Title: Blue Flame
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Summary: They don't understand why he mourns for her. AU
Characters: Azula & Zuko
They don't understand why he mourns for her.
/
She's sitting on his bed when he enters his room. Her hair is wet and dripping and her boots are caked with mud. She doesn't hear him come in, too entranced by whatever she's holding. He's about to yell at her when she looks up, face split in a brilliant smile. But it is her eyes that hold him back, bright and eager they wrench his heart. She tentatively holds her hands out to him and it is then that he notices the tiny flame cradled in her palm. He cannot stop the gasp of awe that erupts from his lips and when she giggles in glee and throws herself in his arms, he doesn't even care that her clothes are soaking wet. She's his baby sister and he's never been more proud.
/
He finds himself sprawled on the ground, Azula's laughter ringing in his ears. His sister's friend looks down at him with an odd expression on her face but when she moves to help him he shoves her away. Embarrassed, he picks himself up from the ground and storms out. He thinks he can hear them call his name but he's too angry to care.
That night, when she comes into his room clutching her stuffed dragon, eyes wide and teary, he throws back the covers and allows her to crawl in beside him. He wraps an arm around her as she snuggles into his side and sighs. He's not angry anymore; he knows she didn't mean it.
/
He watches as she executes the move perfectly, a torrent of fire blazing through the air but as he tries to do the same, he falls. He hears the training master scoff and declare they're done for the day. Ashamed, he waits for the man to leave, then throws himself into a series of katas. His sister grabs a towel and sighs.
"You're pathetic," she says, then turns her back on him. He continues training and tells himself she didn't mean it.
/
In his dreams her eyes are not the warm golden colour of the girl he knew, they are cold and guarded, sharp enough that he could swear he feels it cut into his heart. She smiles at him, a twisted version that does not belong on his little sister's face. He wants to go to her, hold her close and tell her she doesn't have to be this way. He wants her to see that he's the one that loves her most. But when he reaches out to her, she turns away and when fire ignites, the flames are always blue.
He wakes up crying, not because he's afraid but because deep down he knows she's lost to him. He cannot help but feel like he failed her.
/
She spills her last breath cradled in his arms, her fingers still curled around his biceps. And when he looks down at her, for the first time in years he sees not the stranger he has come to hate but the little girl he loved. It is only then that reality kicks in and the stillness of her body shatters something inside him.
They tell him to let go, that the battle isn't over yet. It is all he can do not to pull her closer. He realizes he is crying but cannot bring himself to care. His sister's body is lifeless and unmoving, her skin unnaturally cold. If only he could bend his flame into her body, he thinks, he would give anything to see her smile again. Hands pull her away from his arms and he lets them. It's no use anyway, she's dead, gone. He joins the others in the fight but all he can think of is his sister and how she would never know how much he loved her.
/
His friends offer him their sympathy but he can see in their eyes that they don't care. They're glad she's dead and why wouldn't they be? To them Azula was a monster but no matter how hard he tries he can never seem to reconcile the two.
'She's my sister,' he tells Aang, but even the Avatar cannot hide his confusion at the sorrow in his voice.
They don't understand why he mourns for her.
He just wants his little sister back.