We Could Be Kings
I'm gonna be released from behind these lines I don't want your future
And I don't care whether I live or die
And I'm losing blood, I'm gonna leave my bones
And I don't want your heart it leaves me cold
I don't need your past
One bright moment
Is all I ask
Lieutenant stood on the pier. He watched his leader's boat speed away. Watched the love of his life completely forget he existed.
Never had he loved anyone as much as he loved that man. Not even his dead wife. Not even his dead children.
Lieutenant had lost all pride. He had wanted to apologize to Amon, but he was too late. All he could do was watch him and Tarrlok speed off. Start a new life. Maybe then he would see him again.
But something went wrong. Horribly wrong. The boat exploded.
He just stood there for a moment. Wondering if he was dreaming. Wondering how this could be possible. He didn't realize his knees had given out, he never realized he was crying.
Amon always cheated death, but something in the back of his head screamed that this was a resolution. That this was the ending to a tragedy. But the finality, was overwhelmed by hollowness, by sheer disbelief.
He felt numb, unable to process anything. And suddenly, he was swimming. His body instantly shivered at the cold, but he swam as hard as he could. He would save him. His thinking wasn't logic. It was just automatic.
When he reached the wreckage, he began calling Amon's name. It began as a simple yell, and after nearly five minutes, it was desperate pleading. He had not swam through the wreckage yet, but nowhe was, he was searching. First, he found Tarrlok. His face bloody, and heavily burned. He could see muscle and the cartilage of the nose. Some chocked, inhuman noise escaped Lieutenant's mouth at the sight. All he could do was picture Amon just like him.
"AMON!" he screamed. Nothing but the small lapping of waves.
Lieutenant swam through the wreckage, scared of what he would find.
And then he saw him.
He was slumped against a piece of the ship, laying sideways, arms splayed. 'Spirits, he's still wearing his coat' was the first thought that swam through Lieutenant's head, but of course, the thought didn't last long, because he kept swimming and his face become visible.
The skin was boiled so bad, that it was almost completely gone. He had no face, it was completely bone, but patches of skin were still attached and even one of his ears was hanging from the side of his face by a few strings of veins. Incredibly, his eyes were intact and staring sightlessly, at the water that had betrayed him in the end. Blood gushed from everywhere on the man, and Lieutenant retched, while he sobbed.
It felt wrong to see Amon like this, dirty and disfigured. It felt so strange. His love was barely recognizable.
"I swear, if you come back, I will never disappoint you. I will do whatever you ask without question." he shouted though his voice cracked, then repeated it, in a whisper, "I swear, I swear, I will." He had swam over to Amon, then, and had held his face in his hands, trying not to throw up again.
"I'll forgive you for your betrayal, I'll kill the Avatar, I'll never hate you again. Please." he whispered, his eyes closed. "This is all my fault and I will change the fate's design, I will bring you back. You can't leave, you can't. Who will lead us? Who- who will love me? Who will love this failure?" He began sobbing then, trying to bargain for just one more minute, but his words weren't audible, they weren't human.
"This is all my fault. If I had stayed faithful, you wouldn't have left. We would have taken the Avatar's bending. We could have been kings." Lieutenant was shuddering, his sobs were mangled, and his voice broken. He stayed like that for what felt like hours, before he let himself drown, before he let himself sink to the bottom. He wasn't giving up, he was just giving in. He was going to see his lover again, and make things right.