Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. It's FANfiction, people! This disclaimer goes for all the chapters.

Character Drabbles—Mai realizes her destiny.

Takes place after Zuko has left the Fire Nation—presumably during the Western Air Temple.

Destiny

A flash of silver…

Mai's eyes flickered towards the flash, searching for an escape to her current state of boredom. Since it was a bright and sunny morning, everyone had decided to venture outside—leaving Mai alone in the huge, dark mansion. With interest, Mai leaned closer to the glinting object and realized that it was a shuriken—one of her own. No doubt it had fallen out of her robe's sleeve without her noticing that morning.

Picking it up, Mai dropped it again almost instantly as the shuriken's deadly edges pierced her skin. With a sudden show of emotion, the normally emotionless girl grimaced and clutched at her hand. Blood began to seep through her wound—an inch-long cut on the face of her palm. Her gaze travelled to the shuriken, and her heart thudded in her chest as she saw the blood on the shuriken's sharp edges.

Her blood.

It dripped from the shuriken, the bright colour of the blood clashing with the white fur carpet that lay on the floor. For a moment Mai saw images in her mind's eye—the blood that gushed out of her victim's cuts—the puddle of blood that one of the Kyoshi Warriors had bled—the blood that her daggers, her shurikens, her darts and her stilettos had caused.

The realization that coursed through her body left her numb with shock. Mai had never thought about the consequences of her actions, never cared whether her victims lived or died from her silent but deadly attacks and never minded that her daggers had caused the last drop of life to drain from an innocent victim—more than once.

Mai hadn't realized she was crying until her tears dropped onto her bleeding hand. Standing up, Mai silently dabbed at her eyes with her sleeves and headed for the bathroom to stop the blood flow from her hand. She bit her lip as the sharp water rained mercilessly on her wound and stung her. Mai closed her eyes. She always tried to forget the past… or she pretended she didn't care.

Mai's eyes fluttered open and she stared at herself in the mirror… She noticed her furrowed brow, thin lips set in a grim line and her eyes—red from crying.

"Murderer" Her heart whispered.

Mai's eyes widened. She leaned backwards and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her reflection's black eyes bore into her own and mocked her, daring her to turn away. "That's not true." Mai whispered the words, her eyes filled with shame. The words felt dry on her tongue and Mai knew she had uttered lies.

"It's true, Mai. Murderer…You killed them. Murderer… You never cared about their lives. Murderer… Their wives. Murderer…Their children. Murderer…"

"No! Just… Stop!" Mai screamed at her reflection. "It's not true!" In her desperation, Mai grabbed a silver dagger from her sleeve and threw it with all her might at the mirror. The glass shattered with a deafening crack and the pieces rained onto the bathroom floor.

With tears running down her cheeks, Mai ran to her bedroom and collapsed on the bed, her body shaking with silent sobs. She cried for the victims she had killed… She cried for the grief of their friends and family… but most of all, she cried for herself. For the times she had stopped caring… For the love she had closed her heart out of… For the heart she had numbed for all these years.

After a while, Mai calmed herself and sat up. Without minding the broken pieces of glass, Mai washed her face at the bathroom sink and returned to her bedroom. She packed her things and equipped herself with all her daggers, shurikens, stilettos, darts and knives. Resuming her unemotional face, Mai slipped out of her room, knowing what she had to do. What she wanted to do. It was her destiny, Mai realized.

And she was going to fulfill it… No matter what.

The End

A/N: Mai's my favourite character. I hope she wasn't too OOC in this, but her emotions were vital for the storyline. What's her destiny, you ask? That's for her to fulfill… and for you to find out. ;)

Written on the 14th of March, year 2008. You may pm me—I'd love an Avatard penpal. ;)