8.29.13

((I SUCK SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN LIKE FOREVER))


Simple

"What are you... doing here?" he whispers hoarsely. He does not move to approach her as she twists her hand over the cold metal bar.

"I... I've returned." The words sound small and pathetic, hanging in the air between them.

Much to her dismay, he turns away, refusing to meet her gaze. "Why?"

"I..." She trails off. "Because I wanted to be... with my family." It's the simplest answer she can manage. She hates the terrible guilt weighing in the pit of her stomach.

He snorts. "Of course."

"No one else knows I'm here," Ursa says quietly.

"Not even Zuko?" Ozai asks with a bitter smile.

"No."

"Why are you here?" he asks again, sounding almost accusatory. "What do you want?"

Hot, angry tears well up in her eyes. "I want to be with my family. I - I want us to be together."

"You really think it will be that simple?" Ozai laughs harshly, and for the first time she can see how angry and bitter he has become. "You think - even after all this time, even after you walked away from all of us - that it will be that simple?"

"You wanted the Crown!" Ursa bursts out angrily. "Long before I left, you had already abandoned the rest of us! Perhaps not in body, but in soul - and I knew what you wanted. You wanted to be Fire Lord!"

He opens his mouth as if to retort, but nothing comes out. Angrily he shuts his mouth again and glares at her through the bars.

"Is that or is that not true?" Ursa asks quietly. "That you wanted the Crown."

He is silent for a long moment. "It is true."

"You are as much to blame as I," she whispers, and finally the tears come, unstoppable, even as she furiously tries to wipe them away.

For a few minutes, there is nothing but the sound of Ursa's quiet sniffs. Both are waiting for the other to speak.

"My lady."

She looks up as he stands and approaches her. He kneels, his hand slowly comes up to clasp itself around hers where she is gripping the cold metal bar, and she sees that he is trembling slightly. "Yes," she says quietly.

"I'm sorry."

It's a simple apology, but in it she hears everything that he means. And perhaps it won't be enough later as they try to untangle five years' worth of thoughts and feelings - she knows that both of them have much explaining to do - but it is good enough for now.