This is just something I wrote for the 50th member of Team Zutara. If you wanna join Team Zutara, lemme know and I'll add you. The list and some info is all on my profile page. ;)
So this is for nightfall26. I hope everyone who reads likes it. Please R&R and enjoy!
Nightfall
Every day they saw each other. Every day they had to pretend. Every day they passed each other. Every day, they knew they were forbidden to be together. Yet every day, they fell more deeply in love with each other.
Katara belonged to Aang. The whole world knew that. The Avatar had made that perfectly public and made sure every soul on Earth knew who he loved most.
And Zuko belonged to Mai. It was hard to keep a secret when you were royalty. And even before the war had ended, the majority of the Fire Nation had known about Zuko and Mai's relationship. Now that he was Fire Lord and they were married, Mai was also Fire Lady.
Every day, they had to put up with the fact that they'd rushed into what wasn't supposed to be. Every day, they longed for each other, but had to continuously settle for second best.
Over the years, Katara gave birth to Aang's children. She was happy, generally speaking. But no matter how many times she told herself she did love Aang, she couldn't stop the pang of misery that hit her every time she saw Zuko.
Every day she looked at him. Every day she wanted him.
Over time, Zuko and Mai had children. The oldest of their children, their son, would be Fire Lord when Zuko passed. But no matter how many times the Fire Lord looked at his son, his wife and all of his other children and told himself how proud he was to be part of their family, he couldn't stop wishing he'd held off marrying Mai just that little bit longer.
Every day he regretted his decision. Every day he damned himself for not being the one Mai was supposed to be with.
Every day they lied. Every day they hid their true feelings. Every day, they passed each other by, and smiled at each other a smile no one else would know the secret meaning behind.
I love you.
I love you too.
And every day they cried on the inside.
One day after Zuko had been married to Mai for five years and Katara had been married to Aang for one, they found themselves with only each other for company.
Zuko looked at her, "Why didn't we wait?"
"Because we thought we had the right ones," she replied without looking back.
"I wish I had," he whispered to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She tensed under his touch and relaxed again slowly. His hand was a perfect temperature. She wished he'd never stop touching her.
Slowly, Zuko stood closer behind her, letting both of his arms slip around her waist and he hugged her from behind. She sighed and leaned into him, turning around in his embrace to look him in the eyes.
"I wish I had waited too."
He smiled gently at her and leaned his forehead against hers. Her lips brushed the scar on his left cheek and he turned his head slightly more towards her, daring to let his lips brush hers…
They jumped away from each other when both Aang and Mai walked into the room. They made themselves look busy and neither of their other lovers suspected a thing.
When Katara locked herself in her room that afternoon before Aang could join her, she cried. She wanted him badly, but she could never be with him.
He sighed as he lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, blankly. He wished it would be her to join him soon, not Mai.
Every day, the longing for each other passed over them, but they did not touch each other again or caress each other like they had. They did not embrace, or lean their foreheads together. They just smiled that special smile that no one else could understand.
It was at nightfall, the day before the 10th anniversary of the end of the war. Many guests had been invited to a feast at the Fire Nation palace and people all over the world were celebrating with festivals.
"I'll meet you at dinner," Aang promised Katara as he hurried off to tend to some of his Avatar business. She smiled and nodded. When she felt that she was ready for dinner, she looked at the clock and thought she'd have time for a stroll in the gardens.
It was already dark outside and the air was a tad chilly, but Katara didn't mind it one bit. She inhaled it lovingly and spread her arms out as she walked beneath a full moon. Next to the turtle-duck pond, she spun around, her dress flying around her so that she looked like some sort of exotic flower in the spring.
"That was very beautiful," a male voice commented.
Katara gasped as she turned to face him. Zuko was sitting with his back against the apple tree, his arms crossed over his chest as he smiled slyly at her.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked, slightly flustered – it was, after all, the first time she'd found herself alone with him since that day a year after marrying Aang.
"Nothing much. I decided to go for a bit of a walk before dinner and I ended up sitting here, thinking of you. Then you joined me."
Katara looked away, up at the moon. She sighed as she saw some black clouds rolling towards it to cover it.
"Katara."
She bit her lip as she turned to face him again, "Yes, Zuko?"
"Do you love Aang?"
"I do." He said nothing for a moment, looking at the ground between them. "Do you love Mai?" she asked in turn.
"Yes," he half smiled, looking back to her face.
Unconsciously, Katara took a step towards him. Without noticing, he took one towards her.
"Katara… do you love me?" he whispered, as if someone were listening.
Her eyes met his for a long moment before she nodded. "Yes, Zuko. I do love you."
They took another step closer to each other.
"Zuko?"
Another step.
"Yes?"
They inched closer.
"Do you love me?" she whispered in that same fearful tone.
He looked her in the eyes and responded, "Yes."
He grimaced.
"Why didn't we wait?" he asked again. She remembered the question the first time he'd asked it.
"Because we thought we had the right ones," she spat, almost bitterly.
"Katara, do you love Aang the same way you love me?"
"I do," she said, "but I don't know if I love him more than you anymore."
"That's the same way I feel about you and Mai."
Now they were standing right in front of each other.
"Close your eyes. I want to try something."
Katara hesitated for a moment, because she knew it wasn't right. She knew what he wanted to try, but he was married to Mai, as she was married to Aang. This wasn't something they were supposed to be doing.
But she shut her eyes anyway, bowing her head a little. Zuko closed his eyes too and gently brushed his lips against hers, like he'd wanted to do for so long.
It would have been a chaste kiss if it weren't for the fact that they were both already married. Silently, Katara brought her arms around his neck and he put one hand on her cheek and one on her hip. The kiss deepened a little bit and they felt their hearts racing.
In that kiss, they felt something they had never felt before. Katara had never felt this when she had kissed Aang and Zuko had never felt this when he had kissed Mai. Even the times they had made love with their partners did not add up to this.
"Zuko," Mai's voice called, breaking the silence.
They broke apart and looked longingly at each other before Zuko pulled away, "I need to go."
"Me too."
They walked silently until they met up with Mai, in the hall. They walked together to dinner, where they also met up with Aang.
"Hi, Katara! Hi Zuko! How are you both?"
"Yea… great," Katara lied, not looking at him.
Aang frowned at her in concern, though he remained oblivious to the truth.
They all sat down around the table with some other guests. Mai continuously leaned into Zuko's arms, giggling and blushing like a schoolgirl, clueless to the fact that he was falling – no, had fallen – for another girl.
That night after Mai was fast asleep, Zuko lay awake for hours, his back turned to her while he thought about the waterbender.
When she knew Aang was asleep, she sobbed silently as she remembered the way Zuko had kissed her. She longed so much for him to kiss her like that again. She longed for him to kiss no other, and for no other to kiss her.
The next day they went on with their normal lives. Pretending, not showing their true feelings. Katara made an effort not to end up alone with him, though he was trying to do the exact opposite. He wanted to talk to her… alone.
The festivals for the 9th anniversary of peace amongst the nations raged on all day and long into the night. As a lot of people chose on the anniversary of something wonderful, many people announced their love, lovers proposed and many who were already married celebrated their own anniversaries.
But as nightfall came once again, Zuko and Katara absentmindedly slipped away from Mai and Aang. They met under the apple tree in the garden once again, slightly flustered at the way they hadn't meant to meet at all but had nonetheless.
They stood several feet from each other in an awkward silence. A gentle tune drifted to their ears from somewhere on the other side of the palace where the official celebration of the city was taking place.
Zuko hesitated for a moment and then took a step towards Katara and offered her his hand.
"Would you dance with me?" he asked, a crooked smile across his face.
Like the night before, she hesitated before she fulfilled his wish. She took his hand and he laced their fingers together and pulled her closer so that their bodies touched gently.
Katara laid her head on his shoulder as they danced slowly under the apple tree.
"Katara," he whispered into her hair as the song came to an end.
She didn't answer in words, but she pulled away from him so that she could look at him. She didn't smile.
"I don't think I love Mai more than I love you anymore," he whispered, "I want to be with you more than I want to be with Mai… and I'm wanting you more and her less each day."
"That's the way I'm feeling about you and Aang as well, Zuko," she admitted sadly.
"I love you," he said quickly.
She looked him in the eyes. She wanted to say it, but she was scared too do it.
"Could you leave her, Zuko? Could you actually go and break her heart?" she asked.
He frowned, "I'm not so sure I could."
"I couldn't leave Aang just now either, even though my feelings for you just keep tearing me apart."
"I won't make you leave him for me," he promised, "it would make you unhappy."
She smiled weakly and they started dancing again.
"We shouldn't be doing this," Katara whispered after a while.
"I know we shouldn't be."
"Then why are we?"
"Because we want to."
They danced in silence for a moment longer.
"Zuko?" she whispered so softly he almost didn't hear.
"Yes?"
"I can't keep doing this with you. I belong to Aang and you belong to Mai. Neither of us could hurt them, but if we keep seeing each other like this, it will become too unbearable to keep it from them."
They stopped dancing and pulled away from each other.
"You're right. I already knew that, but I didn't want to believe it. I'm sorry Katara."
"I know, I am too."
He looked helplessly at her, "So, this is goodbye then?"
"Yes, we can never see each other like this again," she said.
He nodded once sadly and bowed his head.
"Zuko?" she whispered before she could change her mind.
"Yes?" he looked up hopefully.
"I do love you," she promised him.
"I know. I love you too."
She stepped closer so that there was only an inch between them. Then, she stood on her toes and presses her lips against his.
He let himself go and took her in his arms. For a few minutes, nothing else in the world mattered to either of them. They had each other, and that was all they needed.
Katara pulled away before he could take them further and she looked him longingly in the eyes.
"Goodbye."
Before he could answer she was gone.
"Goodbye."
It had been a whole year since that night. It was the 10th anniversary of the end of the war. Zuko and Katara had kept their promises to each other to never see each other the way they had that night again… but they couldn't control what the stars had planned for them.
Mai was screaming in pain as Katara bent over her.
"Calm down, just breathe!" she begged, excitedly.
Zuko was holding her hand and she was squeezing it so hard it was turning red. But he did not flinch under the pain.
Aang ran into the room.
"Someone's attacking the city!" he shouted over the sound of Mai's cries. He glanced worriedly at her.
Katara rubbed the bulge in her belly that was where her fifth child currently was.
"You couldn't have waited just another day or two before you had it?!" she asked pathetically. Mai laughed and tried to smile, but it just hurt so much. None of the other children she'd had hurt her this much to give birth to.
"Mai, just breathe, just breathe," Zuko whispered to her as she heaved. "Aang, where are our other children?!" he asked urgently. "Are they safe?!"
"I don't know," he replied helplessly.
"Aang, where are our children?" Katara asked, trying to stay calm. "Do you know if they were with theirs?"
"I think they must have been together out at the festival!" Aang told them. There was a loud crashing sound somewhere in the distant suburbs of the city, but they could hear the panicked screams of civilians' right outside the palace.
"What's happening?" Zuko asked, beginning to feel empty. He could tell something terrible was about to happen.
"K-Katara!" Mai screamed suddenly. The waterbender turned her attention back to the Fire Lady.
"Stay calm, Mai. Ready… PUSH!" she commanded.
Aang shouted something to Zuko which neither of the girls heard, but he nodded and then Aang disappeared.
Mai pushed the baby out. As Zuko stared after Aang, he waited to hear the sound of his new child crying. But there was no new sound. Half terrified, he turned to Mai. Her breathing had calmed right down, but she was so pale. There was blood everywhere and Katara had the baby in her arms. Katara looked at the infant and her eyes slowly grew wider and wider with horror.
"Katara?" Zuko whispered. He reached out a hand and placed it on her forearm.
Katara looked up from the infant's face and a tear spilt down her cheek. She was not smiling.
"It's a girl," she whispered. "She's not breathing."
Zuko felt himself go completely empty.
Mai suddenly tried to sit up as soon as she heard Katara's words.
"No," she said, "no, no, no!"
Mai started crying hysterically as she reached for the baby.
Katara didn't have the heart to keep the mother from the child and she handed the dead infant over. Mai shook the little bundle, begging it to wake up. Her baby had to live.
"I'm so sorry, Mai," Katara whispered.
Zuko hugged Mai tightly but she couldn't pull herself together. Katara tried to take the baby out of her arms in the hope that Mai would calm down. But she refused to let the little girl go.
"Guys, we need to get out of here!" Sokka shouted as he entered. He took in the scene briefly and then ran to his sister and tried to pull her to her feet. "Come on! Aang says we need to evacuate the city! Zuko, please!"
He caught sight of the baby and stopped trying to rush us, "Dear spirits… I'm so sorry."
Zuko's head bowed and a single tear rushed silently down his cheek.
There was an explosion somewhere at the far end of the palace and Sokka suddenly started tugging at Katara's sleeve again.
"Guys, we need to move. Now!"
Katara stood up and tugged on Zuko's sleeve, trying to drag him to his feet.
"Come on, pick Mai up and let's go!" she begged.
He nodded once and lifted his wife into his arms. She was bleeding. She was pale. Her hands were going limp with the baby in her arms. She was still crying.
"Mai, hold on, stay with me," he whispered as they ran.
The group met up with Suki in the foyer. She ran to join them and grabbed the baby out of Mai's arms before she could drop it. For a moment, she was frozen to the spot as she took in the fact it was dead. She looked at Zuko in horror and he nodded once sadly. Suki cradled the child to her chest as they continued to run.
Another explosion went off right before their eyes and they all had to jump back as the entrance to the palace caved in. They were trapped. As the building fell in on them, they threw themselves out of the path of the debris. For a moment, they all lay on the ground, curled up in fetal positions. As they slowly pulled themselves together and uncurled themselves, Zuko looked down at Mai in his arms. Her skin was paler than he'd ever seen it and her eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling.
"No…" he whispered desperately. He shook her body gently, but she did not stir. "Mai…"
"Dear spirits," Suki gasped when she saw, "what a terrible day."
There were explosions all over the city now. People were screaming and running in panic. Many people were dying or dead.
Katara tried to make Zuko stand up again, but he couldn't control his legs. He couldn't stand. He couldn't do anything with Mai like that.
The ground shook beneath them.
"Aang…" Katara whispered as she looked up. The air all around them seemed to be taking on an eerie blue glow, but the Avatar himself was nowhere in sight.
"Zuko, come on!" Sokka begged. The three of them managed to pull him to his feet with Mai still in his arms. They ran as fast as they could while Zuko did his best to hold himself together.
They ran into Toph when they managed to get out of the palace. Aang was in the air in the Avatar state. Katara looked up to him in worry. On the ground beneath him, she could see the reason his Avatar State had been triggered. Among the mass of dead bodies on the ground lay one of their children. She fell to her knees, too afraid that she'd find another one of her children if she looked away from the one she could already see.
"We need to get out of here!" Toph screamed as explosions sounded all around them. Aang was gathering all of the elements. He would kill everyone in the city with what he was about to do. He was out of control with rage.
Toph made a tunnel under the ground and signaled for the others to follow her under. She closed it up when they were all safely inside and she began to make a path deeper into the earth. Her friends followed with silent tears and prayers. Zuko continued to carry Mai and Suki held their dead daughter.
It seemed like it had been a million years since they'd first gone into the tunnel when Toph finally brought them up again.
It was nightfall outside. They were far from the city and any other form of civilization. But off in the distance, they could see the smoke rising from what was left of the city. It couldn't have been much, but they couldn't see the extent of the damage from where they were.
"Zuko," Toph whispered before she closed up the tunnel, "Suki." They both looked at her, knowing what she would ask of them. "Leave them in the tunnel. It's too late for them. We should bury them here where they would have been safe," she said.
Silently, Suki rested the little baby girl inside the tunnel. Zuko lingered by Mai's body as he lay her down next to their daughter. Katara took his hand and pulled him away from the tunnel. Toph buried the bodies where they lay, being careful and respectful. Everyone sat silently around a small campfire that Sokka made as the evening grew darker. One by one they fell asleep, until the only ones still awake were Zuko and Katara.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him.
He sighed, "It's not your fault. I guess it was just time for them to go. Maybe it was never meant to be." He looked up at her, but she was staring into the flames. "I'm sorry you lost Aang."
She put a hand over her heart.
"We both lost our children," he continued, "maybe … maybe this is for the best."
Katara's lip quivered and she tried not to cry. She knew what he meant by what he'd said, but it still hurt so much to lose the people you love most.
"I'm sorry that you're hurting," he whispered, moving to sit next to her.
Katara faced him and buried her face in his chest. They held each other tightly and Zuko rubbed her back as she cried.
"M…Maybe the spirits wanted to give us a second chance," she whispered, "and they thought the best way to do that was to remove the things that were stopping us… all of them."
"Maybe," he agreed.
He pulled her away from him and tilted her face up so that their eyes met, "I love you," he promised.
"I love you too."
He pressed his lips against hers and tried to stop her from sobbing. It was near useless. He pulled away and hugged her again.
"Everything will be alright," he said, "we just need to move on."
After that night, Zuko and Katara became closer. They didn't officially start dating for another two years, after the city had been mostly rebuilt and they had managed to move on after the deaths of their partners and children.
At nightfall a year after they first started dating, Zuko proposed to her.
"Katara," he whispered to her as they sat where the apple tree use to stand, "will you marry me?"
She turned around in his arms and smiled to him.
"Yes, I'll marry you."
He smiled at her and slowly, she pressed her lips against him.
The stars had chosen to give them another chance to be together, a second chance at what was supposed to be. They'd paid the price of losing others who they loved, but in the end, they ended up with each other. That night, they promised not to waste their chance again. They would not let the stars hurt them again.
Nightfall was their special time. It was the time that had brought them together and it was the time they could not be apart.
And as they slept at night wrapped in each other's arms, they remembered every touch, every kiss, every breath they'd shared.
Every day they saw each other. Every day they made sure everyone knew how they felt. Every day they passed each other. Every day they knew they'd be together forever. And still, every day they fell more deeply in love.
So what did you all think of that? I swear I had to rewrite it at least three times before I was satisfied... still not entirely satisfied, but I thought it was too good to get rid of and start AGAIN. Um... sorry for going on about 'the stars', I just did a study on Romeo and Juliet... ya know the whole 'starcrossed-lovers' thingy? Yea...
Anyway, I hope you liked it. Please review. Tell me what you thought. Possibly more than a one-liner review would be nice, please?
Review.