My first attempt at a Zutara fic, please tell me what you think, k?
Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Bryke, not to me (me: I wouldn't have ended it that way!!)
Voyager in a Storm
-Prologue-
He opened his eyes slowly, blinking, as the warm hand reached his burnt skin, her dark eyes warming as they met his. The moon's light filled the room playing on her ivory skin, contrasting with her black hair.
The pain that tore through his chest made him shut his eyes. It was all a dream. Of course it was all a dream. She wasn't there. He didn't open his eyes for sometime, scared of not finding her by his side. As the warmth of her hand caressed his scar once again, then moving to the back of his head, he felt the moist forming in his eyes.
She was really there.
Yet, he knew she wasn't. Even as he opened his eyes and met her dark gaze again. Even as he reached for the soft skin of her face, resting his thumb on her lips, making her smile. She was smiling to him. A rare event. It lightened her face making her more beautiful than he remembered.
The tears were now escaping his scarred eye. As much as he was trying not to, he couldn't help but cry. He tentatively moved his left arm around her waist, as to secure her. He wasn't going to let her go again. He would keep her there, lying in bed, next to him, where she was supposed to be.
Her white fingers reached for his hair as she moved closer to him. He could now smell the sweet scent that he knew so well. Inhaling deeply as he embraced her body, he thought when was the last time he had looked into those eyes. He had missed her. For ten years he had missed her. He had never thought about the possibility of missing someone with the same intensity as he had missed his mother.
But he missed her.
He missed everything about her. Her quiet eyes, her pale, soft skin that blushed under his touch. Her long silky hair, the way that her fringe clouded her eyes when she was worried about something. The way she moved when she walked, shoulders high and daring. Her knife throwing. The way she looked beautiful when she smiled, just like moments ago, even though it wasn't often. The way she kissed him. The way they loved each other. The way she had wanted the baby.
He kissed her throat softly, not letting go from the embrace. He wanted to be like that forever. He felt her arms snaking around him, electrifying the back of his torso. He gently kissed her throat again, kissing his way to her soft lips. She was really there. She kissed him just like she had done ten years ago. Smoothly, tentatively at first, then more and more passionately. Their lips moved together in perfect synchrony. The way her hand would caress his back. It was everything as he remembered.
When they broke the kiss, he kissed the tip of her nose. His heart ached for her. He started to become aware of the feeling of dread and loss that was taking over him. His tears continued to run down his face, watering his pillow as he slowly opened his eyes again, wondering if she would be gone, even when he could still feel her breath and her warmth under his touch.
She was still smiling at him, her long nails still caressing his back.
He pulled her closely, touching her forehead to his own. "Is this real?" he asked her.
He could feel he was trembling, his mouth had gone dry. The pit of his stomach tightened, as he waited for her answer, though he knew it already.
"It is as real as you want it to be." She answered. Her monotone voice making it hard for him to suppress laughter, taking some of his nervousness away. How he had missed that voice.
It would never be as real as he wanted it to be. Not anymore. He tried to keep himself from blinking, as if each sight of her could be the last.
"I love you…" she told him. His grip on her tightened. Why did she have to go? He embraced her fiercely again, trying to hold her presence in the darkened room. He had been without her for too long. She embraced him back with the same force, kissing his bare shoulder.
That's when the terrible sound filled the room. The sound that would had been different if it had come from the person he was holding. A rush of electricity ran through his skin. He could feel the pain. The pain of lighting burning his skin right where it had hit him over thirteen years ago. A shiver ran down his spine as he held on to his wife tighter. Her face, he couldn't remember seeing it that way before, was of complete panic. Her eyes fixed on one corner of the room.
He quickly looked at the figure that stood by their bed. Panic rushing though him as he realized why his wife was scared. In the hands of the woman, a small bundle was crying. She ran her sharp nails caressing the baby's forehead, as if considering what she would do next.
"How sweet… a family reunion! I thought I should bring you the little one, too, so I can finish him first, and you can suffer even more before you die!" said the cruel voice, laughing again. "Or…" she continued, her hateful golden eyes fixing his "I could just raise him as my successor… but not without giving him a nice little scar to remind me who he truly is."
His wife tried to fight herself from his grip. He was unable to let her go, he was unable to move, he was unable to think. His heart tightened in his chest. Hate growing in him.
His wife's desperate scream filled his ears. "Zuko, do something!" was the croak that hardly resembled her voice. "Don't let her hurt him!"
He could hear the sound of the lighting forming in the madwoman's hand. But he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. The lightning was making his way towards them, and it was too late for him to backfire.
"No!" he heard his own voice as he woke up in a rush.
He quickly looked at the corner where his sister had stood, holding his baby son. She had vanished. He tried to steady his breathing, as he ran his arm through his forehead. He could still feel the moist in his eyes, and as he ran his hand though the linen on his bed it was wet with sweat. He lifted his hand, touching the markings of the scar on his bare chest. He still remembered the pain, but didn't regret it. Katara would have never survived if he hadn't jumped and saved her, and he wouldn't bear losing his friends to Azula.
It wasn't the first time he had had nightmares about his sister. They were often. Even when she was locked up and mad, she would always haunt his dreams. She would always hurt one of his friends. She would always transform the sweetest of dreams into a disaster, and he would always wake up in the early morning, screaming, and dripping in sweat.
He had never been scared of Azula. And he would never be scared of Azula for himself. But after he had promised his wife, in her deathbed, that he wouldn't let any harm come to their son, he had started fearing the monster inside his sister. The pain of loosing Mai in childbirth, of not being able to raise their child together. The pain that had caused him, made him treasure life more than he had before. After he had found his mother again, and Mai got pregnant, they couldn't be happier. And then the labour complications took her away from him. And from their son.
Zuko ran his fingers though his hair while he threw the covers to one side of the bed. Looking at the rising sun, he stood up and walked slowly to the bathroom. He wanted to be up early today, after all, he was going to meet some old friends after a long time…
--
--
-
Soo… there's the Prologue
Hope everyone enjoyed it, so please review and let me know what you think!
I didn't really enjoy writing the whole Zuko crying over Mai thing, though… but if this really happened, he would suffer, wouldn't he?
Pleasee Review, and Thanks for reading,
Zelda Fanatikah