Mai watched as her daughter giggled playfully in the snow. Ever since they had entered the Northern Air Temple, Lao spent all of her days running around in the new place. She first saw snow that day when they arrived, Mai remembered.

Lao tripped and face-planted into the snow, but she recovered. She was quite upset when she realized she had lost her new doll.

"I'll get it," Teo said, grinning. That confident, optimistic grin drove her wild.

Mai was holding her young one, Zuko, close to her. He could talk and walk, but he still liked to be close to his mother. Teo came back with Lao, holding her hand. He knelt down and gave her the doll, which she happily reclaimed. Mai shivered.

"Come in for some tea when you're done," Mai said. She walked back into their cozy home and into the kitchen, seating Zuko down in an empty chair. She dug through the cabinets, searching for the tea, before she realized there was one cupboard left. She opened the wooden cabinet open by the handles, and a piece of crinkled parchment fluttered down. She gingerly picked it up.

Leaves from the vine,

Falling so slow

Ike fragile tiny shells

Drifting in the foam.

Little soldier boy

Comes marching home

Brave soldier boy

Comes marching home.

She dropped it, gasped, and walked away like it was about to bite her.

She could remember it like it was yesterday…

Zuko was sprawled on the ground, his hand over his heart; his eyes open but clearly devoid of life. There was a large singed mark on his chest, and the clothes he wore there were tattered and burned.

Mai was next to him, head buried in his bleeding, cold chest. She was crying. She was crying for what felt like the first time in her life. Zuko was gone forever. There was no hope now.

And behind Zuko and Mai, looking horrified, was Lu Ten. He wore a shocked expression, and he was in a poised position, as if to run, but he was stopped cold.

Teo was sitting against a tree, his eyes squinted shut. Ty Lee was racking with sobs. Azula looked like she wasn't breathing. Nobody did. Zuko was dead now.

And Lu Ten stopped breathing, too. HE stopped everything. And then, the unexpected happened- he started to sing. "Leaves…from the vine…" His words were broken, his voice hoarse. "Falling…Falling so slow…" His eyes were watering up.

"You MONSTER!" Ty Lee screamed. "You're a… You're a…YOU MANIAC!" She was still sobbing. She was screaming and writhing.

"Like fragile…Fragile tiny…tiny…"

"Shells, drifting in the foam…" Mai finished.

"Little soldier boy, comes marching home," they chorused, Mai's voice light and Lu Ten's deep and scratchy, both somber and sad.

"Brave soldier boy, come marching-" The song was cut off when Mai grabbed one of her knives and pinned Lu Ten to a tree behind him.

"Wha- But…" Lu Ten stammered.

"Don't. Stop. You destroyed everything." Mai deadpanned. "And now…you're going to die like he did, just a lot more painful and a lot more slow."

"You wouldn't." Lu Ten grinned. "You can't." HE laughed slowly, his mind devoid of any sanity at this point.

"I will."

"You can't kill me!" he laughed. "I'm INVINCIBLE!" He laughed harder. "I spent- HAHA! I spent forever, trying to kill my uncle! And the rest of the Fire Nation! AND THE WORLD! AND I'LL SUCEED! I HAVE TO WIN! YOU CAN'T KILL ME!" He screamed at the top of his voice. HE was laughing like a madman now.

"Watch me." And with that, Mai took out a knife and cut a long deep gash on his cheek, from his forehead all the way through his eye. He laughed.

"It won't work!" he laughed.

Mai cut deeper gashes on his chest this time, with speedy precise slashes. He was pouring blood now.

"NO! I WILL WIN!" Lu Ten jostled so much that the knives fell out, and he dragged his weary, bloody, insane body to another place where he would be more welcome. But no one would want him.

-COMES MARCHING HOME-

"Let me tell you a little story," Lu Ten grinned. "There once was a boy who wanted to serve his country by going to war."

"You're crazy!" Toph screamed.

"Quiet," he snapped. "Now. I wanted to go to war. Duty. Honor. All that stuff. Well, my power-hungry uncle used that as a chance to kill me off. He paid someone to get rid of me in any ways possible." Lu Ten drawled. "So they decided to put me in the front lines. I, being a naïve little Fire Nation drone, went with it. And then when they didn't kill me, they lied to Ozai out of fear instead, instead of just doing it themselves. Cowards." He then proceeded to roll his eyes. "So they put me in a box and set me out to sea, to where I could never come back to the Fire Nation. Except I did, Ozai killed the cowards, and tried to kill me next, but I fled. And everywhere I went, they knew me either as Fire Nation or a warrior, so they all wouldn't let me be. And I couldn't disguise myself because everyone knew me from my mug shot. So I was banished to the ocean, and hired an idiot, once formally Azula's maid, to do my work for me in exchange for her killing Azula. But I just used Tazu. She's a simple pawn. As well as Li and Sazo, who are on the airship scheduled to explode shortly. And Ty Lee. And Azula. They were all too easy for me. But my goal is simple- make sure that the four nations are all none. I want anarchy," Lu Ten finished.

"You're crazy!" Toph screamed.

"Shut up!" Lu Ten replied.

"Well how do you get anarchy by tying up teenagers to trees?" Katara asked with raised eyebrow.

Lu Ten smirked. "The Avatar must die," he explained. Aang gulped. "And from what I've heard, he's incapable of going into the Avatar State. Meaning if I kill him, there is no more Avatar."

Everyone gulped.

Lu Ten separated the chis, forming sparks in his hand, before letting loose a lightning bolt upon Aang.

And at the last minute, Zuko jumped in the way, he lightning hitting him directly in the chest.

Mai stopped, picked up the note, and stashed it in her dress pocket. But when she realized it said something on the back, she took it out again.

And scrawled in blood-red letters was,

"I'M BACK."

Ahem. You are probably all wondering WHERE IN DAVY JONES'S LOCKER ZUKO CAME FROM.

I HAVE NO IDEA. :)

And here are my ideas that I used (Copyright FGTC Inc.):

What if Ty Lee betrayed Azula instead of Mai?

What if Zuko wasn't an idiot and took Mai with him?

What if Zuko and Mai weren't a couple? Eh, it's just a random idea.

What if Mai was in more than two episodes?

What if Mai joined Team Avatar since she probably wouldn't kill any of them?

What if Azula joined Team Avatar?

Some new bad guy comes up.

Thank you to my lovely reviewers! Spry, you get the bloody curtains as a reward! Fyre, you get Zuko's dead body! And Melody, you get an OOC Ty Lee that is insane and stuff!

327 views, FYI.

How did I do, making it a Tragedy/Drama story? Good?

But the questions still remain:

What will they do now?

Where is Lu Ten?

AND WILL THERE BE A SEQUEL?

CAUSE, SERIOUSLY BANANAS, CLIFFHANGERS AS ENDINGS ARE TERRIBLE AND MAKE ME WANT TO SMASH THINGS.

AND WHY IS MY COMPUTER STUCK IN ALL CAPS?

(SERIOUSLY, HELP. IT LOOKS LIKE I'M REALLY ANGRY OR SOMETHING.)

-BANANAS!