Team: Water Tribe
Round: 3
Category: Drabble
Prompt: (4) Azula; (7) Regret; (10) If only life worked like that.
Word Count: 638
Warning: This story is about suicide.
The door to the bedroom creaked openly, slowly, deliberately tentative. Zuko was just putting the final touches on his robes in front of the mirror and looked up. He merely gave Katara a nod of his head, acknowledging her walking into the room. He was lost in his thoughts, sadden by the events he had to participate in that day. Something he shouldn't have had to, possibly ever. It didn't seem right. It didn't seem real. He straightened out his robe for the fourth time before Katara came over.
"You look fine, Zuko. Here, bend down." She placed the symbol of the Fire Lord neatly into his tight bun and then pulled him into a hug. "Just get through today, one day at a time. Everyone is here for you." Zuko knew she meant it, knew the others were standing just outside the door, ready to walk with him, but to him the words sounded hollow, empty. A phrase people said when they didn't know what to say. In return, he simply nodded again, unable to speak because he knew the tears would break with the words.
Katara took his hand and lead him into the hall. Towards where the nation was waiting for him.
Waiting for him to lead Azula's funeral.
Every week, Zuko visited his sister, where she was being treated for her illness. He had her moved from the jail, into a pleasant house near the palace. She seemed to be getting better, seemed to be changing, growing kinder and less aggressive. He was finally mending his relationship with her, they were forming a bond. A family bond that was strong. Zuko cared for her, he always had, but it was deeper, real and he liked to imagine she had begun to care about him too.
So why did she do it? Why did she take her life?
It happened a week ago, to the day. Zuko had been getting ready to go visit her, they were going to plan a trip to Ember Island. Zuko had everything worked out, he was looking forward to it, it would be like old times but new. Different, with his sister on the mend. But then, came the news.
Azula had been allowed to practice her bending at the house, something she routinely did. Zuko and everyone encouraged her to, part of the healing process. Her lightening bending was just what the doctors needed her to do, regulate her emotions, separate the yin and the yang turmoil in her mind and heart. It was supposed to help her. It only took a moment, Zuko was told by the messenger, she flashed a grin, like her old self and performed her technique. But, intentionally performed it wrong, which was so unlike her, Zuko was having a hard time processing that detail. The lightening pass through her heart, rather than her core as it should have.
Princess Azula was dead in seconds.
It was still whirling around his mind, the details he had been given, the lack of a note explaining. Did she plan it? Did something go wrong with her treatment? Had she always been destined to die by her own hand? As they walked down the hall, his love and best friends in support, regret filled him. It charged his heart, filling it to the brim. He could have done something. He should have done something more. It wasn't enough, it was never enough. He should have seen she wasn't recovering properly. He should have known she wasn't what she pretended to be.
Azula always lied.
As they made their way to the courtyard, were her funeral pyre sat, Zuko felt a stab of pain in his heart. He should be getting ready to go see her now, alive, smiling, well.
If only life worked like that.
