So this is the promised smut for Alone: The Trilogy reaching 1,000 reviews! About 200 reviews later than promised, but still you guys get the smut. Sorry if it's poor quality, but this is my first time writing a sex scene and hope it's up to par. I wish you all enjoy it!

Special thanks to a Mander13 for help.

Warning: Mature content, so if you don't want to read a scene with sex in it just go ahead and don't read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender in any way, shape, or form.


The night drifts on, floating in and out the window like lungs exhaling and inhaling, gripping the curtains and tugging them about silently in the darkness. The moon hangs lazily above them, only half full and just beginning to descend into the air. The guards who almost always flank Zuko's quarters have been dismissed easily, asked to go patrol a different part of the palace. Or they were already gone by the time Zuko and Zia got back from the wedding reception. She can't really recall now because everything is a blaze of memories from the moment she woke up this morning to the moment she is in now.

Fast paced was today's speed, unlike the other slow going days she's had here in the palace. But now, since Zuko and Zia are alone for the first time since the wedding, everything is slow. Not boring slow, but I-can-savor-this-moment slow. A good slow. There's something in the air that tells her this slow won't last long. That the night will not only drag on in an emotion she won't be able to name, but also speed past in the blink of the eye.

So when his dress robes are discarded in haste and he wraps his arms around Zia's waist, that slow kicks in. And her fingers reach for his head to take off the headpiece and topknot that hold his hair together as their lips lock. The metal feels warm in her hand, and the cloth smooth. One of the nightstands—then again it was more likely a dresser—comes and takes the holding on the ornaments.

The firebender's dark hair comes tumbling down, and he then fumbles to take the airbender's elaborate hair piece out. The chopsticks clatter to the floor, not given much care as the old headpiece, and the flurry of trying to untie all of the ties on the damned dress causes frustration. She laughs, undoes them herself, and says, "Let's not burn the thing, now. It's not going to be worn again, after all."

It won't. The dress will be hung up, only to be taken down on occasion when such a nice outfit is required. Even then, it will be made less fancy for the occasion. Not up to par for a royal wedding.

But once it's been unraveled from the small woman's body, it tumbles down to the floor and they're both left in their undergarments, and the kissing begins to heat up with him nipping at her lips and grabbing her waist, tugging her closer even if she's already flush against him. His fingertips dance with burning heat, flickering over her body as they fall onto the bed.

She doesn't really know what's come over her, what's gotten into her spirit to make her crave Zuko so much at the moment. But there's a part of her that likes it, likes having Zuko's hands drift over her skin with the feeling that she's being set on fire a little bit at a time, likes how his hand pauses slightly on the burn scar that takes up over half her lower chest, likes how his hand fidgets with the bindings over her breasts. And maybe it's because the wedding was earlier today and all the excited and entrancing emotions have come bubbling out the moment the door shut behind her and they were completely and utterly alone with each other.

Not the feeling of alone that overwhelmed Zia when she was in prison. But the feeling one gets when they're in a room with someone and no one else is there and there's just space left.

Zuko fumbles the last of the cloth away from her breasts and continues kissing her mouth and drifting down her neck, and her hands can't seem to find purchase on the bed sheets so they move to his arms and leave marks of where her hands laid against his warm skin.

He stops suddenly, moves his face in front of hers, and asks, "You okay?"

Both their breathing is coming out in pants, as if the moment was so strong before this that there wasn't enough air in this empty place that they couldn't breathe. But the slow is coming back now, sluggish as the airbender answers his question. "Yeah. I'm fine. Are you?"

"Perfect." The kissing resumes and one of Zuko's hands holds her face, caressing near her eye as his lips work against hers and he moves atop her. The other moves around one of her breasts, fixing it into his palm. A noise that Zia can't believe comes from her mouth falls from her lips as he gropes her. Zuko's lips leave hers, face drifting down to kiss her other breast, the one Zuko's warm hand isn't working with.

A moan falls from Zia's mouth this time, back arching up and moving her breasts into his mouth. And then his mouth is back to kissing her shoulder and stomach and hands are fluttering everywhere. The air in the room is getting warm, stiffer with the smell of arousal and sweat and thick with heat. The firebender's face is back in front of Zia's, capturing her lips in his and moving atop her. Her hands are still tight around his arms, moving and scratching across his skin.

There's a slight moment where one of her hand drifts to his lower chest and settles on his second scar from family. The one caused by lightning and his desperate attempt to save Katara and her from his Angi Kai against Azula. The scar flutters outward, reaching up and down and around. It reminds her of a star and of the one on Aang's back.

Golden eyes stare at her fingers as they dash across the pink flesh, and he doesn't tell her to stop. "I still thought you were dead," she mutters, voice coming out in slight pants.

"It only barely touched my heart," he replies, his own hand brushing across the burn on her side. "I was lucky."

"We're all lucky at one point in our life." Zuko can tell that she's talking about the scar on her side, about her life in an iceberg for a hundred years.

"It's either luck or fate."

"And a little bit of both causes two to meet." She's the one this time to begin the kissing, to brush her fingers across his large scar that takes up half his face, to turn his body so she's on top for a short while, to kiss down his neck and his shoulders and to leave little marks of him being hers. His hands grip her hips, tugging her down and around so his lips encase hers and his hand works to rid her of her last undergarment. The firebender's slip off soon after hers, and nothing is left beside skin and space and a warm hand at her entrance.

A gasp escapes the airbender's lips when Zuko slips a finger inside her. Back arching, her hands grip for some traction on the red bed sheets, piling the fabric around her palms. "You okay?" he asks again, and she can feel him moving his fingers inside her, and the noises that come through her lips still don't sound like they're coming from her.

"Yeah. Keep going." Both of their breathing comes out in pants now, and Zia is melting under his fingers, still grasping the sheets and wanting something better than the small fabric. The small candles by the bed flicker with Zuko's breathing and movements, and his breath appears next to her face as he removes his fingers out of her. Her back settles slowly on the bed, air still encasing her lungs.

Candles flickering, minds racing, lips searching for each other. Heat plays at the tips of his fingers, dancing across her skin, drawing on her thighs. The flames on the candles reach for the ceiling as he inhales deeply and his at Zia's entrance. Their breaths mingle and their eyes gaze at each other.

Careful, careful, careful.

Then Zuko is inside her, and she feels nothing but that unbearable pain of being split open. Zia's hands that still grip the firebender's back pull her up in surprise, and a mangle groan of pain escapes her lips. He doesn't move for a few moments as she buries her head in his neck, breathing him in and scratching across his back, digging into his body.

"You okay?" he asks quietly, aware of repeating himself from earlier.

Zia thinks of replying with, "No, no. It hurts. Don't move." But the only way out is for him to move, so she just quietly shakes her head against him as the pain subsides for a moment as he stops dead inside her. The woman's body slowly departs from him, hands still holding on tightly to his back, and he smiles reassuringly down at her.

"You want me to keep going?"

She nods her head quickly, aware of each movement he makes inside her. "Yes." And he obliges, eyes still trained on her face for any sign of discomfort, but that pain has subsided completely now. Zuko continues to drive into her, hips reaching for hips, moans escaping lips, nails scratching back, candles fluttering dangerously high.

They fall into an easy rhythm, his hips bumping against hers as she instinctively bucks up, wanting more of him inside her, the pain long forgotten and replaced by pleasure and him and oh spirits that felt good. Moans fill the otherwise quiet air, and Zia can still feel Zuko deep inside her. There's no real need to talk during this, to break the pleasant silence only broken by moans and him driving in and out, in and out, in and out, fluids mixing together and onto the bed.

The room is still hot, candles still growing as he reaches the end and she falls over it before does. Walls clasping onto him is what pulls his high out of him, and Zuko's seed flows out of himself and into her, spreading deep inside her. They both spasm for a few moments, and her nails dig deeper into his back, dragging down as she falls away from him. Pants fill the air again, and candles settle down.

Zuko collapses next to her, all energy taken from him the moment he fell. Zia feels exhausted too, hips still tingling with the feeling of his hips driving against the airbender's.

"That felt good," she whispers, breath still hard to come by.

"It did," he replies, taking the small amount of energy left to turn toward her and let his hand pass over her sweaty hair. "I love you," he says next, fingers following a bead of sweat down her face.

"I love you too." Before either's breath can return to normal, they fall asleep wet and exhausted.