sorry
Title: Everything happens for a Reason
Theme: #27 overflow
Mann, I was worried about not making the cut, so I wrote the shittiest fic ever. Good plot idea, though. I am working on a super long one, but I expect that won't be out for a longer while.
"Zuko we have to find him!” Katara half-screamed through tear-blinded vision.
“Katara, there’s nothing we can do for him,” Zuko mumbled, his stare blank and guilty.
“We can try! If you think I’ll sit here on my ass while the man who saved the world twice is being tortured to death, you’re crazy!”
Zuko sat there, unable to make a motion.
“He’s always come through for me when I needed him! He always tries his hardest when one of us is in trouble! Wouldn’t it be an insult to him if we don’t at least attempt to do the same for him?”
“Katara, he’s already dead,” Zuko whispered. “It’s pointless to chase after a dead man. I’d be putting people at risk!”
Katara looked like she had just gotten ten degrees hotter. “You won’t go after Aang because you’re afraid of getting people hurt?” She scoffed. “Everyone will die in Azula’s new regime if you don’t spare a few lives now.”
“And what if we get there and he’s either dead or the whole thing was a clever hoax during a coup? What are we supposed to do then? This is too rash.”
“Fine, if you won’t save my best friend, then I will by myself.”
“You’re not strong enough to fight Azula by yourself.”
“I seemed to be able to do it fine by myself before, if I remember correctly.”
Something on Zuko’s chest seemed to burn.
“That was different,” he argued.
“What? You did the hard work? I cleaned up the garbage?” She was sarcastic.
“Well…yes,” he grumbled.
“Then I’m not wasting any more time here,” she insisted. She turned on her heel and quickly moved, but not before he could catch her hand.
“Don’t you understand what is going on here?”
“Zuko, I have to try,” she pleaded more with his eyes than his strength.
“You’re walking right into a trap! She’ll kill you, just like she’ll kill Aang.”
“Come with me,” she whispered, taking his hand.
Zuko swallowed hard, moving forward. “I can’t let you do this alone.”
She leaned up to kiss the corner of his mouth, grabbing him to start to run, off into the unknown.
.x.
“You were right.”
The black, billowing smoke closed around him, suffocating him, and he could no longer breathe. The oxygen he was being deprived of was nothing compared to the smell and feel of burning flesh, all over his body. His eyes closed tightly, and he could hear nothing but his own screams.
“I’m sorry, Avatar. I guess your friends couldn’t get here in time.”
.x.
The letters landed with a thud on the Fire Lord’s desk.
“What’s this?”
“I’m leaving.”
There was a silence where they looked into each other’s eyes.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Not really. Iroh is having a service prepared before I leave. The travel preparations are all arranged.”
“I knew this would happen one day.”
“Why?”
“You were born after the Avatar’s death.”
“You knew the Avatar?”
“Ask your mother about it sometime, she traveled with him.”
.x.
They stood hand in hand, watching their daughter receive the honors of the Four Nation’s Treaty. It was the Avatar’s duty to restore balance to the world, and in Kya’s case, she would keep peace in the world.
After all, everything happens for a reason.