Disclaimer: My name is neither Mike nor Bryan. So therefore, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything related to it.
Everything is the same. I can't see anything exceptionally beautiful anymore. Even the richest and my most favorite of foods have lost their taste. There are no colors. And although I hear words, I cannot make out their meanings.
But most of all, I'm always cold.
It is the middle of June and I am bundled as if it were January. Two tunics, four shirts, double pairs of socks, fur-lined boots and a heavy wool dress. Only Uncle seems to have any kindness left for me. He is the one who comforts me, encourages me, and does not give me crazed looks when we pass in the hallways.
In fact, it was he who called for my maid to draw a scalding bath for me. I sat in the water as the maid heated it. Nothing. I counted the tiles on the wall of the washroom. The maid excused herself. Although I knew the water was hot, I could not feel it. Although I knew the water was burning my skin, I didn't move.
I didn't care.
Now Uncle holds my arms and applies the burn salve. The physician said something about second degree burns, but I wasn't listening. I was staring into the mirror in the infirmary.
My black dress hangs loosely from my thin frame. My face, covered with dark make-up is sallow, empty, thin and angular. My hair is flat, it has lost its luster. My eyes are haunted. I've simply become a shell. Empty. Cold. Unfeeling.
I wonder…I drop my arms and wander from Uncle towards the mirror. I raise my hand and place it against the glass; my reflection does the same. Did I really expect it not to? Did I expect the broken woman in the mirror not to be me?
Yes. I did.
For the first time since last year, I now allow myself to crumple down and cry. I look at myself, the empty, unfeeling shell that I have since become, and I wonder, Zuko, my love, if maybe you took me away when you left, too.
A/N: Oh well. Zuko's dead. It had to have happened sometime. I was going to save this drabble for later, but I didn't. Obviously. I hope this one is more original and less simplistic.
I was in a kinda dark mood when I wrote this.