For Avatar Femslash Week, Day 2/7
Summary: In another time, Yue and Suki are reborn and meet when Suki contracts a supernatural illness and goes to find the Lunar Witch, said to heal, but only on the full moon.
Genre: T+
Rated: Romance, Supernatural
Prompt: Night
Author's Note: In this fic, Suki and Yue met during the original series, prior to her becoming the new Moon Spirit.
Suki Moriyama went out a two weeks before the full moon, when the moon was a sliver of milk white in the bright, diluted sky, high above the city. She took the bus –the number eight that ran north, and then curved to the east– until she ended up in the old warehouse district, choked with decaying building. Pressing a button next to her seat, the bus halt, barely letting her off at the entrance to the dark myriad of alleyways.
Suki sucked in a deep breath and went down the first of them, a cramped, claustrophobic brick and vine walkway that stretched until it stopped at a large, brick wall. She pressed her hand to it and it shot through, the bricks vibrating like liquid.
"Here's to something," Suki grumbled, and she stepped through, the feeling of liquefied brick making her shudder uneasily.
She entered into a large, round courtyard, bowl shaped with high walls that exposed a circle of sky, with the crescent moon directly overhead. All around her, the sweet, subtle smell of lotus blooms filled her, their unfolded petals like fallen stars in the quiet night. That moon above made Suki realized why they called the woman the Lunar Witch: she worked her magic through the moon's phases, drawing her strength as it waned and losing it as the moon waxed.
Across the way sat a small house, with a stone pathway leading up to it, encircled by a wide stream, a makeshift, modern moat, with two fish in it: one white, and one black. Cautiously, Suki approached, crossing the drum bridge and walking up the steps to the house two at a time, only pausing to knock on the door. It swung in without a creak, revealing amber light inside. Anxiously, Suki walked in, the door swinging shut behind her, and heard a voice.
"Please, make yourself comfortable. I just need to finish getting our tea."
"You act as if you knew I was coming," Suki replied, chuckling nervously.
"I did though. The moon told me that I'd be receiving a new guest tonight." A tall figure wrapped in a billowing, ice blue cloak appeared from around a corner, a tray in her hands. Two navy teacups sat on their tops, and a teapot painted to look like a galaxy sat between them, steam pouring from the spout. "I hope that green tea is alright with you. I find it calms me best." Suki noted a small plate of snacks: lemon bars, dusted with powdered sugar.
"The lemon bars?"
"They relax me too. A person I once knew loved them, so they're… dear to me." Suki could hear a smile in the woman's voice. She leaned over, silent for a moment, and set the tea cups upright, pouring out steaming liquid. Suki whispered her thanks and took a sip, hot liquid scalding her throat. "So, why I have you come to me, especially when it's not my proper phase?" the witch began, breaking their terse silence.
"I ask a boon of you, witch," Suki stated.
"What might that be?" the witch whispered, voice muffled beneath the swathed fabric of her cloak.
"I need to be healed," Suki said. "I got… bitten a while back, and now, on the full moons, I change, and hunger for blood. I just want to return to being human," she said, voice cracking. She coughed hard to clear her throat, to keep from crying.
"Human?"
"I…" Suki shifted, unbuttoning her collar to reveal five long gouges on her skin, pearl white scars against her tanned shoulder. "A wolf attacked me one night on the way home and a week later, I turned into one too, and nearly killed a woman myself. I don't want to suffer like that again."
"I see."
"Can you heal me?"
"Hmmm," the woman hummed, tilting her had. "Luna doesn't like her children being taken from her though. Whether through good luck or poor fate, you've been blessed by her, and… well, the moon takes what she desires." Beneath the fabric, Suki saw the woman's shoulders rise up, then drop. "But I will try. All I ask is that in exchange, you give me something."
"What is that?" Suki asked. She took a lemon bar from the plate, drank a sip of tea, draining the last of it quickly.
"A wish," the witch said. "Your dearest, deepest dream."
Suki nodded, and focused, offering it up: her wish to be human, to exist as normal once more. It crystallized between them, and the witch reached out a toffee colored hand from beneath her cloak, snatching up the thought.
"It is done," she said. "I will work to heal you."
Suki visited again, a week later, asking another favor.
Having her wish taken had left her antsy and impatient, sleepless at night. So she sought the witch back out, crossing over into her realm and across the drum bridge.
The witch was already waiting for her inside, this time in a lavender cloak with navy edging and swirls of dark purple that looks like waves. She already had tea ready, piping hot, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies that Suki set to eating before they even talked.
"You've returned before the full moon," the witch stated.
"Yes. I have… another favor," Suki stated.
"What ails you more than your inhumanity?"
"I can't sleep.
"I brought this." Suki reached into her purse and pulled out a doll she had made as a child. It was filled with hard beans, made from fabric at her grandmother's house with button eyes and a crooked stitched mouth. "Witches ask for firsts sometimes, don't they?"
"Yes," the witch whispered. "First loves, first kisses, firstborns." The last chilled Suki's blood: she wasn't sure if she would ever have a child, but she didn't want to risk giving them up. She looked at the doll, time worn, but still special to her. "Well, this is my first smile, captured in a doll. It's the first thing I really remember."
"Precious," the witch answered. "And heartfelt. I accept." She swept her hand over the doll and it disappeared, leaving Suki in awe and confused. "In exchange, I will grant you this. Cup your hands."
The witch swept her hand out over Suki's and a small, velvet pouch appeared. Suki opened it and found golden candies, luminescent even in the darkness of the pouch. "Eat one of those every night, and you'll have peace in your mind."
"Thank you," Suki said. She tucked them into her purse.
"You may go now. I will see you in a week's time with your cure."
"Thank you." Suki went to get up, but stopped, looking directly at the witch. "What is your name?" Suki asked, dark, grey-blue eyes wide.
The woman paused, tilting her head. "Yue," she answered, a smile in her voice. "Like the moon."
"Yue," Suki tested, the name full on her tongue. "That sounds so… familiar."
"It should be," Yue replied. She waved a hand from beneath the cloak, toffee and now so, so familiar. "Now, go."
Somehow, Suki made her way back three days before the full moon.
Yue was waiting once more, tea and sugared citrus slices between them. "Not quite the zenith, is it?" Yue asked.
"No, three days," Suki replied. "But I needed another favor."
"I brought this." Suki opened her hand to reveal a necklace: a carved charm on a length of blue ribbon, fashioned as a chocker. "I don't know where I got it from, but I've had it since I was young. It's always been something I loved… Can you take it?"
"For what?" Yue asked, shifting under her black cloak. The rhinestones sewn into it sparkled, constellations shifting as she adjusted on her chair.
"For…" Suki paused. She wasn't sure exactly why she was there, only that she had desperately wanted to see Yue. "I'm not sure."
"Then you shouldn't ask for favors lightly," Yue admonished, her normally sweet, calm voice a bit tight. "Magic is a mutual interaction, not one sided."
Suki nodded, eating another sugared orange slice. "I'm sorry, I just… You've been on my mind, and I can't stop thinking about you. I feel… I feel like we've met before."
"Well we haven't," Yue quickly said, voice more sad than angry. "I do not accept your offer. I must return to work on your cure." She stood, and before Suki could leave, disappeared around the corner.
She came back the full moon for her cure.
From Yue's house, she could see that it was centered above the open courtyard, a full, round sphere glinting with light.
The courtyard had turned to all shades and hues of white and blue, grass bleached to ice white, Yue's house a shiny navy. It was as if Suki had stepped out of the city and into another world, not just a pocket in the dimension where Yue lived.
"Good evening," Yue said. Instead of a cloak, a kind, brown face, with dimpled cheeks, generous lips, and wide, blue eyes, along with shocking white hair twisted up into a series of elaborate braids was revealed, but Yue's hand quickly snatched the cloak back up, hiding her face from Suki underneath the shadows of her cloak.
The image of Yue was stark in Suki's mind, and suddenly, she felt a tug in her navel: a memory, flowing up from a gut feeling to her mind. "Yue," Suki whispered. "I remember you."
"You should," Yue teased. "You were here last week. Now, I know you'll want your cure so that you can finally be at peace. Come, and extend your hand."
Suki nodded, stepping forward on the black stone pathway and extended her hand. Yue waved her own over it, and a bottle appeared, containing a single, crystal: clear, with white swirled in. "I took your wish and formed it into a cure, along with salt water from a moonless night, wormwood, from a fae forest, and milk from a cow that never bore a calf."
"Sounds magic," Suki said.
"It is," Yue simple stated. "Place the crystal under your tongue and let it melt while you sleep. When you wake up, your pelt will be next you, and you will be human, so long as you wrap the pelt with this." Yue pushed up her right sleeve and a rope made from vines was wrapped around her arm. She pushed it down and passed it to Suki. "This is made from rye, cinder, silver, and ash trees, along with their leaves. Wrap this around the pelt and it will never hold power over you again."
Suki had her explain the rules twice more, just to be sure. "Thank you," she breathed, finally, once they were locked within her mind. "I… I don't know what to say."
"Most say good-bye," Yue stated. "This will be out last time together. I thank you for your patronage. I've… your company has been pleasant. So… goodbye."
Suki somehow choked out a reply, turning and running back to catch the final bus for the night.
Suki came back the full moon after, a month, with fresh knowledge: the truth in her mind.
The change had come the night before, of her own will, transforming her from human girl into wolf. She'd ran that night, auburn fur tangling in the wind as she wound her way through the city, until she pawed down the alleyway and to Yue's home.
Yue was out that night, dancing under the moonlight, swirls of water and luminous light whirling around her as she sang, a song that sounded familiar, but its language a mystery. She turned and saw the wolf, and smiled, kneeling down. "Come, Suki."
Suki lopped forward, and felt the change ripple over her, leaving her skyclad beneath the moonlight. She didn't try to cover her nudity: for once, being not so human hadn't felt strange, and in the presence of Yue, she felt radiant.
Ethereal. Otherworldly.
Perhaps, herself, she thought. More so now than in any moment before.
"You didn't take the cure, did you," Yue stated. It was evident by the wolf-turned-woman before her.
"No, it's still on my nightstand." And it was, fading as the moon ascended, dominating the sky.
"You still have time," Yue urged, eyes wide. "If you take it, then you'll be human, but if you don't… you'll be cursed to live like this the rest of time. There will be nothing I can do after this moon cycle."
"I don't want to take the medicine," Suki admitted. "Now, these visits… it's not for me, but you." She paused, looking down, but forced her eyes up to Yue's, steeling herself. "Yue," Suki whispered. "I remember you."
"You should," Yue said, no teasing this time. "You were here last week."
"No, I remember you. We've met before, but not in this time. Long ago, right?"
Yue was silent, but after a moment, she nodded, wrinkling her nose up as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I never thought you'd remember. I hid my face because I didn't want you to. I wanted you to live your own life. Not… not try and fix lives we'd already lived." She was crying more now, pearl colored tears rolling down her cheeks. "I didn't want you to get stuck with me."
"Yue," Suki whispered, taking her hand. "You never even asked if I'd feel that way."
"I know," Yue admitted. "I just… when you first came, that first time, I knew who you were. You look exactly the same: blue eyes, auburn hair, that crooked smile… I knew it was you from the moment you ate all my lemon bars and tea."
Suki let out a big laugh, shoulders shaking, and she smiled as Yue took off the cloak and wrapped it around her nude form. "So what does this mean?"
"I'm not sure. I hadn't planned on revealing myself to you, not unless you recognized me." She smiled, the same gentle, polite smile, but it grew as Suki stared at her, opening up into the cheesy grin Yue had when she was comfortable.
"I never thought I'd fall in love with the Moon again," Suki said, moving her arm from underneath the cloak, up to cup Yue's cheek.
"Again?" Yue whispered, surprised. She'd only met Suki once, right before she traded her life for that of the Moon Spirit Tui, thousands of years before. "Was there a first?"
"Yes, at the North Pole, when Sokka wasn't there. When… When I was there with you at night, and we talked until the stars were gone," Suki said, chest expanding as she let out a deep breath. "I'd fall in love again too, if it meant being with you right this time, instead of you having to die." She was closer now, Yue's lips only a hand's width away. She could smell the scent of night on her, a cloying scent that drew her closer.
"Well, this is a new life," Yue whispered. "And I'm more here than spirit. This is my final life, to be honest. I'll be here as the Lunar Witch forever."
"Will you let me stay then?" Suki asked. "With you?"
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Yue asked.
"Yes, more than any other life. I'll bind myself to you with one last gift."
"What is that?" Yue asked, voice barely more than a whisper.
"A kiss," Suki said. "So will you let me stay at least tonight?"
"More than just the night, my wolf," Yue replied, pressing her lips to Suki's under the moonlight. "Let's try for forever."