To wish for all.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. If I did then I would not be here now would I?
"You do not have to leave, you know. You could stay" Katara whispered her words so low Zuko almost missed what she had said. His eyes were sad as he looked at her knowing she was wrong so very wrong.
"I'm sorry. But you know I cannot" He said sadly looking down . He knew this was going to be the worst goodbye he would ever have to make and wished with all his heart that he did not have to say this that he could stay. He could not though and he wished she would understand that.
"But you are here now. You can now stay for good. You can stay!" Katara said her voice breaking as she said this. She could feel the tears begin to well up. Tears she did not wish to shed. 'Why was he being difficult? He was here already not gone he could stay if he really wanted. Right? He did not have to leave… Right?'
"Only for a short while. Not forever" He said quietly reaching a hand out to her. She stepped out of his reach though just barely. He gave a small sigh of sadness. He had so little time the sun was setting and the moment it disappeared he would have to leave to. Did she not understand this? That this was his last chance. Last chance to say goodbye? No, she understood. She, like him, did not wish to believe that it was the beginning of the end to their relationship.
Funny he always thought if he were to lose her it would have been because he could not have a relationship with her. This was not how he had thought things would go let alone end.
"No forever. You are here." She cried out her tears spilling over her face. "YOU ARE HERE! YOU CAN STAY!" She yelled as she collapsed to the ground beneath her feet in defeat. She was angry. Very angry. The spirits where so cruel even in what they thought was a good thing. She hated this situation she was placed in she would never see him again. So why was she doing this? Because this last moment would never be enough for her let alone him. Neither would have been able to go on. So why was she being asked to move on?
Zuko said nothing only moved toward her and fell to the floor next to her letting his arm drape around her shoulders. She did not resist only leaned onto him further to cry on his shoulder. He let her cry for everything that she was being put through everything unfair that was being done in her life. It was wrong and unjustified.
But really whoever said life was fair or even justified was very ignorant of the world around them. He always knew though that the world was cruel and life was unfair just as she did. He wished though that it was different. That she did not have to learn once more just how cruel life could really be to those that had to live and go on through it. She was learning again though and it broke him even more then he had already felt to have this happen to her. She never disserved to feel the pain again.
"You can stay, you can stay." Katara repeated it over and over again as her heart broke into more and more little tiny pieces. She kept going though hoping by the moon spirit Yue that it would turn out to be true that he could stay for good that he would stay for good and never leave her never until his life was truly ready to be done and over with. 'He would stay, he will stay.' He would not leave her to break more then she had already in the weeks he was gone. She did not think she would be able to live through that again. She did not think she would have the will power to go through it all once more.
"I'm sorry Katara" He said he felt her begin to cry harder in his arms. "I'm so very sorry that I cannot stay with you. That I cannot stay forever with you like you want that we had both wanted." He pulled her closer to him then moved her gently away from him. He put a finger under her chin and lifted so her eyes looking into his. The amount of hurt he saw made him feel worse then he already had about all this. He had known though deep down that this final goodbye would be bad. He wished he could take her pain away from her. He wished with all his heart that he could stay with her and live his life with her.
Fate was not so kind, even to those that did not disserve it, felt pain. Fate had never cared in all honestly who was hurt it just happened if someone kind got hurt then someone kind got hurt. Nothing more nothing less. He hated fate.
Zuko wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumb. She only stared back into his eyes sadly. "I really am sorry" he whispered his eyes unmoving from her own.
"Why can't you stay?" she finally asked quietly not looking away from him as she said this.
"I can't because I no longer belong to this world. I belong to the spirit world now"
"No you don't. You still belong here. You still get to stay." She said in a small voice that, even to her, sounded like she barely believed the statement. More tears fell from her ocean blue eyes. She felt sick. When she gave him her heart she did not expect him to break it in the worst way possible.
"No I don't." He again began to wipe the tears away with his thumb. "Not anymore"
"Then I can come?" She said desperate now more than ever to never be away from him again.
She knew what his answer was going to be before he even said it though.
"You can't and you know you can't. Your job is not done. If it were we'd probably be reversed." He laughed a dry laugh at the bad joke. If the roles were reversed he would try, just like her, to stay with her. He would do anything to get her back as well. Even if it killed him in the process he would try. Problem was he did not want her to try anything that could and most likely would get her killed and brought to the spirit world with him. It was not worth her following him into death. So he, no matter how selfish it was, would not tell her of the legends he himself had learned about.
She had to move on.
"If it were reversed I'd still wish to be with you."
"I know…" Zuko looked up to see the sun was close to being gone now. He had so little time.
"I don't want you to go."
"I know" He stood and brought her with him to her feet as well.
"One day is not enough." She said placing a gentle hand on the side of his face.
"It was never meant to last forever. Just a short goodbye until we meet again." He placed a hand on her chin again as he caressed her cheek with the other. The sun was disappearing even more with so little time spent together again. It would never be enough.
He again wished he could spend forever with her. With all he had then he kissed her. Poured into the kiss all he could. Everything he felt. She closed her eyes as she kissed back. Putting her own feeling and hurt all the miss and pain she felt into the last kiss that they would share until they would come to see one another again. This was the final goodbye. It was never going to be enough.
They pulled away just as the sun was finally gone beneath the horizon. Tears fell faster as her heart clenched painfully as Zuko her true and only love disappeared with the light that had remained.
So with no one there to hold her up anymore she fell to the ground head in her hands and cried her heart out for the second time to the man she loved most. Cried for the death of her lover a second time.
It was never meant for forever. It was never meant… to be enough.
AN:
So Finally posted something up. This has been an idea I've had since bout 8th or 9th grade and just could not figure out how I wanted it typed let alone all the little details. SO now a Senior (12th grade) I got how I wanted it and am actually happy with it (its sad but that's the point). Anyway hope to continue if I can find the sheet of paper that I had wrote everything I had planed for this story on (four years ago how hard can that paper be to find -_-) Anyway... review please.