Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Sibling Fire: Azula and Zuko Ficlets ❯ Pity and Finality ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Characters: Azula, Zuko
Rating: PG
Spoilers/Warnings: None. Character Death and Angst. Some implications.
Notes: Written for the "Mark Twain Quote" for avatar contest at LJ.
Word Count: 324
Summary: Only he knows how she wants it to end.



Pity and Finality

She's not laughing now. She's not sorry or ashamed. If her life rewinds, she'd do it all over again just the same way.

She squints her eyes at the sun through the window and curses it. It's not her fault she's failed. She's given everything her best and is still the best.

This next breath could be her last, and she has no friends to share her last moments with. She doesn't need friends and never did.

A shadow blankets her as she stays still on the floor. Her lungs feel heavy; it hurts to breathe but she won't say so. Especially not to him - never to him.

She wishes she could get one last line in before she goes, just to make him angry or make him squirm. She loves that about him - his emotions and the anger that flares up in his face.

Now, she doesn't see anger. She sees pity and finality, and she hates that she can't even sit up. The least he could do is come down to her level, look her in the eyes and call her a fool.

She smirks and reaches a hand to him. This is stupid. I'm dying. I shouldn't be dying. I should be winning.

And it's too late to mourn `should have beens'. Now, she must concentrate on her funeral. Only he knows what to give her.

“Burn me,” she says, and she realizes how cold the floor is.

She wonders if a stone has blocked the breath in her throat, and she feels his fingers trace over her eyelids to close them.

She can hear the kiss of flames as it devours fabric and wood, and she sighs. It's hot and getting hotter, and the black smoke fills her lungs. Fire kisses her flesh, and she feels ready.

She laughs inside because her throat is burning. She hopes there's humor where she going because she's always known she's too wonderful for heaven.