Author: Erika aka lj user="chinae"
Title: One life
Pairing(s): Yue
Beta(s): lj user="akitotsubaki"
Fandom(s): Avatar
Summary: Is death the final journey?
Rating: Death of character
Disclaimer: Owned by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon.
Series compliant? No. Please consider it an AU.
Word count:
Author's notes: Last year, I fell in love with lj user="karasuhimechan" Princess Yue artwork and I wanted to write something that complement it. Hopefully I succeeded.
Prologue
It's her duty.
All her life she's prepared for this moment, to guard her people, to be her father's daughter.
A life for a life. A Nation saved.
She rests.
She feels the coldness spread until it reaches her fingertips. Her once-fine clothes no longer warm her; she shivers in this in-between state.
How long, she wonders, before she can again feel the wind upon her cheek or see how the sunlight reflects upon the ice, making all of her city glow?
When would the spirit allow her to go home?
Would she love in her next life as she loved in her last?
There is no one here to answer her questions, to comfort her fears and grief, to hold the hand of a once-princess.
She hears the flap of wings, but keeps her eyes closed, wishing instead to hear the huffs of the reindeers, the sound of children playing in the snow.
Her hands clench and then she knows no more.
~oo00oo~
One Life
There is an anguished scream and the sounds of a ravaging beast. There are many spirits here, waiting. She's one of many who perished when the Fire Nation dared to storm the Northern Tribe. She can hear whimpers past the ancient firs and pines.
While in the mortal realm, the Spirit Oasis is but a small piece of land hidden deep within the Winter Palace, but here in the Spirit World, it stretches for thousand of miles. She's yet to discover its end.
They all wait.
Would their prayers be answered tomorrow?
Would the spirit acknowledge their deeds?
Would they be allowed to go home, not in the body or life they once had but in a new form?
They wait at the rising of a new day.
~oo00oo~
Father, she cries.
Do you still remember me?
Do you still grieve and send offerings?
I have missed you. Please, don't forget me.
Father, I want to go home.
~oo00oo~
It is maddening how time remains slow even as the world has run amok.
She picks up her long white skirt and jumps from one rock to another until she reaches the other end of the river where there are berries and edible plants. She lands awkwardly, losing her balance, and she hits the ground hard.
Hearing a giggle, she turns quickly to the direction of the sound. She moves. Not so fast, she thinks. "Got you."
It is a squirming child. A little girl of three, with golden eyes, a mischievous smile, and long raven hair.
The child peers at her.
"What are you doing here?" Yue asks, and her question is met with silence. The girl tugs Yue's hand, bringing her to the clearing, where a panda awaiting them.
"It is time," it tells her.
"Time for what, great spirit?" she asks.
"For the Bardo to come to an end," she is informed.
The child lets go of Yue's hand and skips to the panda's side. Yue glances at them both, confused. He cannot mean –
"She is Fire Nation."
The panda tilts its head to one side. "And you are Northern Water tribe. Here in this realm, there are no distinctions."
"But – "
"It has been a long time, Princess Yue, since your death. The world as you knew it is no more."
Yue gasps. "La, my people."
"They live," the panda said. "In peace. With peace comes alliance," he explains. "And children such as Chung are born."
The little girl jumps on the panda's back and holds her hand to Yue. "Your people need you now more than ever."
Had this not been what she prayed for, a return to her nation? Did it matter that she'd be reincarnated as a mixed child, of two Nations once at war? Looking at the happy expression on the girl's face, Yue realizes it does not.
As she gets on the panda's back, and they begin their journey.
Her last thought in the Spirit World, as she is about to enter her new life, is that she hopes she has not forgotten what love feels like.
The end.