House of Crows

House of Crows (Vignettes)
Title: House of Crows
Author: Eternity in Seconds
Rating: T-ish M? Language (Zuko, Toph, Sokka…)
Pairings: Well… Zutara, but not…
Summary: Ending is beginning, beginning is ending. Freedom and Imprisonment walk hand in hand. Duty and honour are skewed. Life can be divided into seven parts: Birth, Innocence, Awakening, Trial, Love, Loss and Death…
Authors Note: Vignettes. This is… different. It will have seven chapters, books or parts, whatever you want to call it. It WILL BE CANON COMPLIANT. Meaning Katara and Aang shack up and have little babies… I'm ignoring the comics. Each part will (hopefully) be no more than 5,000 words long. The Vignettes to follow are Heavily influenced by To Build A Home by the Cinematic Orchestra; Little Lies, Dreams and Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
Disclaimer: Bryke own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

Part The First: Loss
One For Sorrow…

Spring, 113ASC
Thirteenth Year of Firelord Zuko's Reign

It was said in the Fire Nation that Agni only gave one life so that he could take another away. If that was the case, then Zuko could understand why he held a tiny newborn baby girl while a beloved woman burned ten metres away.

Firelady Issa had died a tragic death bringing Crown Princess Zeeri into the world. It had been terrible. The little princess had been born silent but breathing, so the Firelord had taken her to his breast and used his fire to help… or so was the rumour. The Firelord himself had no comment to make.

It was tradition in the Fire Nation to wear white on the day of a funeral. So, the newborn baby that should have been wearing elegant silks of red and gold instead wore stark white cloth. His normal robes were gone, and Zuko wore the white mourning robes of the Firelord. It was the second funeral in two years he'd had to attend where he'd actually known the dead well. The first had been Dowager Lady Ursa's funeral last year. The only difference was that today, his wife was not there to comfort him.

His wife was the one burning in the funeral pyre…

Irax - his greatest friend, his most trusted ally - stood next to him, eyes blood red. Zuko couldn't figure out if it was because Irax had been crying or because he had been drinking, but either way, Zuko wouldn't be able to help. In the courtyard, his people gathered together and cried and mourned and screamed their pain. They had come from every corner of the Fire Archipelago - the most Eastern of shores, to the very last Island under his command. The unity - the love his people were slowly building for him was incredible.

Zuko had been Firelord for thirteen years. He was twenty-eight, a father and a widower. He had been married to Issa for nearly a year. He had loved Issa for a year and a half. And now she was gone, burning in brilliant white light. It was his curse. Everyone he loved would die in the end or be lost to him forever. The Spirits would never allow him to be happy. Never allow him to find peace. He was repenting for the mistakes he had made, the mistakes his father had made, the mistakes his grandfather had made... the mistakes of every member of his Bloodline.

The doctor had said from the beginning that Issa's pregnancy was going to be testing. She had been a tiny lady, and the doctor said that carrying a baby was dangerous. But Issa had wanted to give Zuko his child, and Zuko hadn't ever been able to refuse her. It was one of his weaknesses. Just like his greatest weakness was Mast...

NO!

Issa had gone into labour a month early. Zuko had been with a young soldier called Irax. Irax was Zuko's most loyal and skilled body guard, a friend to both his wife and him, and a drinking buddy. Irax was Zuko's extended family in the same way that Toph was.

Zuko shifted Zeeri, not yet a week old, in the cradle of his arm. Her tiny hand fisted in his long, shoulder length hair. She was truly beautiful: a perfect balance of Issa and he. And when she smiled…

Zuko lost himself to the memory.

xXx

"Irax, you know that the people of the United Republic…"

Irax growled, twisting around and vehemently slamming his fist against the sandstone wall. Uncle Iroh didn't even flinch, taking another calm and careful sip of his ginseng tea. Jee was braced against the table, hands tightly wrapped around the edges. Zuko wore his favoured clothes; black pant, slipper-boots, red tunic. His hair hung around his shoulders, fringe falling in front of his face instead of being pinned back into a knot. His crown rested on the table in front of him.

"Irax…"

Spinning around, Irax stamped a foot. "No, Zuko! My place is here, with you and Issa. Not on a Spirits forsaken ship, floating aimlessly around as I parade as General of the United Forces! I can't leave…"

Even though Irax stopped his sentence, everyone in the room paused, knowing exactly what the young, usually calm-headed shoulder had been about to say. Issa. Zuko felt his face slip into the familiar emotionless mask that he favoured while in the Court.

"Issa wants this for you."

Irax froze.

Not so long ago, on Firelord Zuko's twenty-seventh birthday, he had proposed to Lady Issa while he had been on Ember Island, celebrating with his Uncle, his ward and his best friend, Irax. Everyone knew that part of the story. It was the other part that mattered.

Zuko, Issa and Irax had become close in the two years since Avatar Aang and Master Katara's wedding. Inseparable even. Zuko loved being around the two. And when Toph and Uncle got involved, it was like everything was perfect. The Court had been hounding Zuko for six years, forcing woman upon woman on him in hopes of Zuko falling head-over-heels in love and getting married on the spot. The Fire Throne needed heirs.

It had gotten to the point where the Court and the Council had given him an ultimatum: marry a woman of their choice by then end of the month, or abdicate the throne and all his power all together. Zuko's personal council – Jeong Jeong, Piando, Jee, Uncle and Toph – along with Issa and Irax, had been shocked. All the so called candidates were either traitors or completely power hungry. Zuko had already made his stance clear – if he was marrying, it would be to someone who would better the future of his nation.

In the end, Issa had come up with the idea. Zuko would marry her.

The only problem was that Issa and Irax were in love.

So, the three had developed the plan. Yes, Zuko and Issa would marry. They would be happily in love in public appearances. In private, however, Irax and Issa would continue their relationship. Eight months ago, Zuko and Issa had married. They'd slept together, making their union "official" in the eyes of the people and the Spirits. And that had been it. Issa and Irax would be together and Zuko would still rule over his Nation. Somehow, from their one night together, Issa became pregnant.

They knew the child was Zuko's because, as part of the deal, Irax and Issa didn't sleep together during the month before the wedding and during the month after.

"I'm not leaving Issa," Irax said, eyes flashing with a challenge.

Zuko smirked. "That's exactly what I told her."

Irax relaxed, collapsing into a chair with a sigh. Uncle laughed, clapping his hands, eyes hining. "Isn't love just marvellous my friends? When three people love each other, anything is possible!"

Jee groaned, facing colliding with his waiting palm. Zuko and Irax sighed in tandem. Silence ruled for six heartbeats, before Irax finally spoke. "How is she doing? Is Katara helping at all?"

Zuko saw Irax wince and felt his own body go tense and his face return to its blank slate. "Master Katara is the world's greatest healer. Issa informed me that she has never felt better throughout this whole pregnancy. She thanks you for bringing Master Katara up with you when you returned form Republic City."

End of discussion hung in the air.

Once Upon A Time, he watched as a beautiful savage girl had spoken in soft, loving words and broken through every wall he'd ever created. He'd watched the dim emerald light bounce of her face as a single salty tear slid down her cheek as they mourned for the mothers they'd both lost. Zuko had watched himself start to love again.

He'd never stopped. He watched himself as he placed himself in front of a dark skinned girl wearing a bloody blue dress as a beautiful, astonishing bolt of blue light hurtled towards her heart. He'd watched as he had taken the light inside himself, sacrificing everything – everyone in the world - for the sake of one girl. He'd listened to her scream, watched her fight the blue light as ghostly hands pulled him down… down…down to the darkest places of the Spirit Realm where soft voices called out for him across the breeze.

He'd wanted to so desperately hold her close as her hands pulled him back up to the plane of the living, where her soft words and calloused hands sent shivers up and down his body and through his heart. He'd felt his heart break when she'd kissed the boy on the balcony.

Once Upon A Time, the Firelord had loved a waterbending master.

Irax didn't take the hint. "Zuko…"

"No, Irax."

The Firelord loved a waterbending master he could never have.

The doors burst open and the summer storm that had been threatening the sky all day exploded to life with a boom of thunder and crackle of lightning. "My Lord! Your wife… she's gone into labour… Master Katara…"

Irax and Zuko were out the door before he could finish. "Nephew!" Zuko heard his Uncle call. He didn't stop. Sprinting through the halls, the Firelord and his right-hand raced past servants and noblemen alike, shoving anyone who crossed their path out of the way.

"She's early, Zuko!" Irax's voice was laced with the same panic that roared in Zuko's head, blood and body. They rounded the last corner and the instincts of the Blue Spirit overcoming his body.

They burst through the doors. Zuko eyes immediately zeroed in on Master Katara as she knelt beside his wife, who cradled a large, silent bundle in her arms. Issa and Katara looked up at the same time, eyes finding one of the two men's. Issa's found Irax's. Katara's found his.

His heart pounded, quickening like a nervous jackrabbits when faced with its hunter. Chocolate waves curling around her face, sticking to her forehead and cheeks and lips. Rose lips, slightly apart. Beautiful, enchanting, ocean eyes. Eyes that haunted his conscious, pulling and tugging at the part of him he was trying so hard to fight. The part that wanted her; the part that could never be allowed to win because it would hurt to many people.

Sometimes, Zuko hated being the Firelord.

It meant sacrificing everything for the good of the people.

"Zuko…" Zuko's eyes snapped away from Katara's mournful blue orbs and landed on Issa's dulled yellow ones. Zuko moved without thinking. The doctors and midwives moving silently out of his way. "She's beautiful, Zuko. She looks just like you…"

Zuko smiled faintly, lovingly moving a sticky piece of hair from her forehead. "That's not exactly a good thing, Issa. I'm not exactly attractive."

Issa shook her head vehemently, weakly. "How many times will I have to tell you otherwise?" She coughed and Zuko nearly cried out when he saw blood. "Promise me something, Zuko."

"Anything." Zuko whispered hyperaware of Irax's and Katara's eyes as they watched him.

"Stop."

Zuko blinked.

Then his eyes lit with realization.

And his stomach clenched in fear.

"Promise me that you'll be there for our little baby," Issa's voice was dry, the sound like sandpaper. "She'll need you more than most little girls need their father. And if you die being Him, our little one will have no one."

Zuko's hands had clenched into fists. He was sitting on the bed beside her, leaning over her with a hand buried in the sheets either side of her head. Her words were the thousand and one things he feared most.

"I promise, love. She won't ever be alone."

Issa smiled, her eyes fluttering like butterfly wings. "She's Zeeri. Princess Zeeri."

Irax was by the bed in an instant. "Of course she is…" Zuko whispered. Irax took Issa hands in his as Zuko took his daughter.

Zeeri had been Irax's mother... Zuko wanted to smile at his wife's cunning, but couldn't even bring himself to think about it. Their secret Trinity would be immortalised in his daughter.

"I love you… so much. It is always you." Irax was gasping, tears falling freely down his face. No one in the room would realise that those words were for him, and not for Zuko. Zuko closed his eyes, feeling the stinging of hot tears behind his eyelids. He opened them and turned his gaze to Issa who watched their little daughter.

Time stopped. Issa took her last breath and then there was nothing.

Zuko's shoulders shook with the sobs he tried desperately to repress. He closed his eyes, turning his inner eye to the centre of his fire and drawing on its steady flicker - like a second heartbeat, deep within him and scorching as hot as the sun. He breathe din and out, years of meditation instinctively taking over his body and calming him. Issa is dead... Isaa is dead... Issa is dead... My fault... My fault...

"Zuko..." Zuko opened his eyes, head snapping around to Irax. His eyes were wide, staring intently with a look of equal parts horror and despair.

"What is it?"

Irax shook his head, eyes focused on Zeeri's prone form in Issa's dead arms.

"She hasn't cried. Zeeri hasn't cried."

Zuko was by his dead wife's side in a second, startling Irax and the midwives. He picked up his baby, clutching her possessively in his arms, and listened. Her heartbeat was weakly beating, becoming terrifyingly slower and weaker with each pump. Her skin was cold - it should have been warm, all Fire Nation babies are born hot! - and her breathing was laboured.

"Everyone out." Zuko's voice cut the air like the guillotine that takes the traitors head. The midwives opened their mouths, protesting and yelling at him angrily: How dare you?... We understand that you just lost your wife, My Lord, but the baby... No! Firelord, you cannot...

"Get Out. Now."

Every candle burned higher, the air becoming hotter and hotter. Zuko hadn't raised his voice, but the emotionless tone was enough. They left. All except Master Katara. My loyal, beautiful, stubborn Katara...

Something deep inside Zuko - something far older then the Dragons and as old as Agni himself - was clawing at his mind. It was whispering to him, telling him to light the fire and make it hot. Ashes had been shoved to one side of the hearth, Zuko created a blaze with no problems. Irax sat by his wife, head bowed, crying silently. Katara took a deep, startled breathe as she watched Zuko.

Zuko kneelt down, the baby still cradled in his arms as he raised his body temperature to dangerous levels of heat. His body felt drowsy, the heat becoming to much, but it all faded away and Zuko was left alone with his primitive, primeval urge. He was seated directly on the stones bordering the fire, heedless of the soot and smoke staining his loose robe. He closed his eyes, sensing the inner fire of his Uncle in the doorway and Irax on the bed.

Lightning rocketed through his body again.

He opened his eyes. His hands were wreathed in flames.

Gold. Green. Violet. Like sunlight through spring woods, or the sunrise after the storm.

Zuko placed the baby on the coals, absently taking note of the way Katara dove towards him. Only his Uncles strong embrace kept her away. Zuko caught a flash of his Uncles face. Understanding. Worry. Disbelief. Zuko's fire turned white, the candles within the room dimmed and reignited into blue flames, and he ran his hands over the tiny form, picking her up and letting her curl in his lap. Every wash of fire chased a bit more blue from the child's skin.

"But how can it be? Only waterbenders can heal..." Katara breathed out behind him.

At last, a full-throated cry and Zeeri opened her eyes. Zuko felt the power disappear, spots colouring his vision, his body spasming and convulsing. He heard Katara screaming.

Katara caught both Zuko and his daughter, and then he saw no more.

Late Winter, 153ASC
Fifty-Third Year of Firelord Zuko's Reign

The Avatar was dead and the world mourned.

Zuko stood with his daughter, Princess Zeeri and her ten year old son, Iroh II, as the line of casket-bearers carried the late Avatar down the road. Every citizen of Republic City stood on either side of the streets, at windows and on balcony's. People from the three nations had arrived from all over the world. Flowers littered the streets behind the procession; flowers littered the road in front as the people threw them up into the air. The winter sun hadn't even shown his head.

The Fire Family stood at the end, along with the Bei Fong family of Republic City. Toph's sightless eyes stared in the air, focusing on nothing. They were clouded and her body shook, and Zuko knew that she was holding back tears. Lin Bei Fing stood behind his grandson, hands on his white-clad shoulders. Lin had always loved Iroh.

Zeeri clasped his hand in hers, squeezing it lightly. The procession was at its end. The Avatar's family were making their way up the stairs. Bumi and Tenzin, Aang and Master Katara's two boys, carried the casket themselves.

"We are so sorry for your loss, Master Katara. The Fire Nation will do anything we can to support you in your time of sorrow," his daughter's voice was melodious, like Issa's had been, and he saw the waterbendering masters eyes flash.

"Thank you, Princess Zeeri," Master Katara paused and seemed to think about something hard. Zuko couldn't help the lurch his heart made as she bit her lip. After knowing her fifty-three years, he still acted like a fucking idiot and coward.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure of being formally introduced," Aang's youngest – Tenzin? – said, bowing low. "I am Airbending Master Tenzin. You already know my brother Bumi… and I'm not entirely sure if you've met my sister, Kya."

Zeeri smiled benevolently and shook her head. "I believe the last time I saw Master Kya was when I was ten." Zeeri reached out and effortlessly dragged Iroh over. "This is my son, Iroh."

Iroh's face was studiously serious as he bowed low. Zuko couldn't help the small smile. The child was almost identical to him: serious, dedicated, loyal, stubborn, honour-driven. Iroh was his.

Zuko tensed when Kya, Master Katara's only girl, looked up at him, eyes blood red. The Waterbending Master looked almost exactly like her mother. But something in her face was… Zeeri offered her hand, and Zuko hoped that no one else would see what he saw. Like magnets, Zuko's eyes meet Master Katara's.

Zuko felt the weight of his melancholy like a ball of iron. It was on his shoulders, pinning his heart to the ground and binding his body tightly, constricting like a batsnake. It was his greatest regret… the fact that he had lied to the Avatar for thirty-nine years.

His sorrow was overwhelming. He remembered his wife, and wished that she was here to hold him close and tell him what he needed to hear.

His hand tightened around Zeeri's.

"I'm sorry that we could not meet under better circumstances, Master Tenzin," Zeeri said.

Zuko felt his heart bloom like a blossom. Even though he'd raised her alone, among the intrigue of the Court and the people who wanted him dead and buried, he had raised a daughter.

Katara – no! Master Katara, remember she wanted nothing to do with me anymore… - Master Katara was watching him, cerulean eyes blazing like stars.

Fifty years on and she's still so beautiful…

"Zuko…" he froze. It had been thirty years. He'd been thirty-eight when she'd told him to stay away. He was sixty nine now, and still her voice was hypnotic; pulling him, bringing him tightly in to the light that was all her.

He waited and the silence stretched on a lifetime.

"Thank you for coming."

His heart broke all over again.

A/N: Wooho! Part The First: Loss / One For Sorrow… is complete and posted!

It is definitely different, something I have (personally) never seen before. I'd like to take the start of this Authors Note to thank a special author called EmaniaHilel, who write incredible, wonderful, magical stuff for (or, used to write incredible, wonderful, magical stuff) the Teen Titans. I recommend checking her shit out, because its brilliant, thought provoking and emotional. Her Robin/Raven (BEST PAIRING EVER! Besides Zuko/Katara anyway) collections and short stories are marvellous and my INSPRIATION for this little journey.

After the Seven Parts of this story are completed - BTW, I've done at least four out of five, but editing and changing and deleting is continually taking place - I have a Sequel-Of-Sorts prepared and roughly planned out, titled Ruins of Crows...

Featuring KORRA and IROH II (who you will see a lot of in this sequence).

Another thing I'd like to note - the stories will be interconnected (meaning they all occur in my HEAD CANON), but can be read as Stand Alones and Out or Order.

Please, I'd love it if any readers could Review - constructive criticism, is it good etc etc are welcome (VERY WELCOME!). NO FLAMES!

Read and Review

- Eternity In Silence