Title : The Gift of Kindness
Word count : 298
Rating : K+
Disclaimer : I do not own any of the characters herein contained. I own the plot and nothing else.
I've been on a huge Avatar kick lately. Zuko is my absolute favorite character, followed by Iroh. I like everybody else enough, but they're my favourites. I was exploring Zuko's motives at the end of the series, though I haven't actually fully finished the last episode. But there you have it. I was thinking that maybe Zuko was won over by the kindness Aang shows him, and his incredible ambiguity could easily mean he could fall in love with Aang. I don't believe in twisting Aang's character so that love is returned, and hence the angst. This is one pairing I am set on. Sadly, it's onesided, but I love them anyway.
It wasn't that Zuko was—No. it wasn't that at all. But really, could he, the boy who had only known the love of another once in his life resist the kindness so effortlessly given to him? He could no more resist than a bird resist flying, or a fish swimming. He even reached back, in his own sick and twisted way. He loved. Not as Azula loved—harsh admiration and disgusting adoration. Not as his father loved—manipulation through pretend attachment and need. He loved as his uncle loved—simply and gratefully, glad to be given such a chance. He felt his anger wash away under the pure force of that fabled emotion he had lost hope of ever experiencing. Familial love was very different, after all, from—Acceptance and friendship, though freely given by one, had to be earned from others. And so he reached even further, all for the sake of a fleeting glimpse of an emotion he wasn't sure he could feel. He stretched, humbled himself, tried and tried and tried and connected. And he loved all the more deeply, day by day by day, however few they numbered. But with this, too, came another feeling. And thus, they day Zuko broke out of himself, the self his father and grandfather had so carefully molded, he learned both love and heartbreak. He would never love him back, could never love him back. He would never know how deeply his kindness and happiness and courage had touched Zuko; and thus, never, ever know that guilt associated with breaking the most precious thing of another's. But Zuko was glad all the same. He had known love, even if it was just once. And because of that gift, he would follow the Avatar, even to his death.