Together (Mai)

[Ignis]

Ignis was with Mai, after they had been on a date. Mai had allowed Ignis to stay the night at her palace. Mai's father was out on ember island for a day so everything would be fine. Mai's mother was probably still six-hundred miles away from the palace. Serenity was asleep in the new apartment and the door locked and the location had not been given.

Ignis was not to far from Mai and had decided to have a look around the palace. Ignis arrived in Mai's room and looked at some of the small paintings of her, about a photo frame's size. There was a picture of Mai with her family as a teenager, her at nine years old with two other girls, one doing a handstand and the other with a neatrul expression on her face and possibly a small smile. Ignis continued to look around and saw a portrait of her hung above her king size bed. Ignis smiled at the painting of the beautiful young girl.

[Mai]

Mai had gone off to another large room, dark red like all the others. Mai took her hair down, working her way through some of the massive tangles with her fingers, others with a small red comb with the fire nation symbol in gold in the corner. She wasn't wearing her usual - but instead a long dark red skirt that was exactly the right length and fit her perfectly, an dark red long shirt with dark golden designs on the bottom, with a dark red necklace she had gotten from her aunt before she had died, a little bright golden circle hanging from it. She kicked off her shoes and set them in the corner, ready for whenever she'd need them next.

Gently removing some dark red lipstick Ty Lee had insisted she should of worn, Mai took a good look at herself in the mirror. She looked different - and not because of the different clothes and a actual piece of jewelry. It was something that she'd failed to notice - her eyes were a little bit wider, her lips instead of pulling in the ever permanent slight frown of no emotion, pulled up to a straight line.

Even her skin looked better, brighter - as if something within was fueling some sort of glow to it. Her cheeks, instead of flat planes of antique white color, had a very light pink blush. Overall, now she looked so much different, so much better, she hardly looked like her old self at all, not that she was complaining.

Mai finished in the bathroom, all knots in her hair perfectly smooth, all make up washed away. Her pale feet gently walked to her bedroom slowly, and she stepped in silently. "You know, every time I walk into this room, it makes me feel a bit self centered." Mai nodded to the pictures with the captions in the corner of who was in the picture and when it was from.

A few more picture frames sat on a dark red elegantly carved table, all of which were Mai in them, one with her father at a formal dinner, one with her, Ty Lee, and Azula training together, one of her and her mother in the courtyard, and one of Mai by herself in a very elegant outfit in front of a large pretty tree on a cliff, overlooking the sea. Her favorite picture though, wasn't of herself, it was one of Serenity and Ignis at their new apartment, taken a few days ago and placed in a very nice expensive looking frame, sitting right with the other pictures on the table.

[Ignis]

Ignis turned around to Mai after taking a brief glance at the painting of him and his sister. Ignis chuckled at what Mai said and sat on her large comfy bed. "Thanks..." Ignis said to her. "Thanks for helping my me, my sister and buying us a new, bigger and better apartment." Ignis said smiling. Ignis would always remember this and be eternally gratefull to the beautiful girl called Mai.

Ignis motioned for Mai to sit by him. Ignis loved Mai now nearly more than his sister. Mai was the girl of Ignis' dreams and if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with someone it was definately Mai. Mai, the sweet, cute, kind and beautiful girl who had helped Ignis out and accepted him as he accepted her and her family no matter what her mother had done to him and his sister.

[Mai]

"It isn't a problem. It was the least I could do after my mother helped in the destruction of your old one. We have too much money as it is - and I think you may of needed new carpet anyway." Mai told him, a small smile forming on her face, turning the corners or her light pink lips upwards. Mai left the doorway to sit on the bed next to Ignis as he motioned, the soft covers comfortable under her skin.

Her back ached all of a sudden after sitting down on the bed, and Mai twisted her top half around so her back made a cracking noise then set back in relief the pain was gone for the most part. Mai lifted her eyes a few inches to look up at Ignis, tilting her head to the side slightly and felt her hair moving even with the slight motion of her head. All these little actions she did seemed amplified, along with an annoying headache. Her stomach felt tight; not because she was hungry or too full, but for some other reason she couldn't identify. Her headache grew more painful and eventually Mai gripped her forehead in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the painful headache to vanish.

[Ignis]

Ignis slowly put his arm around her shoulder, seeing her in pain and having a headache. "What's wrong?" Ignis softly asked not likeing to see Mai in pain or dispair. Ignis smiled at the girl he loved. Ignis eyes concentrated on her forehead which she continued to rub. Ignis sympathised Mai.

"What ever's wrong I'm sure I could help!" Ignis cheerfully did, moving close to Mai, his wide smile showing and wide emerald, gold eyes. Ignis loosened his arms in a slightly comforting fashion and even a bit relaxing too. Ignis kept smiling at Mai until she gave a reply.

[Mai]

Mai kept her eyes shut, the raging fire still pulsing through her skull, making her want to scream. Mai pressed her lips tighter, then uttering a small 'ouch' to the pain. "I'm having a little headache. I think I'm just making a big deal out of it - I hate being sick or being in pain, and it usually just seems twice as worse as it is..." Mai said, trailing off before the fire flared up, and Mai clutched her head tightly, holding back a few rude words.

After it's little burst, the pain was numbed slightly. The pain was just an annoying presence, hiding in the shadows rather demanding attention. Mai sighed quietly in relief, her muscles untensing. "Much better." Mai said quietly, the pain moving to the back of her head as she opened her eyes again, blinking in the light.

[Ignis]

Ignis was glad her headache was over. Ignis kept his arm around Mai and was still affectionate to her. Ignis would do whatever for Mai and be beside her and help her whenever. Ignis looked at Mai, still smiling. Ignis then heard a loud wailing and high pitched crying.

Ignis covered his ears due to it being so loud. "What the hell is that noise!?" Ignis said being almost deafend by the crying. Ignis gritted his teeth for a second. Ignis turned to Mai waiting for her awnser. Ignis hoped he could hear Mai, the girl of his dreams, over all this noise.

[Mai]

"That," Mai began loudly, almost shouting over the noise. Mai stood up and vanished out the door, running down the corridors and entering a small room with the source of the noise sitting on the floor. Mai shoved a bottle in his mouth to shut him up, then walked back to her room. "Would be Tom-Tom. My little brother." Mai said, the dark haired baby finally shutting up and happily sucking on his bottle, gray eyes closed in delight.

[Ignis]

"He's...kinda loud..." Ignis said to Mai. Then Ignis actually looked at Tom-Tom. Tom-Tom was probably the cutest thing Ignis had ever seen, watching him rock back and forth while sucking on his milk bottle. Ignis walked towards Tom-Tom's crib. Ignis smiled at the two-year old. "Hey they're little guy!" Ignis said tickling Tom-Tom's tummy with one of his fingers.

[Mai]

"Yeah, he's cute now. Just wait until he throws a tantrum. He won't be so cute then." Mai told him, crossing her arms and looking down at her brother. "He can be a complete angel when he wants to, other than that, it's like accidentally stepping and a turtleduck's tail." As if to prove her point, Tom-Tom finished his bottle, saw it was empty, whimpered then threw it with as much force as he could muster against the wall and started crying again.

Mai squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together, angry at her little brother for making her headache even worse. "TOM-TOM!" Mai yelled at him. He shut up and crossed his arms, looking at the bottle sadly. "I'll get you more if you promise to be quiet. Sissy has a headache and you aren't helping." Tom-Tom started at her eagerly, understanding. Mai picked up the bottle then walked to the kitchen, getting more, then returning with the bottle for her little brother, giving it to him gently. Tom-Tom grinned and began on his bottle again, Mai sighing.

"He usually doesn't cooperate so easily. I wonder what's up with him." Mai said, looking at her little brother again.

[Ignis]

Ignis covered his ears again and nodded to Mai's comment. "I wish I had healing powers..." Ignis said to Mai reffering to her headache. Ignis smiled at Tom-Tom still thinking he was kinda cute despite how annoying he seemed. Ignis quickly saw that Tom-Tom would run out of milk again in a few seconds and thought about Mai's headache. Ignis quickly dashed past Mai and into the kitchen then returning with a bottle of milk. Tom-Tom made a squeal when he was finished but a second after and before he could throw the bottle, Ignis handed him the new one. Tom-Tom said "Thank-You" as best he could in a cute baby voice. "I could babysit your brother anytime you want, you know?" Ignis offered Mai.

[Ty Lee]

No, Ty Lee wasn't invited, but that didn't mean she was not allowed to come over. She had not seen her friend, Mai, for quite a while now. On her way over to Mai's palace, she did numbers of cartwheels and walked on her hands. She came in, not even bothering to knock or give any notice that she was coming in. She saw Mai and got off her hands with one easy backflip. Quickly she hugged her friend. "Mai! I haven't seen you in so long! What have you been up to?" Ty Lee exclaimed, very happy to see Mai again. Then, as she back away from her hug, she noticed Mai had a guest. "Uhum, am I... interrupting something?"

[Ignis]

Ignis scruffed up Tom-Tom's hair and walked out to notice Ty Lee, the pretty young acrobat who was there when Ignis first met Mai (and Ty Lee herself). "Uh..A bit of Column A and a bit of Column B..." Ignis said a bit slowly and embarresed. "Me and Mai..were kinda on a date?" Ignis said. Ignis walked over to Ty Lee and gave her a friendly hug, nothing more. "It's good to see you again anyway Ty Lee!" Ignis said.

[Mai]

"Hello Ty Lee. Ecstatic as always, I see." Mai said with a small smile, hugging her pink clad friend gently. It had always intrigued her why she was friends with Ty Lee at all. They were complete opposites. Mai simply just smiled her little smile, walking over to stand by Ignis. "So what have you been up to Ty Lee? Doing handstands? Planning ultimate revenge with Azula?"

[Ty Lee]

"Oh... a date." She said slowly. A crooked smile was left on her face when she realized she had gone on a date with a guy Mai was now dating. She didn't even know Mai liked him at all. It felt weird, and wrong to her to have gone on that one date with him. When Ignis hugged her she wasn't sure what to do. So she just put one arm around him and then let go quickly as he pulled away. "Yeah, it's good to see you too." Slowly, her words came, just like before.

She then turned her attention to Mai, who she felt she had to tell about the date. She wouldn't, and couldn't, tell her with Ignis standing right there. But she felt like she had to tell her sometime. Afterall, Mai was her best friend and it was not right to lie to her. "Oh, you know me Mai. Listening to Azula, handstands, dates. All of the same." She said, smiling like she normally did, but her smile faded just a bit when she said 'dates'. Ty Lee did half a cartwheel, to end up on her hands and crossed her arms on the floor to relax.