Sorry for the uber-long wait. First I just didn't feel like writing. Then I caught a cold and didn't feel like writing even more. Then, once i started to get over my cold i got a very, very nasty stomach flu and COULDNT write for fear of throwing up all over my computer.

isn't that lovely?

so here's an okay chapter. things have been a little crazy lately. except next chapter up on thursday or friday if we r lucky cause i have soooo much schoolwork to catch up on. ughhh. well... enjoy.

Chapter 55

The play continues in rapid succession after that. Aang returns later and Sokka fills him in.

"Here's what you missed. We went to the Fire Nation, and you got better, and Katara was the Painted Lady, and I got a sword, and Del is a complete bad-ass, and I think Combustion Man died. Ooh, look the invasion's about to start! Shhh," he shushes himself. He's right, though. The playwright has portrayed me as one of the best fighters in our group, despite me not having any bending, or maybe because of that.

I almost always take down the most firebenders, and my actress's lines are always witty, charming, and completely sexy. Honestly, I'm not of those things, but whose complaining?

I guess that Actor Sokka took some of real Sokka's jokes, because about half-way through the invasion Sokka starts blabbering, "I told him to say that!"

We watch Actor Zuko join the main group, and that is mostly boring until there's a scene where Actor Zuko and Actress Del have a private reunion.

"You said you loved me!" Actor Zuko shouts. "What did you mean by that?" Actress Del blushes and ducks her head.

"Zuko," she says, her melodic voice making me feel that I am a poor representation of her, not the other way around. "I'm your mother. In reincarnation." Everyone in our group turns to stare at me in shock, their mouths open wide.

"Are you?" Toph cackles.

"'Course not!" I say, my eyes locked on Zuko's. He shakes his head with a bewildered expression that looks so unbearable handsome on him and returns his attention to the play.

"Well I guess that's it," Sokka says, standing up and stretching. "The play's caught up to the present now."

"Wait. They play's not over."

"But it is over. Unless…" Sokka's voice deepens ominously. "This is the fuuuuuuuture!"

That's when we watch Actress Azula kill Actor Zuko. Actor Zuko drops dead with one last shout of, "Honor!" Now everyone in our group turns to Zuko with horrified looks. Zuko looks stunned.

That's when we watch Actor Ozai kill Actress Aang. Actress Aang dies with one last, "!" that seems to go on forever.

When the audience erupts into applause we all jump up and flee the theater. As we walk home, Zuko mutters, "That… wasn't a good play."

"I'll say," Aang says.

"Totally unrealistic," I gripe.

"No kidding," Katara murmurs.

"You said it!" Toph celebrated.

"But the effects were decent," Sokka shrugs. As we file into the house, Zuko, Suki, Sokka, and I end up in the living room, half-asleep, running back the play through our mind.

"Your character was very… interesting," Suki says, and she must mean me. After all Zuko and Sokka's actors didn't wrap themselves around a firebender, purring dirty one-liners before they killed their enemies. Yeah, I wasn't exaggerating.

"Speaking of the play… you didn't tell me about Jet," Zuko accuses. I sigh and my head falls forward. Zuko also sighs and slides closer to me, his arm wrapping around my shoulders and coaxing me against his chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

I launch into a coughing fit against his shirt. I struggle to apologize but he just waves my concerns off. "I don't think Smellerbee wanted me to tell you," I mumble against his shirt. My words are muffled against him but I think he understands.

"That's what you meant," Zuko realizes, and his voice reverberates through his chest and into me, "when you said she knew I was a firebender." I nod, and his other arm curls around me, squeezing me tighter.

I hear Suki and Sokka leave the room with a few giggles and startled hisses as they poke and prod each other along. I'm alone… with Zuko. Against his chest. Alone. For the first time in so long. A shiver runs through me.

"Cold?" Zuko asks. I shake my head. How could be cold in my firebender's arms? He's always warm, but he doesn't seem to believe me. For a moment his arm leaves it's place as he reaches over, snags a blanket, and drapes it over me. Then he shifts me over a little, so that I'm not just curled against him, I'm practically in his lap.

"I want to go home, Zuko," I whisper before I can stop myself. I'm not sure where home is. The estate where I lived with my parents? Our apartment in Ba Sing Se? Somewhere new? Zuko obviously doesn't know what I mean either because he hesitates.

"I know, love," he says finally. "I know."

"Zuko! Del!" Aang's voice rings through the house. "Come on! We're all going outside to look at the stars!" I look up at Zuko, who shrugs and helps me out. He keeps my hand and leads me out to the fornt yard. Sure enough, everyone is lying down on the grass, staring up at the bright pinpricks of light in the dark sky above.

Zuko flattens out the blanket that he brought from inside and we both lie down at it. There are a few moments of lovely peaceful silence, and then Suki asks, "What do you think the stars are?"

"My gran-gran always told me that they were holes in the floor of heaven where those who have passed on can look down upon the ones they love," Katara says. I look up at the stars, and wonder if my parents are looking down on me. If they are, they're probably horrified by my actions. Or… maybe they're proud. Maybe.

"Iroh says that they're portals to the spirit world," Zuko adds, sounding like he doesn't really believe it himself.

"My father taught me that they were the spirits of Avatars that have come and gone," I whisper. Zuko coaxes me into his side, my head resting against his outstretched arm.

"Cool!" Aang says cheerfully. "I'm the stars?"

"I think stars are enormous balls of fiery gas millions of miles away," Sokka says. Everyone gets really quiet and stares at him. "What? That's just what I think." Ah, well. Sokka's always been a little odd.

"Maybe they're other worlds, and if you fall off the edge of this earth, you go to one of those," Toph suggests.

"I don't think you can fall off the edge of the world," Zuko says. "I think that we're stuck under a dome, and you'd just smack against the wall or something if you tried."

"If you go all to the way to the edge of the world you fall off and die," I state simply. "There's no way around it."

"I think the earth is round."

"Shut up, Sokka!" We all shout laughingly. I yawn, and there's silence once more. For a while, I think. I realize, this is what we're fighting for. Peace. Love. Friendship. And that'll never change.


Lol i've had that stars convo in my head for a long time. sounded better in my head.. oh well. for anyone who plays Dragon age,... i just got awakening. ehhh. boring. woulda been waaaay cooler if the companion convos were better. anders was a not as good copy of alistair, but still amusing. nathaniel was a little more interesting. liked him. wished i coulda had more conversations with him other than him going "i should apolgize to you. my father was a monster" or "i must regain honor for my family" every other conversation. he's kinda like season 1& 2 zuko in that aspect. lol.