backwards as a wave of fire flashed towards his face. He twisted and took the time to ram the hilt of his sword into the shoulder of a soldier behind him. In front of him, the soldier who had fired on him changed stances, preparing to shoot again. Zuko deflected the blast and returned with one of his own, sending the soldier careening backwards into one of his compatriots.

Temporarily free of assailants, he took the chance to look around and assess the situation. He could hear the fighting intensifying out in the courtyard as the rebels all tried to press further into the palace. Out of the corner of his eye, through a massive hole in a far wall, Zuko could see the blues of Sokka, Hakoda, and the other Water Tribe warriors as they pushed at the guards' forces.

That was their task. He, on the other hand, had to find his sister. At a dead run, he continued through the corridors of the palace, avoiding small battles breaking out all over, trying not to see the damage being done to what was once (and he hoped, would again be) his home.

This distraction was probably how the trio of guards got the jump on him. He turned a corner and plowed right into them. Off-balance, he was barely able to dispel the first attack sent at him and in the course of doing so, he ended up flat on his back, a wall behind him, and no immediately apparent escape route until one of his three attackers allowed him an opening. They stood, flanking him, bodies tensed and ready to strike.

Zuko raised his hands instinctively to shield his face from the worst of it and just as he did so, he heard a collection of thunks and the whisper of metal through the air. When Zuko opened his eyes again Mai was standing there, staring at him. The guards were struggling against the knives pinning them to the wall and floor.

Zuko scrambled back to his feet, eyes fixed on hers.

"Mai..." he said haltingly.

The last time he'd seen her danced through his mind just as it had through his dreams.

The anguish and pain in her eyes had stayed with him. He'd spoken the truth. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her. The fate of the world had been at stake and it required him to make sacrifices and hard decisions. He didn't want to drag her into the middle of something like that. He didn't want or expect her to give up everything for him. Then she did it anyway.

With her inhuman precision and effortless grace, voluminous robes and black hair whipping, she saved his life. And now, here she was again. Solid like a statue. Perfect and beautiful.

"I didn't know what had-"

"And you didn't seem to care," she said and turned to leave, moving at a quick clip down the hall.

"No- wait- don't-" Zuko said, catching up with her once she rounded a corner and grabbing her arm. He scanned the hall quickly and then led her into an alcove a few feet off from a doorway.

"Don't what?" she asked, eyes hard as they stood half hidden behind thick, silk curtains. "Walk away?! Leave iyou/i behind this time?!"

The sounds of battle suddenly seemed dim and far away.

"It's not like that..."

"Then what is it like, Zuko?"

He opened his mouth and closed it again. Then slid his hand down from her elbow to her hand, grasping it firmly before yanking her forward and closing his mouth over hers.

She seized up at first, and he thought that she would surely push him away. Slap him, curse his name, then leave him there with nothing but the vision of her retreating back burned into his eyes and the memory of her taste in his mouth. Then, suddenly, the tension left her body, like a long, slow exhalation, and Zuko pulled her closer as they both melted into the kiss. He brought his hands up to cradle Mai's face as she worried his bottom lip lightly with her teeth. He pulled away just enough to press kisses to her cheeks, the sides of her mouth, and the line of her jaw, desperate to express, in some ultimately inadequate manner, how she made him feel.

"I love you," he gasped finally and her eyes, which had been closed tight, shot open.

"Zuko..." she began, but he cut her off.

"I love you," he repeated. "And if it's okay with you, I'm never going to leave you alone again."

She smiled then, the open, affectionate one that he liked to think she saved just for him.

"You're an idiot," she said. "It's not over yet."

"No," he admitted, taking her hand again, "But it will be soon."

And he set off towards the throne room, pulling Mai along behind him.