Author's Note: This is an immediate sequel to the dystopia futurefic Adagio for the Revolution by May Flyer, which I would give you a link to, but The Pit will not allow it. As such, you'll have to go to my profile and follow the homepage link to my writing journal to get to it. Which I highly recommend as this will make a lot more sense if you read that first. Also, it's awesome.

Consciousness returns to Mai at a pained crawl. Her eyelids are still too heavy to lift for quite some time after her mind clears enough for her to realize that it was not all a dream. She really had come to Ba Sing Se for her annual meeting with Zuko where he really had promptly drugged and kidnapped her. Apparently, as one of the first acts of aggression in the brand new war he really was planning on waging.

When she does come completely awake a large part of her wishes that she hadn't. Her mouth feels as though the last thing she ate was a bucket of sand and her eyes take a moment to focus. The room is small and non-descript, as is the bed on which she's been placed. She sits up slowly and realizes that the draft she feels is because she's quite a few layers of clothing lighter than she was when she arrived at this meeting. Her hair has been loosed as well. Of course. Every last one of her knives is probably far out of her reach by now. The fact that Zuko didn't bother to return any clothes to her outside of her shift is just another irritation to add to the ever-growing list.

Zuko is sitting to one side of the bed, holding a cup, presumably filled from the pitcher sitting on the table next to him. Mai calmly pulls the thin blanket up over her bare legs before bothering to acknowledge him with a scowl.

"Here," he says, holding the cup out to her.

She regards both him and the cup with as much dignified derision as she can manage sitting in front of him unarmed in her underclothes. "Because the last time I drank something you gave me it turned out so well," she says.

"What reason would I have to drug you again?"

"What reason did you have to drug me the first time?"

"I didn't think you'd come along if I just asked nicely," he says flatly. "You're here now. Drink the water."

Mai hesitates, but after a few moments, the discomfort wins out over concerns for her bruised pride and she accepts the offering. She ignores his silent gaze as she drinks and allows him to refill the cup when she's finished. She nurses the second cup of water politely as though this were a pleasant afternoon tea in someone's sitting room instead of an interrogation in some hidden cell.

"Why did you do this?" she asks finally, after setting the half-empty cup on the table.

"I want your help," he says frankly.

"What makes you think that I would help you?"

He seems to consider it for a moment, but Mai knows that he's worked it out in his mind long before now. "Because you don't care about the war," he begins. "You don't care about Azula's empire or the great destiny of the Fire Nation or any of that. You have a job and you don't even like it, and you do it because there's nothing else for you to do. I'm offering you a choice."

"A choice? Yes. I'm certain that if I don't ichoose/i your side you'll just let me walk right out of here." He breaks eye contact at that and she knows she's hit an ugly truth that he's been trying not to think about.

In some ways, he hasn't changed at all. Still convinced that he can make things be the way he wants them through sheer force of will, but Mai learned long ago that desire is useless, meaningless, without the power to back it up. And power is something of which Azula's always had an abundance and Zuko's never had enough.

"Maybe this isn't the most ideal circumstance," he concedes, "but she's wrong. And she's crazy and she's destructive. And you know it."

His voice is low and vehement, but Mai is cold, tired, and imprisoned, and she hates the way he's looking at her: like he wants to rescue her. She doesn't want that. She doesn't need that. Hasn't since she was very, very young and very, very stupid and he has absolutely no right to remind her.

"Yes, I know it. And so does anyone else who's outgrown puppet shows. It's never stopped me before."

He continues and she's not even sure he's listening to her anymore. "You've spent so many years, most of your life, perfecting the ability to be as unaffected by it as you can. But it's not just you anymore, Mai-"

She's not sure if it's the way he says her name or the road she sees him about to travel down, but she can't let him finish.

"What in all the world has given you the impression that you know me at all?" Her voice is slightly raised, the tiniest bits of emotion seeping in at the edges and she would be ashamed of herself, but she figures in this situation anyone would be allowed a slip.

"The fact that this war hasn't progressed in any substantial way in years. It's my job to know you. Just like it's your job to know me."

And there's another Look, something else she doesn't want to see. The silence between his statement and her response is suddenly awkward and her voice is still less controlled than she would like.

"However did you know that there's a whole hour for Getting To Know Zuko set aside in my itinerary every day?"

He surprises her when he actually snorts in amusement and she feels almost...embarassed. The conversation is turning and turning bizarrely, but she can't pinpoint exactly how. Her heart is beating too fast and she wants to slow down.

"Every year I was sure it would be the last..." he says and trails off. Mai can't look at him because he's being earnest now. There's something open there, she can feel it, and she's fairly certain that she would very much like it to stay closed.

"Why did you keep coming back?" he asks directly when she doesn't respond. Against her better judgment she meets his eyes again and it's possibly even worse than she imagined because there's loss there too, and loneliness. She realizes then that there are things he still hasn't let go of, even after all this time. And after that, she realizes that she does know him and it feels very dangerous.

Mai wants to answer his question, "Bad judgment, clearly." or "Well, it certainly turned out great for me," or a dozen other flippant remarks, but the words catch in her throat and instead the truth slips out. "I was- bored and you- it- it was...interesting. The only thing that was-"

She's not sure how it happens then. A multitude of things seem to occur at once, a collection of tiny events that all coalesce into one larger, unthinkable one. She slides forward on the bed and her feet touch the floor, Zuko's knee knocks into the small table and overturns the cup of water which splashes on Mai's right leg, Mai's left hand finds itself on his arm, and Zuko kisses her.

His mouth is hot and insistent on hers and Mai parts her lips before she even realizes what she's doing or furthermore what's happening. His hand is at the nape of her neck and her leg is rubbing against his when Mai pulls away.

"What just happened?" she demands.

"I don't know," he says, and to his credit, sounds about as shocked as she feels.

"Why did you-?" she begins, but he cuts her off.

"Why did you?!" he responds incredulously.

"I-I..." she begins before realizing that she doesn't have an answer for that. She has absolutely no answer at all that she knows or is willing to find out. But. Zuko is still quite close to her and, she thinks, as if noticing it for the first time, very handsome. And in these moments, which apparently exist outside of the realm of reason, that's more than enough justification to kiss him again.

He doesn't resist and after a moment presses more closely to her. One of his hands fists itself in her hair. Her arms snake around his shoulders and before Mai can have another attack of sanity, she's backed up onto the bed and Zuko has all but crawled entirely on top of her.

She turns her head suddenly pulling her mouth away from his. Undaunted, Zuko refocuses his hungry kisses along her jaw and neck.

"This is stupid," she manages, though it doesn't sound nearly as authoritative as she would like considering that her breath is coming in pants and she still arches into him when he climbs the rest of the way onto the bed, pressing her into the mattress with his own body. "This is... What is this?"

Zuko stops kissing her in order to speak, but Mai's ability to focus isn't increased much since he's still rocking his hips insistently into hers.

"I don't know," he answers breathily and that doesn't help either.

Mai closes her eyes and waits for something like rationality to come back, but she can still hear him and smell him and feel him all around her and on top of her. Words fail her entirely, possibly in large part because she's not sure what she would even want them to accomplish at this point. So, she reaches down and claws at his belt. He understands and runs a hand up under her shift in response.

They don't try to talk anymore after that.

--

"There's a very small window," Mai says, and the sound of her voice shocks Zuko out his drowsy half-doze. He's heavy-limbed and sated, and it takes him a moment to focus on her words. "Work all of the smaller advantages of my absence, but you'll only get a few chances for larger strikes, two at best, before she realizes that I've been compromised and burns down everything I've touched. I can map out possible weak points for you later."

Mai sits up as she speaks, and her hair drags across his bare chest. She doesn't look at him, faces away from him, and he notices the way she clutches the blanket to herself.

"I-" he begins, not entirely sure how to communicate what he wants to say. He brings up one hand as if to touch her, lay a hand on the ivory curve of her shoulder, but pulls it back. "This wasn't- I didn't- it wasn't so that you would-"

She exhales a puff of breath and Zuko can't tell whether it is in amusement or exasperation. "I know. And I'm not doing it because of...this."

"Good."

"Yes," she agrees.

The silence stretches out between them again and Zuko watches her fidget slightly. He wonders if he should say something else, but he's at a loss. He doesn't know what she's thinking now that she's starting anew, whether she's feeling regret or anticipation or both and what exactly might garner which emotion.

She breaks the silence for the second time as well.

"Do you have to...?" she trails off, making a vague gesture that he assumes refers to various covert duties he might be required to look after at any given time.

"Not quite yet."

She nods almost imperceptibly then slowly reclines beside him. She settles on her side and he can feel her breath light on his shoulder.

"Fine," she says.

"Yeah," he agrees and, after a moment, finds her hand with his. She lets him.