Disclaimer: I don't have any ownership over Avatar – the Last Airbender. I just like it a lot.
Zuko dozed on and off in his spot against the tree. He didn't remember getting up and moving to Avalon's side. So it gave him quite a shock to wake up and find her face so close to his.
He jumped up in surprise, and awakened Avalon, which is not the smartest thing to do. It could be compared to waking a hibernating bear.
"Avalon! Sorry!" Zuko yelled.
"Stop shouting," she said.
"Sorry! Again!"
"Zuko, stop it. What's wrong with you?" she demanded.
"Nothing! Sorry," he tacked on quietly to the end.
"You look like you've seen a ghost. Or a rare snake-parrot," she said, then giggled at his visage as he tried to get the emotions running wild across his face in order.
"How long have we been asleep?" he changed the subject, quite smoothly.
"Um, I don't know," she said, like it was obvious.
Zuko heaved a sigh and stretched. He didn't catch Avalon checking him out.
"Well, I'm going to go into town and see what I can do about accommodations," Zuko said.
"'Bout what?" Avalon looked at him, confused.
"Accommodations. You know, like a room," he stared at her, looking to see if she was joking.
She wasn't, "Oh, right." She smiled at him, and he forgot about it. He nodded and left.
Zuko came back in a temper. The manager of the spa had refused him a place. But as he stormed back to their little camp, he heard Avalon singing, no guitar accompaniment.
"When people keep repeating
That you'll never fall in love
When everybody keeps retreating
But you can't seem to get enough
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart
When everything feels all over
When everybody seems unkind
I'll give you a four-leaf clover
Take all the worry out of your mind
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart I have the only key to your heart
I can stop you falling apart
Try today, you'll find this way
Come on and give me a chance to say
Let my love open the door
It's all I'm living for
Release yourself from misery
Only one thing's gonna set you free
That's my love
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart
When tragedy befalls you
Don't let them bring you down
Love can cure your problem
You're so lucky I'm around
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart."
She was singing absentmindedly as she was straightening their belongings. Zuko couldn't move. He felt like she was singing for him, to him, and about him. Of course, she had no idea that he was standing there listening to him. A million different scenarios ran through his head, as is usual for people in his predicament. He coughed, trying to rid his head of some of them.
Avalon turned and saw him.
"Hey, Sunshine. Well?"
Zuko remembered his temper of earlier, but couldn't start that fire again. Another had taken its place.
"No."
"No what?" she asked.
"No room, no nothing," he said.
"Bitches," she mumbled.
"Avalon, you really shouldn't use such course language. It's not attractive," Zuko scolded.
Avalon raised her eyebrows, "Hey, when you've been through what I've been through, you'll understand my affair with "course language"." Her fingers made quotes around course language.
Zuko shook his head, "I've been quite a bit, remember?"
"Yeah, but since I don't know the whole of it, my dilemma seems a bit more drastic than yours."
"I doubt it."
"I don't."
"So, you've been through something worse than being thrown out by your own father, of course, after he permanently scarred your face?"
"Hey, at least you have a father to throw you out," she shot back, fast an arrow.
"Oh," Zuko gasped, like he himself had been shot by the arrow, "Avalon, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I'm over it."
"I had no idea."
"I said don't worry about," she snapped. Zuko gawked at her.
"Forget about it," she muttered.
Suddenly, Zuko felt the intense urge to wrap her up and hug her tight. The feeling was overwhelming. He gave in.
Avalon started to giggle, then full out laugh.
Zuko pulled away, infected with her laughter.
"Man, we're a messed up pair, aren't we?" she said, between laughs.
Zuko simply nodded, caught up in the fact she had said "we" and "pair".
"Almost forgot. I have a place to show you," she said, still chuckling, and started to leave.
Zuko was instantly curious, and he followed her without a second thought.
"Where are we going?" he asked, again and again.
"Shut up! God, I'm not gonna take you if you annoy me too much," Avalon said, turning to glare at him.
"Oh ho, sorry, ma'am."
"Oh no, you didn't," she said, threatening.
"I believe I did," Zuko stated smugly.
Avalon tackled him to the ground and mock-punched his gut. He twisted his body so she was pinned beneath him. But she slid out. Through him.
Zuko coughed for air. Avalon started to laugh again. He gazed at her with a hurt, puppy-dog look.
"Don't gimme that," she moaned and helped him up.
After brushing himself off, Zuko continued his questions, "So, where ARE we going? I'm dying to know."
Avalon leaped ahead of him, grabbing his hand and singing.
"There's a place up ahead and I'm goin' Come on the risin' wind, Bring a song and a smile for the banjo, You can ponder perpetual motion,
Just as fast as my feet can fly
Come away, come away if you're goin',
Leave the sinkin' ship behind.
we're goin' up around the bend.
Better get while the gettin's good,
Hitch a ride to the end of the highway
Where the neons turn to wood,
Fix your mind on a crystal day,
Always time for a good conversation,
There's an ear for what you say.
Avalon danced ahead of Zuko as she sang. He laughed and followed her at a sprint. They dashed through a field of pink, fallen cherry blossoms, their feet kicking them up as they ran. It soon became a race.
"Catch a ride to the end of the highway
and we'll meet by the big red tree,
there's a place up ahead and I'm goin'
Come along, come along with me!
Come on the risin' wind.
We're goin' up around the beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!"
As Avalon sang out the last note, she was gone, disappeared in to air. Zuko, who was quite far behind, began to slow, hearing the lingering voice on the wind caught up with a different sound, a splash. She had gone over a cliff.
He dashed to the edge and looked down, searching frantically for Avalon. There was a small lake at the bottom, filled with ringlets. She surfaced a moment later, and looked up at him, waving.
He stared back, like an idiot.
"Zuko! Come on! It's fun!" she called up. It was about a forty-five-foot drop into the clear, deceivingly shallow lake below.
Zuko shook his head terrified.
"Come on, don't be a chicken. Tell ya what, I'll catch ya!" she joked.
Zuko just shook his head again, his mouth to dry to speak.
"Do it!"
"No," he choked out. Since when had his tongue been this big?
"It's nothing."
"What about my clothes?" he asked, finding his voice.
"Take 'em off. Not all of 'em though, please," she laughed again, treading water.
Zuko looked around him, seeing Avalon's garments strewn about. She hadn't even broken stride. He sighed and stripped to his pants.
Sighing again, he backed up, then ran and flung himself off the cliff.
It was exhilarating. Zuko had never felt more alive. He yelled in exultation as he plunged into the clear, cool water.
He surfaced pealing with mirth.
"Fun, in'n it?" Avalon smirked.
"Yeah," Zuko nodded eagerly.
After a couple more jumps and some mindless floating, they decided to head back. It was pleasantly warm, and they didn't put their dry clothes back on.
"I'm hungry," Avalon said as they arrived back at their camp.
"Surprise, surprise," Zuko murmured. Avalon made a face at his back.
"I saw that," he said, turning around and fixing her with an eye full of mock severity.
"Don't look at me in that tone of voice, mister," she reprimanded jokingly.
The comment threw Zuko off his game and he laughed at it, unlike he would have had it been anyone else.
"I'll go into town and wrangle us up some grub," he said, using her phrase.
"Maybe I should," she said, then seeing his confused look, added, "You know, so I can work my feminine wiles. We don' have any money, remember?"
Zuko frowned slightly and agreed.
They headed into the lovely little town, and split up, promising to meet in an hour.
Zuko was going to try to barter for money, while Avalon tried her "feminine wiles". As he came to the trading place, Zuko spotted a familiar, fat figure.
"Uncle?" he said, confused.
Indeed the face that turned to see him was Iroh.
"Uncle!" Zuko cried again, rejoiced.
"Zuko?" Iroh asked, confused by his nephews reaction.
"Yes," Zuko replied.
"How did you get here?" Iroh asked, more confused than ever.
"I … uh, I swam. I mean, I took a boat and … paddled it … here," he finished. For some unknown reason, Zuko felt reluctant to reveal Avalon's gifts, or Avalon herself.
"Okay," said Iroh, accepting it for the moment, but not fooled by a long shot.
"Listen, I just have to go take care of a few things. I'll be right back," Zuko said, hurriedly. His hour was almost up.
Iroh nodded, "I'll be right here."
Zuko left in search of Avalon. He debated what to do the whole way there.
Once he saw her though, all doubts flew from his mind. He knew he would never be able to lie to that face.
"My uncle is here," he said immediately.
"'K … and?" Avalon pressed when he wouldn't continue.
"That's it," Zuko shrugged.
Avalon looked at him, shrugging to.
"So what?" she asked, "What's your deal?"
"I don't know. I'm just … hesitant."
"Why," Avalon wondered, half to herself. Then some emotion played across Zuko's face, and she smarted back, like she had been slapped.
"You're embarrassed," she stated, not questioned.
Zuko thought for a moment and then decided it was a good name for the feeling, "Yeah, I guess."
"Of me?"
"No, no, of course not."
"Of your uncle?"
"Must be."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Avalon sighed, "Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, I won't go to meet him."
"What? What're you going to do, then?"
"You tell me. I either go with you, or I go back and grab my sh- crap, and leave."
"NO!" Zuko protested immediately.
"Well, make up your mind."
"Stay, please stay. I'll go with my uncle and you can stay in the clearing and I can bring you bedding, and food. Just don't go."
Avalon stared at him incredulously, "You are so weird."
"I know. Stay."
"Whatever."
Zuko smiled in relief, "I have to go back to my uncle, I'll see you later."
"'K. Bye."
Iroh and Zuko rented a small cabin not to far from where Avalon was bunking. Zuko, though buoyant for a while, began to sink back into his seemingly inescapable depression.
This went on for about a week. Zuko would leave Iroh, often without any warning or excuse, and spend hours at a time with Avalon. During the time spent with her, he became upbeat and happy, but the depression swallowed him up as soon as he departed from her presence.
Both Iroh and Avalon noticed it. Neither commented, but both were well aware. Iroh, of course, had no idea where his nephew went, but suspected a girl.
One day during the week, Zuko's depression was incurable, even with Avalon. She questioned and questioned him, and they went to their pond, and he picked a cherry blossom from a tree and put it in her hair, but still he moped.
"Dam- Darn it, Zuko," Avalon finally said, exasperated.
"What?" Zuko asked, not that interested.
"What the- what's wrong with you?" she demanded.
"It's the anniversary," he said, touching his scar.
"That sucks. But you have to do something."
"I've done things with you today."
"Your body has. But I personally favor your mind."
"Sorry," though how the tables had turned so that Zuko was apologizing to Avalon he never figured out, "It's just rough."
Avalon softened, "Yeah, I know how that type of thing feels."
She sat down next to him and let him hug her, cradling her in his arms. It made Zuko feel better, having someone need him. They sat in silence for an immeasurable amount of time, each pacing their breaths so they rose and fell together. As the sky darkened, Zuko sighed.
"I have to go," he said, his voice husky after the long hours of peace.
When Avalon didn't answer, he looked down and shook her slightly.
"Avalon?" he whispered. She had fallen asleep. This brought a small smile to Zuko's face, and he moved her so that she was on top of her sleeping bag. He snatched a blanket that he had taken from his cabin for her, and tucked her in. He hesitated, and then kissed her forehead lightly. He turned and left.
The next morning, Zuko literally bounded up to Avalon and scooped into a bear hug.
"Good mornin' to you too, Sunshine!" she laughed, glad that he was feeling better.
"Avalon, you'll never believe it! My father has sent my sister for me. I'm going home!" Zuko rejoiced.
Avalon's face lit up, and if Zuko had been paying more attention, he would have noticed its falsehood.
"Great, Zuko. That's great," she said, though her words rang with their emptiness.
"I know. And, Avalon, you'll love the Fire Capitol this time of year. The trees are shedding their blossoms and I know some of the most beautiful places, and the people will love you, I know it, and …"
Zuko stopped suddenly, finally seeing the despair in Avalon's face, "You're not coming, are you?" Zuko knew the answer, but had to ask.
Avalon shook her head slowly, "I'm sorry, Sunshine," she whispered.
"It's alright. I kinda knew you wouldn't." Avalon nodded again. But Zuko looked so downtrodden, she almost changed her mind.
"Hey, perk up. I was getting restless anyway." The comment only seemed to make him sadder.
"Zuko," she said, taking his face in her hands, "we would've had to part someday. You just, you got to roll me and call me the tumbling dice."
She smiled faintly, "And I have to so the same for you."
Zuko pulled away from her without any warning, "Goodbye. Avalon."
"'Bye," Avalon said sadly, disappointed and hateful of her noncommittal ways.
When she looked up from her feet, Zuko was gone. Sighing she looked back down at her feet and started to sing,
"It was an early morning yesterday Like a king without a castle, And I will go on shining, Goodbye stranger, it's been nice. You can laugh at my behavior, And I will go on shining,
I was up before the dawn
And I really have enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on
Like a queen without a throne,
I'm an early morning lover,
And I must be moving on.
Shining like brand new,
Ill never look behind me.
My troubles will be few.
Hope you find your paradise.
Tried to see your point of view,
Hope your dreams will all come true.
that'll never bother me.
Say the devil is my savior,
but I don't pay any heed.
Shining like brand new.
Ill never look behind me,
my troubles will be few.
Goodbye stranger, it's been nice,
Hope you find your paradise.
Come tomorrow, feel no pain,
Will we ever meet again?"
Avalon heard a slight rustle and looked up. Zuko was standing there.
"Zuk …"
He had crossed the clearing in one long stride, cradling her face and kissing her gently. After the surprise, she wound her arms around his waist and kissed him back. It was a gentle, yet passionate kiss, achieved only by those who see a parting on the horizon. They pulled away at the same time, but continued to hold one another.
"Goodbye," Zuko whispered, "For real this time."
"Just had to get that in, didja?" Avalon said, attempting a joke, but desperate to make her last glimpse of his face a smiling one.
It worked.
"Yup, had to," Zuko responded.
They parted, their hands the last to let go. Avalon smiled again to herself, as satisfied with the goodbye as possible. She gathered her packs and headed out.
After about a month of solitary travel, Avalon came upon a great wall. Ba Sing Se. She looked at it, wondering how she never before had been inside. There were guards at the top, and no apparent entry, at least not in sight, so she shrugged and walked through what one hundred years of Fire Nation battle had not yet taken down.
Author's note – Don't freak out. They meet again. It'll be okay. Sorta. So, just wanna say thanks to the people who are reading and writing reviews, and give you guys the names of the songs Avalon sings. They're all classic rock, which is probably what your parents listen to. But it's also what I listen to and consider the best. So we've got Let My Love Open the Door by Pete Townshend, Up Around the Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp. All are great songs, and I strongly encourage listening to them on Internet radio or something. So, that's it. Thanks again for the heartfelt reviews. Just keep doing what you're doing! – Celtic Goddess of Fertility