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For the first time in what feels like years – which might very well be true – Mai laughs.
She's clothed in the scratchy fabric of a prison uniform and her barrettes and bobby pins have been confiscated so her hair is all the way down past her ass, and she's never been so grateful to be living.
There aren't many times she's considered herself happy to be alive. She likes not being dead, usually, but this feeling is something else entirely. It's different from the thrill of a fight or the passion in a kiss; it's everywhere and nowhere and all around her. She's even appreciative of how itchy these stupid prison-issued slippers are, because it means she has feet, and collectively, her feet have ten toes, didn't you know?
It was a futile attempt to defend herself against Azula, it always is — don’t bring a knife to a thunderstorm — but she was prepared to go down fighting, to at least leave a slice on perfect porcelain skin as a goodbye to the world. An hour ago she was a dead woman, she was sure of it, convinced of it; and by some miracle, she’s not. Her blood is thrumming under her skin and singing the song of the living in her veins. Mai’s never believed in karma, but perhaps this is proof that good deeds can be rewarded.
Sat across from her on the gondola is Ty Lee, looking even more concerned than she did just a few moments ago. She probably thinks Mai's lost her mind. Maybe she has. Or, maybe, she's the last sane person on Earth. The results are still up in the air.
They're being immediately transferred to a prison closer to the mainland. As expected, Azula wants to keep an eye on them, keep them close to her – and Mai wonders, not for the first time, how much of her controlling nature is an excuse for their company, even when it's just the two of them acting as her life-sized dolls.
At Ty Lee's anxious expression, Mai shakes her head – dismissively, but with a smile on her face.
"Of all the things I was expecting," She starts, remembering how Azula's body, tightened with the intent to take a life, fell limp like a sack of royal rice. "I wasn't expecting that."
What she had been expecting was grievous bodily harm. That was usually a given with Azula.
Ty Lee can be a ditz, but she doesn't need context to know what Mai's referring to. They're freshly baptized inmates – she has all the context she'll ever need.
She mutters, "Yeah."
It's an odd role reversal. Ty Lee is the one acting reserved, stuck in her own head, and Mai's leading the discussion. With how things are going, she would no longer be surprised if she woke up tomorrow morning sporting a circus uniform and a pink aura.
Mai laughs again, and it sounds gratingly jovial even to her own ears which instinctively hate the noise. "I didn't think you'd do it. Stand up to her."
"Neither did I," Ty Lee admits, almost shamefully, looking away. "I just… acted on impulse, I guess."
Ty Lee was Mai's best friend. But that didn't mean she'd anticipated Ty Lee would choose Mai over Azula, like Mai had chosen Zuko. She wouldn't have even blamed her if she'd let Azula turn her into a little black smear on the concrete. A strange fondness for Ty Lee blooms in her chest at the realization that there was a person in this world that picked her over themselves.
The first person who ever picked Mai was Azula. She was a year ahead of her in school with no friends or social aptitude, but Azula wanted her anyway. Perhaps that was a strategic decision even back then. Reading people – manipulating them – came easy to her.
The adrenaline rush hasn't worn off yet. It's the longest, strongest high she's ever had. Even Ty Lee, who's been a bundle of nerves ever since the confrontation, is vibrating with an energy that's as equally exhilarated as it is agitated. It's not something that anyone but Mai would be able to perceive.
They weren't – hadn't – been Azula's friends for nothing. Mai and Ty Lee are more like her than they care to admit. Whether that was Azula's influence or not, wasn't something Mai liked contemplating.
"I've never seen her that mad before." Ty Lee whispers, and Mai instantly knows that she's referring to Mai's betrayal instead of her own. Nothing makes Azula angrier than someone choosing her brother over her.
She was always so cool and composed, and Mai can't recall a moment in recent memory where she ever let that facade break. The only incident that comes to mind was once when they were kids and Zuko got a lucky shot in during a game of hide and explode. In return, she'd burned his wrist and pretended (was she ever not pretending? were any of them?) it was an accident.
People act like Mai knows nothing of emotions since she refuses to show them – but in truth, she notices more because she expends less. Then for some stupid reason, she had to go and have emotions just like everyone else, and now she's earned herself a life sentence for it. This might not be the karma she initially thought it was.
"You're a badass, you know that?" Mai says, attempting to elicit a response from Ty Lee, though she gets none. The younger girl looks outside at the free world with a scowl. Her legs are bouncing up and down of their own accord. Her big gray eyes are holding back tears.
When it comes to Azula, it’s a different story for Ty Lee than it is for Mai. She would’ve never done what she did unless it was Mai’s life on the line. It’s the last resort. She wonders if this scenario had ever crossed her mind before, if she ever considered what decision she would have to make.
Mai's voice loses the delighted edge. "Hey. Ty Lee."
She catches her attention this time, and like an owl-hound, Ty Lee turns to Mai. Her mannerisms are ones that she's never exhibited before, and strangely, it puts Mai on edge more than anything else.
"Thank you." Mai says. It's the most sincere she's ever been; it makes a part of her want to throw up. Or maybe that's the adrenaline wearing off.
Ty Lee chokes back a sob, and says, just as sincerely: "I'd hug you if I wasn't in handcuffs," And then Mai is laughing again.
The guards on the gondola seem a few seconds away from imposing a moratorium on laughter. They just don't seem to get the joke: that surviving Azula is the funniest thing in the world, and Mai must be the luckiest unluckiest person that ever lived.
Hopefully, being alive doesn't come back to bite her in the ass, because if Azula isn't done with her yet, she'll probably wish she was dead.
For now, though, life is the preferable alternative.