a/n: satire


Crossroads

at the place where it ends…

It is, it was,

Never dies,

Always fades.

-x-

Past miles of veins running and blood churning, there is a place

—Where in tangled hairs and netting, nothing happens.

Two come, and one leave.

-x-

"And now, you are married," Iroh says, Iroh notes.

Strange.

Thatthat girl and that boy (of all the millions in the world) wind up married. To Each Other. Together Forever.

And they think that it will last. And they think they are impervious to the battles and the rain and the fire. And they think that love is enough. It is enough to go by and will not vanish in a second, without warning.

And so, "You are now married."

-x-

What Iroh doesn't know (what no one knows) is the afterwards. The thing beyond the happily ever after. That sometimes, a lifetime (or two) can extend beyond words and gestures and fake-sweet embraces.

The thunder comes, and no one hears. And all they can feel is the pounding fear

—Resonates and buries, a hundredfold.

-x-

Toph, Zuko decides, was a terrible mother. Her flesh in stone and heart like earth. Toph, Zuko decides, is no mother to anyone (and in need of one herself).

"What are you doing?"

"I'm teaching her to Earthbend!" Toph declares, loud and proud, and waves their child high in the air.

"She's two!"

"You can never start too early."

But you can, he thinks, like a lifetime gone to waste.

-x-

At twenty, Toph thought about her and herself. And how this really isn't working out.

And so, one morning, she left—that is the end of that. A disaster gone.

"Now, you are no longer married," Iroh jokes and bounces his grand-niece on his ancient, creaking knees.

"Shut up, Uncle," Zuko said.

And Iroh laughs to himself.

Funny thing: Forever was so short.