Okay, so, Koneko (go-ahead-and-try) and I tend to give each other prompts, and I'll be uploading both old and new one-shots based around these prompts. They will span multiple universes, most an AU of the original universe in which they have been placed. Most prompts will range from quotes, to song lyrics, to even simply songs themselves, but we'll try not to use a prompt twice. This one-shot will connect to a larger fanfiction in the works currently, but you'll only get teasers for now. I hope you enjoy.
Dis claimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender; however, both Koneko and I wish we owned one of the Fire Siblings.
Prompt Set #2 - Prompt #8: "Tell Me a Lie by one Direction – Zuko x Yue."
No matter how hard he tried, Zuko could never seem to catch up to his sister. He had worked for years, trying to match pace with the prodigious talent of his younger sister, Azula, but never to any avail. She was always four steps ahead of him – whether in strategy or in Firebending – and, worst of all, she never ceased to taunt him about it. However, up until she had come to the resort-colony during his exile, bearing (false) tidings that their Father wished him home… Until then, it had always been easy to deal with, even if it hurt. It made him work harder to catch up to her, after all, but when he fought with her on the deck of that ship – he with his bending, she without, which just incensed him more – and she still bested him… it was as if they were eight and ten once more, respectively, and she was taunting him that he would "never catch up," after she had just performed one of the more difficult Firebending katas for Grandfather Azulon perfectly.
The words, though only remembered, cut like a knife, and he allowed her the opening to strike with her flame. He had been expecting red, like his own, albeit much more powerful, and in a greater quantity; that was how it had always been, after all – that was how it had been three years ago. And, when she blasted him with azure, the flame not even touching him but knocking him back with the heat and intensity… He had known that he would never catch up to her. To add insult to injury, she had begun to bend lighting, of all things, but to what purpose, none besides herself would ever know. Their Uncle intercepted the strike, redirected it, and tossed her into the sea as if she were a rag doll. The two males had then turned and fled, one thinking on both the rashness of his nephew and the ruthless power of his niece, and the other chafing at how she could still outstrip him without even trying.
Many hard, long months later, on a ship back to the Fire Nation, he held a brunette whose hair was the color of dark honey, with eyes of grey-blue. "Tell me – " He broke off, unsure, fumbling for words, as he looked away. He couldn't look at her for too long, especially not with the bitter taste knowing that it was all thanks to his prodigious sister that he had her again left in his mouth. A moment passed; she waited, expectant and patient, while he finally found his words.
"Tell me I'm a screwed up mess, tell me I never listen, that you need your distance… Tell me anything, but please don't tell me a lie, Yue." She smiled just a touch at the way he said her name – still as sweet and caring and full of emotion she could nothing short of feel, even after three years – but she frowned slightly soon after, his words registering. Worry filled her grey-blue eyes. She rested her head on his shoulder, a silent request for him to continue.
"I'll never catch up to Azula, will I? She'll always be so much farther ahead in everything… won't she?"
The brunette nodded, murmuring, "And yet, as true as that is, Zuko…" A blush claimed her pale cheeks, as she leaned up on tip-toe to kiss his cheek, smiling softly when she pulled back.
"As true as that is, Zuko, I will always love you, no matter what."
A moment of silence passed between them, and then a slow, thankful smile bloomed on the once-banished Prince's lips.
"Thank you, Yue. At least I can always rely on you not to lie to me."
Neither felt it needed to mention how the sister in question always lied to everyone about everything.