Goodbye Melody, Hello Misery
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A spirited song filled the air, bringing with it the foreboding feeling of goodbye. It weaved its way through the room, touching the souls gathered and caressing them gently. The notes swirled between the guests, and if one looked hard enough they could see the outline of spirits mourning and rejoicing. For, while the song evoked the feeling of goodbye, it was a joyous song of triumph and the beginning of peace.
The Fire Nation, with all its honorable pride, had finally fallen.
All that remained of the palace—the grounds of the final battle—was a still smoking volcano, newly erected in what once stood as the throne room. The reminder of what power had done this stood tall at the mouth of the mountain; arms lifted to hazy skies with tattoos still glowing, albeit dimly. Few ventured far enough to see the remains; many still feared the statue of the glowing boy.
"Would you like to get away from this place?" a deep voice broke through Katara's thoughts. Staring weakly at the scarred face behind the voice, she nodded.
Zuko gently took her hand in his, leading her towards the door. All eyes were trained on them, but he did not care. Katara only silently and obediently followed, not acknowledging anyone's existence but the young man who held onto her hand.
He led her from the village and the people half mourning and half rejoicing. He took her in comfortably silence through a well beaten path, still slightly burning from the liquid flames that poured from the earth not two days ago. They walked pass the grounds where his room once stood and up the steep volcano, warm to the touch and near inviting. Closer to the edge, they came face to stone face with their friend, glowing faintly even now.
"Toph said he's still alive in there. She can feel his heartbeat," Katara whispered softly. Bowing her head over, she continued. "She said the earth is the only thing keeping him alive. He'd be too far gone for me to heal him in my weakened state." She gave a sad laugh, and wiped a tear from her eye. "Not that the hero would let me heal him if I could."
Zuko nodded silently. He watched as the waterbender, his closest companion, walked softly to the statue. He said nothing, made no sound at all when she lifted a bandaged hand to caress the stone cheek. She gently ran her burnt, still bleeding fingers over the warm lips curved into an eternal smile, and moved up to the arrow who's glow was slowly beginning to fade. The prince did nothing, even though an itch formed at the corners of his heart marking the start of even more pain to come.
"Do you love him?" he asked hesitantly. She nodded, pulling at her bandages so they covered more of her hand. "More than me?" Zuko spoke up again.
Katara whipped around, eyes widened and mouth slightly open. She gave the appearance of someone searching for words that couldn't be found. Finally, she closed her mouth and eyes, allowing a saddened smile to grace her lips. "You have to understand, Zuko. I never loved you like that. Yes, I did love you, but only as one would love a condemned spirit that finally found its light. You were our enemy. You betrayed us." She shook her head. "No, no to betray us you would've had to have been with us in the first place. I'm not sure what to call what you did, but it wasn't betrayal, not to us anyway." She stopped again, this time to let a sigh pass her mouth. She turned her eyes back onto the dying statue and whispered with finality. "Yes, more than you."
Zuko turned from her, and bowed his head in defeat. "What would you give for just one more minute with him?" he asked softly, half hoping it was too low for her to hear.
"My life," she responded without hesitation, hearing every word. Her eyes hadn't left the statue, and a part of Zuko wished that he could be at the receiving end of that gaze.
With the gait of a man hurt and rejected, he walked towards the statue and placed a cold hand on Katara's shoulder. "Keep your life," he forced out, the words sounding harsher than he had intended. The pain of one who'd been left behind, cast aside as if unworthy of living had returned to his voice. He fought to keep it out, but it was as if dueling his own heart. "I'll take a kiss as payment. Just one. Even if it means nothing; even if you think of him," he spoke again, emphasizing the last of his words with a jab towards the boy before them.
Confused, yet hopeful, Katara agreed in an instant to the prince's request. He motioned for her to move back. As she did, her eyes became trained on his hands' complex movements as they created flames hot enough to cut through the stone. So eager for the outcome, however brief time it allows her, she missed the lack of heart put into the bender's movements.
When he finally cut through the stone, a gasp and glorious explosion of cosmic energy and pure force erupted from the statue. Unsurprisingly, Katara did not budge nor sway under the pressure while Zuko was nearly thrown off the volcano. Clutching onto a rock, the young prince waited for the wind to die down. As it finally did, he pulled himself to his feet and brushed the dirt off in an attempt to keep his attention elsewhere. It did not work. His eyes were pulled to the scene before him, where the one person his heart had come to trust, even love, was cradling someone he'd considered an unreachable trophy for the large majority of his life.
A soft, heartbroken laugh escaped his lips. It went unheard by the two lovers, one dying, before him. Gathering what was left of his broken heart—a small piece carved perfectly into a little teacup, remnants of someone's delicate fingers still holding on—he began the lonesome trek down the newly created mountain. Before finding a good foothold to start his decent, he heard the unmistakable sounds of "I love you" in a broken, song-like voice, and the weakly forced "me too" accompanying it. Stinging tears pricked the back of his eyes like Buzzard Wasps as he gave up fighting, and let them fall.
Thousands of thoughts shifted through his forlorn mind. Chief among them being "the bastard couldn't even say I love you back", "I wish she'd say that to me", and the always present, "Zuko you're a fool." But the one he couldn't shake was the one that poured the scalding tea into the tiny teacup, and made him nearly laugh like a madman. It was the thought caused by the sound of spitting flames, and the volcano's roar of satisfaction.
Well, he thought sadly, insane laughter already filling his thoughts; you didn't honestly expect her to pay up did you?
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Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen. This is the closest thing to a serious Zutara I can stomach. It was written the old fashioned way, with a pencil and paper for you kiddies who don't know what that is, and took about an hour and a half to write it. I started at 12:30AM and didn't stop 'til 1:00. It only took that long because I kept dozing off at very odd intervals. Damn you Twilight Princess, you and your oh-so-delicious addictiveness.
Interesting to note, it started off as a simple exercise to describe the song I was listening to and it morphed into this. I blame Lord of the Rings based violin/flute melodies, and mind numbing hours in front of a TV screen for this.
MCL