Avatar - Reaction Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Characters: Gaang, Fire Lord family Pairing: none (unless you want to see Zuko/Aang?) Type: deathfic, angst, futurefic Warnings: character deaths, melodrama Spoilers: up to season 2 finale Word Count: 250 Etc: Ugh, talk about gratuitous angst! Very dissatisfied with this. Maybe I'll write another that'll suck less.
When he sees his father fall, Zuko knows that he can never forgive the Avatar. His father had finally accepted him back; his father wasn’t really going to give Azula the throne, he didn’t really give orders to kill uncle Iroh. He was finally honorable enough to receive his father’s love, and the Avatar took that away.
Yet when he sees Azula appear behind the weakened Avatar, his friends too busy with keeping the entire army at bay, Zuko’s feet move on their own. The Water Tribe girl screams a warning too late. He redirects his sister’s lightening right back, and it’s satisfying to watch her fall even as his chest explodes in searing pain.
The technique was wrong. He never was able to leave his heart out.
The Avatar catches him. The fighting stops as soldiers look on in shock. The Water Tribe girl rushes to his side, hands glowing. The blind girl crushes Azula’s still body with earth, ensuring she won’t be getting up again.
The Water Tribe boy is talking and Zuko can barely focus on the words. “Why did he do that? It doesn’t make any sense!” “I don’t understand it either,” he admits. He still hates the airbender for killing his father.
His vision is turning grey. Zuko remembers when the Avatar saved his life after he’d been unmasked and unconscious as the Blue Spirit. “Do you think we could’ve been friends?” He looks at the arrow-headed monk one last time. “Maybe we could’ve been…Aang.”