I feel like I'm neglecting fanfiction lately. So, I decided heck with life for tonight. I'm writing fanfic.
Into the Open Air
Part XI: Dawn
The long-buried gypsy in her felt the approaching dawn before the first rays kissed the horizon, and Nanami had not slept. She rolled, still curled in the arms of her husband.
Zuko. She sighed silently and reached out to ghost her fingers over his handsome, scarred face. She did not want to wake him, but, Gods, how she would miss him.
As quietly as she could manage, Nanami untangled herself from the man beside her. Their bedroom was dark, but she dared not light a lamp in fear of rousing the sleeping firebender. So, in the pitch, she dressed into the same clothes she had been wearing when Zuko carried her to the palace on that long ago night. She gathered the few belongings she had brought with her from her life as a gypsy.
Turning back to allow herself just a small moment to watch Zuko sleep, she felt her heart break.
For the last time...She told herself, fighting the tears. When the sun rose, so would Zuko and they would begin their lives anew, apart. The healing could begin, but the thought of a life without him brought her nothing but pain.
In time...She thought as she crossed the room to the bed. Gently, with featherlight touches, she stroked his unmanageable scruff of ebony hair and smiled. She kissed his bare shoulder and the feel of his warm skin against her lips, such a familiar sensation after all this time, and she wanted to forget her decision to leave. But she could not. This was the way things had to be.
Crying now, she slipped from the dark of the bedroom.
Zuko woke with the sunrise, but to an empty bed. His world iced over.
She was gone.
Nanami was gone.
So quick she had come into his life. And, it seemed, just a quickly, she had vanished.
Zuko sat up, rubbing his eyes. Surely this was all a dream. Soon, he would wake and she would be there by his side as she always was with a melody to soothe his aches. But he was not dreaming.
With a saddened sigh, he stood and put on a dressing robe. Hers had been left neatly folded beside his. He ran the expensive silk through his fingers. Remembering all of the lazy mornings and breakfasts in bed and tea times they had shared. With hot tears threatening to fall, he brought the robe to his face, inhaling the scent of her that still lingered on the fabric. He needed that. He needed to know that the past year had not been a dream. He needed proof that Prince Zuko, now Fire Lord, had once been happy, had once smiled.
Zuko could not fight the memories now. Each one of them was so real. He remembered their first dance in the courtyard. He remembered how she would sit on the balustrade of their balcony, brush her long hair and sing. He remembered the dancing and the songs and the merriment that she had brought into his life. And all of that was gone now.
His limp, dumbfounded hands tightened into fists and Zuko swore to Agni that he would never love again. Cursing, he sank to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks. The hero of the Fire Nation sobbed violently.
He did not hear the knock at his door.
"My lord," Aya kept her voice soft at the sight of her king on his knees.
"Get out," he murmured, not so much as moving his head.
"My Lord, will you and Mistress Nanami not be taking tea this morning?" She set the tray she was carrying on the table and took a tentative step towards him.
"No." he said, "Not this morning. Not any morning." His voice was distant and he seemed to be speaking more to himself. Aya took another step, saw the discarded robe, the empty bed, the Fire Lady's headpiece abandoned on the table. Oh no...She looked back to the Fire Lord.
"I said," he growled, "Get. Out." when she did not move, his voice rose to a roar. "GET OUT!"
Aya fled as fast as her old bones would carry her. She did not stop until she was in the courtyard, beside the calm waters of the pond and away from to maelstrom of Zuko's despair. Breathing burdened, she watched the turtleducks in the water. The young hatchlings were already beginning to fledge and would be grown soon.
Aya knew. Like only those closest to Zuko and Nanami, she knew of the baby they had lost. But, unlike the mother turtleduck, they would never get to see their child grow.
She held a soft fist over her heart and prayed to the spirits to make things right again. She prayed with all that was left of her.
Dawn had risen over the Fire Nation and the first dead leaves of autumn danced in the air before resting on the surface of the pond, stirring the water with only a ripple. Still, a ripple nonetheless.
Soooooo? what do you think? I like the foreshadowing at the end. Aya ended up playing a bigger role in this fic than I originally planned, but I LOVE IT! Anyway, this actually has a happy ending, so...stick with it, PLEASE?
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