Here we go, everybody! The prompt for this one is emotions, and the emotion is despair. Kind of angsty, so be warned! Enjoy! :D
Emotions.
Zuko thought he had experienced enough despair to last a lifetime, and that kind of complete and utter loss of your soul was something he never wanted to go through again. He had seen it from the bow of his ship as he sailed away from the flaming chaos he created. He had felt it while living as a refugee, huddled in a small space with hundreds of others whose eyes had lost their shine. But he never truly understood despair until the war was over. He was meandering through the palace gardens when a strangled sob pierced the autumn air. Quiet, familiar wails warbled through the garden and he followed, his pace and heart quickening with each step he took. He found her by the east wall, and his heart lurched at the sight. A pair of hook-swords, the points deep in the dirt, glinted in the afternoon light. Next to them, curled into a tiny ball of blue, was his Katara. His sharp intake of breath brought her watery eyes up to meet his and she burst into tears again. Zuko didn't say a word, instead he walked over and pulled her to his chest. Her fingers knotted into his tunic and she cried, her pitiful warbles muffled in the silk and her tears leaking into his collar. As the shadows grew longer Katara's words became clearer, and he was able to pick out enough to understand what was ripping her beautiful heart to shreds.
It was the day she met her Jet, and Jet was gone.
Jet. Zuko puzzled over the name, and got flashes of his time in Ba Sing Se. A shaggy-haired earth-kingdom orphan, a piece of hay hanging out of his mouth. Two wingmen, Longshot and Smellerbee, handy with weapons and attitudes to boot. A temper and a penchant for vengeance. A pair of hook-swords, identical to the ones his Katara was weeping over.
His fists tightened in the material of her sky-blue tunic. His Katara was in love with the boy that tried to kill him. The boy that was put in prison because of a fight with a fire-nation prince. The boy that died in a war that had taken everything from him.
Katara despaired over a boy in despair, and the irony of that situation alone was what made his decision.
So Zuko did all that Zuko could do, and pulled her closer. He couldn't empathize, but he would sympathize and share her pain. If she wasn't alone in her pain, maybe she could heal.
He looked down at her face. Her eyes were red and watery, and her eyelashes were glued together with tears. Her nose was running and blood pooled in her lips. To anyone else she would have looked a mess, but to Zuko, she was a beautiful disaster.
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