Author's Note: Warning! Major spoilers if you haven't watched Episode 15 of Avatar season three, The Boiling Rock. Don't read unless you've seen it!

Characters from Avatar: the Last Airbender belong to Nickelodeon

Scene 3: The Assassin

The rats were mocking her.

Those slimy, overgrown rodents would roam freely in every corner of her damp prison cell squeaking triumphant little cackles at her helplessness. It was almost as if they knew her knives had been taken from her, shamefully stripped away until every one of her concealed trajectories was gone.

Mai found that it felt remarkably unsettling not to feel the familiar shape of a blade hidden anywhere among the folds of her clothing. It was also insufferably annoying not to be able to deal with those disgusting varmints with the casual flick of her wrist that would, under normal circumstances, send shards of metal flying. She could so easily skewer every one of them, hit any target she pleased, in fact. Just like those clumsy prison guards that day on the gondola landing. Of course, she hadn't actually killed any of them, she'd merely prevented them from stopping her while she went about saving someone who didn't even deserve it…someone she loved...

Ugh, it sounded so mushy when she thought about it like that. Why was she thinking about it anyway? Zuko had chosen a different path, they'd gone their separate ways…

…and she was never going to see him again…

The rats, the ones she'd been wishing to make targets, froze suddenly in unison, and then began scrambling frantically in a frenzy to hide themselves in one of the many crevasses of the moist, crumbling prison walls. Seconds later the thick, iron door swung open, but not before the Fire Nation assassin had quickly masked any emotion her last thoughts had evoked.

Mai didn't have to look up to know who it was. She actually found it a little eerie that Azula seemed to have sensed that moment of weakness in her and chosen to enter right then. But whatever. Azula could play all the games she wanted. That just meant she'd be distracted from conducting any sort of manhunt for her brother. Mai focused on relaxing the tension in her muscles. She found that thought rather comforting as she prepared to deal with the princess.

"Please tell me you're here to kill me…"

Mai's voice was layered thick with sarcasm as she spoke in her usual husky, monotone voice. Annoying Azula was so easy. Inwardly, she smirked as the words left her mouth, realizing grimly that she'd said something very similar the day Azula had arrived to Omashu to request her services in capturing the Avatar. How ironic.

"Kill you? Silly, why would I do that!"

Mai blinked, her narrow eyes widening in shock.

The gasp that escaped her echoed faintly in the cramped cell. She refused to believe it, even as she feebly lifted her head to stare dazedly at the figure who bounced gracefully into the room.

"Ty Lee…"

No, it wasn't her, couldn't be her. She was gone, she'd been taken away some time in the night, days ago, to some horrible location far away. Mai had woken one day to find that she could no longer hear bumps and clanks coming from the cell next door, the sounds of her acrobatic friend attempting to do handstands while chained to the wall. Nor could she hear the whispered, cheerful encouragements that had come from a source of incurable hopefulness in her bubbly friend.

Because they had taken her.

They'd stolen Mai's greatest support, making it infinitely harder to remain strong under Azula's thumb.

Yet here she was. It had to be a hallucination. A cruel, cruel hallucination.

But the arms that began encircling her felt too real. Unfortunately, so did the sting on her wrist as the metal that kept her chained to the wall rubbed savagely against the already raw flesh underneath.

"Oh! Sorry!" Ty Lee exclaimed, drawing back when she saw Mai grimace at the pain. She began delicately examining her friend's wrist with slender, nimble fingers. Her cool hands felt welcome on the tender skin.

"Ty…Ty Lee…"

Mai found herself choking on the name as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Her normally stoic face was having difficulty covering the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. Hearing the catch in her voice, the acrobat's arms immediately returned to wrap themselves around Mai's thinning frame, careful this time not to let the chain pull on her wrist.

"Forgive me," Ty Lee whispered, her gray eyes suddenly clouded with guilt, "but I just had to leave, and I knew bending to Azula was the only option. It was the only way I could think of to get us both out…I knew you'd never break."

Mai's eyes had drifted closed during the embrace but now they opened immediately. The whole situation felt like a fragile dream. She couldn't help but worry that if she clung too desperately to it, it would shatter into a thousand shimmering pieces.

"You came back to get me out?" she murmured.

"Well of course," Ty Lee giggled in response, "did you think I just stopped by to visit?"

Her expression suddenly became somber again as her gaze swept over the other girl's arms and legs. Her brow creased with anxiety as she searched.

"Mai…"

The assassin shifted to study her face, hearing the panicked edge in her voice.

"…The night I left with Azula…I saw the guards carrying…it l-looked like they were p-planning to…"

Mai instantly knew what she was referring to and her light, gold eyes flickered to one of the dark corners of the cell where the hot iron, now cooled, lay tossed aside, forgotten. Her gaze turned back to her friend, whose eyes where now glistening.

"Ty Lee, they didn't use it."

Mai's reassuring statement was met with a gasp and then a sigh of relief.

"But I saw -!"

"They threatened. Woke me up that night…brought it awfully close…" Her expression stiffened. "But I called their bluff. Azula was always one to favor mental torture over messy physical methods. You said you saw them bring it in? That was cleverly planned, she killed two birds with one stone…"

Ty Lee listened with wide eyes, unused to hearing so much coming from Mai. She raised her hand at one point and lightly ran a slender finger along a faint bruise on one of Mai's cheekbones, her jaw line tightening visibly at the sight of the purple mark.

"If she doesn't do physical pain, then what's this?"

"One of the guards couldn't handle a little jab…"

Ty Lee's face melted into a sad smile.

"You're stronger than me, Mai."

"No, just more stubborn."

Her remark earned her a giggle from the pink-clad girl who then lept suddenly to her feet.

"Oh, Mai! I almost forgot! There's someone else here to see you…"

Mai raised her eyebrows quizzically. Ty Lee had sung her last sentence in that mischievous tone that was all too familiar to her. It was the same tone Ty Lee would tease her in whenever she thought her friend was thinking about –

"Zuko."

Mai found that she could only mouth the name, unable to push the necessary amount of air past her lips to make a sound. The figure who had appeared in the doorway anxiously shifted from one foot to the other as he fiddled with the edge of his tunic. His good eye expressed genuine concern for the girl who sat chained to the wall and he opened his mouth suddenly before awkwardly closing it again.

The assassin mimicked his shy silence, feeling her cheeks grow warm. At first Mai wasn't sure if it was because she felt indignant at the sight of him or…something much different…Either way, it was difficult to wrap her mind around, everything was happening so fast. Ty Lee was here, Zuko was here, she was going to be rescued…

After a moment's hesitation, Zuko crossed the length of the cell in three enormous strides, dropping to his knees beside Mai. His expression was almost desperate, as if he wanted nothing more than to say something to her but for some reason couldn't find the right words. One gold-toned eye widened, however, at the sight of the light bruise on Mai's cheek.

"Did they hurt you…?" he breathed, speaking for the first time. His rough, callused hands reached out to gently cup her face between his palms and he held her with surprising tenderness. He let his thumb run smoothly across the bruise.

"Yeah, but I deserved that one," Mai responded softly, not even minding the drop of moisture that made it's way down her angular cheek to rest on Zuko's hand. A slight smile tugged at the corner of the Fire Nation prince's mouth at her comment.

"Zuko helped me get here after I left to find him and the Avatar," Ty Lee began chattering animatedly, occasionally throwing fond looks at the adorable sight of them. "That cutie was with him too, what's his name? Anyway, I could never have infiltrated this place by myself! It was hard enough finding our cells again in that maze of hallways." She giggled. "You know, we should probably get out of here quick. We're not the only fugitives, Mai. Zuko is a wanted man by the Fire Nation…and not just by all the girls," she added with a mischievous grin.

Mai rolled her eyes at the comment, though she found that she was reluctant to take them off her prince for even a second.

The three of them were so wrapped up with the relief of being reunited, they didn't spot the fourth figure stalk into the room and lean casually against the doorframe.

"Ugh, Ty Lee, it makes me positively nauseous to hear my brother described like that…"

In the silence that followed, a faintly sinister dripping sound could be heard echoing from some distant corridor of the damp, underground portion of the prison.

The three of them had frozen suddenly in horror, in unison, much like the rats had earlier, at the sound of the sneering drawl from the doorway. The dark form of the Fire Nation Princess blocked out the torchlight coming from the open door, creating a shadow that fell across Mai's face. With the light from the corridor behind her and the surrounding darkness of the tiny cell, it was almost impossible to see Azula's expression. For all they knew, she could have been smiling at them – like a cat at three cornered mice.

"Well…" she whispered, finally breaking the silence, "Mai and Zuko, together again. How…touching…" Despite the obvious sarcasm of her words, Azula's voice was now difficult to decipher, as it was far from sneering or even menacing. She simply spoke, toneless.

"And Ty Lee…shall I add acting to your list of abilities?"

Though they couldn't see it, Azula's face was as blank as the tone of her voice. Her eyes didn't rest on anyone of them in particular, rather they appeared distant, the fiery anguish they'd held for too long extinguished at last.

From her place at the doorway, she watched Zuko instinctively shift closer to Mai while Ty Lee sat stiff and motionless, as if told to sit up straight. She supposed the three of them considered themselves bold, sitting there in defiance, but they were scared. It was obvious from their shallow breathing and that distinct frozen look in their eyes as they refused to turn their heads directly towards her. It was a look that Azula had come to relish, but now…now it didn't quite have the same effect, which was aggravating.

Still, she could sense the fear in the room that simply exuberated from them, as if she were going to attack them at any moment.

Well wasn't she?

She should.

Azula should be furious, ready to fly at them with blazing fists and sharp claws to tear their pathetic beings apart. The traitors. They hadn't even looked back at her that day on the gondola landing when Ty Lee had shouted to get out of there. No hesitation from either of them, no second thoughts. Not even a glance at the princess's shocked face as it peered beseechingly up at them from her crumpled, defeated form.

So they hadn't seen it.

They hadn't seen the emotion that had betrayed her in that split second before she was able to regain control. Able to replace that emotion with one equally as powerful. Rage.

The princess's form swayed very slightly and she swallowed, fighting to keep her face blank, even though she knew the others couldn't make out her expression.

She wondered briefly what each of them was thinking, whether they were anticipating her to lash out suddenly, mechanically, and dispatch them one by one, like some sort of machine designed specifically for trapping and eliminating others. Perhaps they believed it would be easy and painless for her, maybe even comforting for the daughter of the Fire Lord not to be able to distinguish their faces once she was through with them.

Maybe it would. She could find out right now…

But Azula had already had time to think about this. Execution would inevitably only satisfy her for a while before the grief set back in, more excruciating than before. No, there was a better way to stop the ache. By keeping them safely locked up, she could hold onto them. Even if they had already let her go. She could make sure that they never got away from her, they wouldn't have the chance. And in time, they would learn to fear her…if not love her…

Her eyes were wide now and Mai could see a flash of gold in them despite the darkness. All three of them heard the short, desperate breaths from their captor as she stood there, apparently, from their point of view, deciding the fastest way to kill them. Without moving the rest of his body, Zuko discreetly motioned his hand to Ty Lee.

Now the breathing stopped as a revelation hit the princess, a wave of reality crashing all around her, pounding in her ears. As painful as it was to admit, Azula realized that there was one thing she couldn't force them to do, that such a thing existed. No matter what she did, they would slip through her fingers again, continue to defy her as her efforts intensified, efforts that would unintentionally bring her two friends closer together. Push her further away.

Well if she couldn't force them, what could she do? Azula's mind flashed back the fateful day when the guards had held Mai in front of her for judgement. She remembered, for the first time in her life she hadn't wanted to deal out punishment. She had just wanted Mai to snap out of it, both of them. It shouldn't have to end like this, didn't they realize? Azula had chosen them, they were special…

She bit down on the inside of her cheeks to hold back the swell working it way up her throat. Her fists clenched to suppress the blue flame that licked and teased her fingertips.

They should have feared her more than to do something like this…

…they should have loved her more…

"Ty Lee, go!"

In an instant, the acrobat had flung herself across the cell straight into Azula, slamming the princess's back into the hard, unforgiving wall. Zuko, the one who had issued the command, was already on his feet and sending a well-aimed kick at the metal link connecting Mai's chain to the wall. The crumbling stone surrendered its grip on the metal with only a slight groan, a sound that was accompanied by Mai's sharp intake of breath through gritted teeth. She only had a second to watch the warm, thick blood ooze from the tiny cut on her wrist before she found herself lifted suddenly to her feet by strong arms that then proceeded to lead her quickly past Ty Lee and her hostage.

For a brief moment, Mai passed so close to Azula, she could have reached out and touched her, and as Zuko pulled her forward down the corridor, her eyes chanced a glance at the subdued princess.

It was the first good look at her she'd had since Azula's face had been shrouded in darkness. But now, in the light, it was easy to see the unkept hair that fell in her eyes, the faded make up that was half-heartedly applied…the dried streaks running down her reddened cheeks…

…and the look in her gold eyes as they pierced her, pleading for some forgotten truce, some unspoken understanding that had vanished when Mai had chosen Zuko over her…

Azula held her gaze, their eyes locked briefly, and then the moment was gone and she was being rushed passed rows and rows of endless hallways, each looking exactly like the one before it. Just when Mai was beginning to think the prince was lost, they turned sharply towards a flight of steps that led them into dazzling sunlight that burned her skin and hurt her eyes.

"Finally! Geez, what took you long!?"

"Shhh! Sokka, they'll hear you!"

"They're gonna hear you both if you don't can it."

"Toph, help me lift her up…"

In the sea of unfamiliar voices, Mai thought she recognized the first two. She was fairly certain it was the two Water Tribe peasants that accompanied the Avatar, but her eyes weren't yet used to the glare of the sunlight to be sure.

"Careful, Aang, she's as blind as Toph right now."

"Watch it, Ponytail Boy…"

Once she was safely seated on the giant, hairy creature along with all the other voices, Mai reached out for who she thought was Zuko. The twice treasonous prince leaned forward to meet her half way, wrapping ivory arms around her waist.

"Aang let's get out of here," he called.

"Where's Ty Lee?" Mai murmured, turning her head over her shoulder to peer at him through squinted lids. Her eyes were gradually adjusting to the unfamiliar amount of light and she took the opportunity of their close proximity to study his facial features. He looked different from when she saw him last, older, changed somehow…

"I'm right here!" came an enthusiastic reassurance as Ty Lee plopped down beside her. She winked playfully at Sokka before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Oh Mai, you're gonna love Appa, he's so adorable! And he flies!"

"I've seen him."

"Oh I know, but it's so different when you're actually riding!"

Mai couldn't agree more. Just as she was finally able to see clearly, the giant bison lept into the air and she suddenly wished for her blindness to return. The view of the Boiling Rock Prison as it shrunk rapidly beneath them was daunting, and Mai found her fingers unconsciously gripped around Zuko's hand. But the sense of relief soon overcame her fear of heights as the dreadful rock became nothing more than a speck on the horizon. She took a breath and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of cool, fresh wind rushing past her, drifting through her hair, kissing her cheeks...

"We did it Mai…" Ty Lee suddenly whispered by her ear. "We escaped…"

.

.

.

.

Days passed…

The feeling of freedom did not.

.

Shadows from the fire danced wildly on the old stone ruins of the Western Air Temple, every once in while one taking the shape of a bagdermole, the only shadow puppet Sokka could make. Mai was resting against what was left of a large stone pillar enjoying the argument that had erupted between Zuko and the Earthbender girl.

She blinked when Ty Lee suddenly appeared beside her, apparently bored of harassing the Kyoshi warrior about her boyfriend. The acrobat linked her arm around Mai's and leaned quietly against her shoulder. She pushed a piece of rubble around with her foot.

"That was scary, wasn't it?"

Mai knew she referring to the jailbreak.

"You did a good job holding her back." She couldn't bring herself to say the name out loud.

Ty Lee was silent for a few seconds.

"No I didn't. I barely touched her after I knocked her to the wall…"

Mai's head turned to look at her friend who stared solemnly over the cliff side. Her gray eyes were glazed over as she relived the memory.

"…she just stood there…I didn't even have to block her chi…"

The assassin's gaze followed the pink-clad girl as she stood, reaching over to pick up the rock she'd been playing with her foot. The stone was a piece from a brick that had once been part of the grand, magnificent Air Temple. Now it was small enough to fit in Ty Lee's hand. She held over the edge of the cliff.

"Are you saying she let us go?"

Ty Lee rolled the stone around in her hand, ignoring the rough edges. She contemplated for a moment before responding.

"I think she knew it was a fight she couldn't win…"

"Or maybe she plans to use this to her advantage..."

"Maybe..."

Ty Lee sighed, peering one last time over the cliff. Then she let the stone piece slip through her fingers and tumble down into the abyss, falling all alone in the huge, misty expanse. She watched it go with tearful eyes. Of course, once it reached the bottom, it would join all the others that had fallen.

.

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A/N: Phew! My first fanfic complete! Well, that was fun. I have so many more ideas for stories about Mai and Ty Lee's interaction with the Gaang. And of course I'm not done with Azula either. I want to write more about her past and how she met her friends and all that good stuff.

Obviously the ship for this fic was Maiko, but Zutarians do not fret! In fact, you can count on some fics in the near future about Zuko's relationship with the Gaang, because I'm telling you, that episode where Katara confronts Zuko about keeping an eye on him and not letting him hurt Aang is just begging for some fanfiction. Am I right?

Review! It's good for the soul. It'll make you sexy and thin. All the cool kids are doing it.