Hey everybody, this is daydream11 with yet another Zuko/Song story. This drabble goes out to the Soko War Room over at the Distant Horizon forums. That, and it's a theme from the theme set from the 30kisses LJ community. Enjoy.

I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender or Song, her mom, her father, or Zuko. That belongs to Nickelodeon.

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Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

-Emily Dickenson

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Theme #21- violence; pillage/plunder; extortion

"Last"

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"Song!"

"Song!"

"Song!"

She heard her mother's screams in the mist of chaos, frantic and painful to her ears. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, going towards the sound of her mother's voice. Screams filled the air like a thick blanket and the smoke around her stung her eyes until she couldn't even see what was in front of her. Someone shoved her from the side, knocking her down onto the hard, bloodstained pavement.

Old, dark memories filled her clouded mind, plaguing her thoughts of days passed. She whimpered helplessly, desperately trying to keep herself from slipping into the murky waters of faded memoirs…

A young Song saw her father and four or five Fire Nation soldiers surrounding him. "Daddy!" she screamed, tears blocking her vision.

"DADDY!"

A handsome man looked back, his deep brown eyes flickering with defiance and determination.

"Stay, my little melody. I love you and your mother. Be a good girl and help her." She sobbed openly, watching as one soldier transforming his hand into a blazing inferno.

"No!" she yelled, breaking free of her mother's grip and streaking towards him.

"Song!" her mother hollered, picking up her long skirts and following the nine-year-old.

"Daddy!"

"Song, stop!"

It was too late; she was too close. A searing, burning pain took over her lower half as her father was engulfed in flames, his once-gorgeous skin now charred and ugly as his lifeless form dropped onto the ground.

"No Daddy…I love you…I'm sorry…no…NO!"

A soldier kicked her away from him, causing Song to roll into a mud puddle. She stared blindingly into the sky, turned hazy and gray from the villages smoke. Beside her, not even ten feet away, a house collapsed from the flames that devoured it. The fiery embers sprayed out in every direction, some landing on her body, singeing her face, her hair, her clothes. She couldn't feel anything below her waist (why not? What happened to my legs?).

"Song!"

She glanced over a bit, watching as her mother bent down beside her.

"Leave me," the child ordered. Her mother's tears fell upon her face, leaving clean streaks across her dirt-adorned face.

"What have they done to you my melody?"

"Da-daddy," she managed to croak out, her voice hoarse and old.

Her mother looked over at her burnt husband and let out a painful sound, half sob and half surprise before turning back to her daughter.

"Forget it, Song. Forgive them, Song."

"No, he's gone. Mommy, he's gone. I killed him, Mother; I killed my wonderful daddy. Mommy, Mommy…" the young girl's body went limp as she fell into the deep depths of unconsciousness.

"My Song, my melodía, my canción…" She rocked the young girl in the midst of chaos, her voice barely audible.

"A la nanita nana, nanita ella, nanita ella. Mi Niña tiene sueño bendito sea, bendito sea..." she sang, the lullaby weaving ancient magic around them. It wasn't literal magic; it was one of comfort, comfort taken from the strange familiarity even in the forgotten language. It was comfort even if only one of them could hear it right then.

She cuddled the girl in her arms, weeping for the innocence lost that moment- the sights seen, the pain taken, the thoughts scarred forever…

"My Song, you will go on…"

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Zuko watched in sheer horror, in contained interest as his wife trembled violently under whatever dream she was in. The bed sheets beneath her were drenched with her sweat even though the room was at a comfortable temperature. Her loose hair stuck to her face in clumps and her face felt sticky with hot tears.

He rubbed a comforting hand over her, feeling the roughness of the scars that started just above her waist and didn't end until her very toes. He pulled away her hair and twisted it into a loose braid, kissing her cheek several times.

"Whatever it may be that you're seeing," he whispered into her ear. "See it no more."

---last---

That came out more angst-ier than I originally intended it to. However. I still love it and am extremely proud of myself. Review please! The Spanish lullaby Song's mother sings is a real one, I did not make it up. It's the first two lines from the song A La Nanita Nana from the The Cheetah Girls 2 soundtrack. It's a beautiful song. The names her mother calls her are Spanish, too. Melodía means "melody" in Spanish and canción means "song".