Is (Suki, D, Light, 1)
Title: Is
Author: karma_kalisutah
Claim: Suki
Challenge: Duality
Chakra: Light
Prompt: 1. Insight
Warnings: Could be interpreted as femslash, but that would be missing the point. Allusion to one of the not-so-nice things that happened in "Separation"
Author's Note: Sequel to "Separation".
Suki knows she is dreaming because of the window where there wasn't one. Nothing else has changed: same dark stone floor, same tarnished metal bars, same smell of rot, same ruined face. A shouldn't-be window full of shouldn't-be moonlight is an oddly tame dream given all the fears and hopes bouncing around in her head, but there it is. Suki stands up and looks out at the full moon.
The moon is a girl, and this is a bit more like a dream now. The moon is a girl is a… fish? She shimmers lovely like an opal, full of hidden facets, as realities of light shift and ripple beneath her skin. The moon is a girl is a
Kiss.
Weightless lips and enfolding arms transport her. Suki is lying on a cloud, soaring above plains of green ice and weaving between sheer blue cliffs. The soot-black sky peels and falls down around her in softly drifting flakes. It's a landscape molded from half-formed, or maybe half-remembered, impressions. This is another dream, hers and not hers, maybe someone else's first. It has to be a dream, because she is flying on a cloud and kissing the moon (is a girl is a fish is a kiss is a boy is…
Sokka.
He's there suddenly, and he's solid, and this isn't a dream at all, at least not for her. He starts and pulls away from her, staring. "Yue?" he asks. She doesn't answer, because the only things she could say are "yes" or "no." Neither is exactly right. Neither is exactly wrong. "Suki?"
"Yes," she tells him.
"Suki!" He sounds like agony. "What's happened to you?" He reaches out to touch her face, and she knows that he can see the scar.
"Don't!" she pleads, instantly panicking, but it's too late. His fingers brush against her marred skin, and the marring brushes off on them. It migrates, spreads climbing like spidery mold up his arm and neck and takes root in his own face.
"I let you down," he says, eyes full of shadows. "I didn't protect you. I failed again. I swore that I wasn't going to let it happen, I wasn't ever going to make the same mistakes, I wasn't going to let anyone else I loved-"
Loved.
Suki looks at him and sees the scar that is her skin is her pain is her faith is her Sokka! She kisses it, kisses him, stops his mouth and takes back what is hers. "You talk too much," she tells him as the shadows fade from his face along with the scar.
The cliffs begin to hum. The sky shudders and begins to fall faster and harder, and from above the crumbling black a gleam of silver peeks through. Deceptively soft rays of light pierce the darkness, first one by one like thrusts of a sword, then all at once like a spray of arrows. But the light that pours down through the holes and envelops the two on the cloud, though burningly, blindingly bright, is not sharp enough to cut. They hold each other and the moon holds them as the world is washed away in a flood of molten pearl.
A violent spasm sparked at the top of Suki's spine and flashed through her body. She snapped to and found herself seated on the floor of the dungeon, legs crossed, hands resting palms-up on her knees. The scar was in place. The bars were in place. The moldy ceiling reeked and the walls whirred disinterestedly. It all seemed strangely insubstantial, though. The window was gone, but the cell somehow still felt different, less solid, more open. Even the darkness was less real. Suki looked through it and felt moonbeams dancing in the backs of her eyes.
She breathed.
Author: karma_kalisutah
Claim: Suki
Challenge: Duality
Chakra: Light
Prompt: 1. Insight
Warnings: Could be interpreted as femslash, but that would be missing the point. Allusion to one of the not-so-nice things that happened in "Separation"
Author's Note: Sequel to "Separation".
Suki knows she is dreaming because of the window where there wasn't one. Nothing else has changed: same dark stone floor, same tarnished metal bars, same smell of rot, same ruined face. A shouldn't-be window full of shouldn't-be moonlight is an oddly tame dream given all the fears and hopes bouncing around in her head, but there it is. Suki stands up and looks out at the full moon.
The moon is a girl, and this is a bit more like a dream now. The moon is a girl is a… fish? She shimmers lovely like an opal, full of hidden facets, as realities of light shift and ripple beneath her skin. The moon is a girl is a
Kiss.
Weightless lips and enfolding arms transport her. Suki is lying on a cloud, soaring above plains of green ice and weaving between sheer blue cliffs. The soot-black sky peels and falls down around her in softly drifting flakes. It's a landscape molded from half-formed, or maybe half-remembered, impressions. This is another dream, hers and not hers, maybe someone else's first. It has to be a dream, because she is flying on a cloud and kissing the moon (is a girl is a fish is a kiss is a boy is…
Sokka.
He's there suddenly, and he's solid, and this isn't a dream at all, at least not for her. He starts and pulls away from her, staring. "Yue?" he asks. She doesn't answer, because the only things she could say are "yes" or "no." Neither is exactly right. Neither is exactly wrong. "Suki?"
"Yes," she tells him.
"Suki!" He sounds like agony. "What's happened to you?" He reaches out to touch her face, and she knows that he can see the scar.
"Don't!" she pleads, instantly panicking, but it's too late. His fingers brush against her marred skin, and the marring brushes off on them. It migrates, spreads climbing like spidery mold up his arm and neck and takes root in his own face.
"I let you down," he says, eyes full of shadows. "I didn't protect you. I failed again. I swore that I wasn't going to let it happen, I wasn't ever going to make the same mistakes, I wasn't going to let anyone else I loved-"
Loved.
Suki looks at him and sees the scar that is her skin is her pain is her faith is her Sokka! She kisses it, kisses him, stops his mouth and takes back what is hers. "You talk too much," she tells him as the shadows fade from his face along with the scar.
The cliffs begin to hum. The sky shudders and begins to fall faster and harder, and from above the crumbling black a gleam of silver peeks through. Deceptively soft rays of light pierce the darkness, first one by one like thrusts of a sword, then all at once like a spray of arrows. But the light that pours down through the holes and envelops the two on the cloud, though burningly, blindingly bright, is not sharp enough to cut. They hold each other and the moon holds them as the world is washed away in a flood of molten pearl.
A violent spasm sparked at the top of Suki's spine and flashed through her body. She snapped to and found herself seated on the floor of the dungeon, legs crossed, hands resting palms-up on her knees. The scar was in place. The bars were in place. The moldy ceiling reeked and the walls whirred disinterestedly. It all seemed strangely insubstantial, though. The window was gone, but the cell somehow still felt different, less solid, more open. Even the darkness was less real. Suki looked through it and felt moonbeams dancing in the backs of her eyes.
She breathed.