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250 word drabble: Stand Beside the World
Nov. 6th, 2011 11:33 amWritten for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
avatar_500 prompt #40, Give. Meant as a companion to my drabble Shadows on the Floor.
Summary: Mai can see it happen.
Stand Beside the World
Mai knew the day she was betrothed to Zuko that she would one day have to stand beside him in front of the world, and the morning she saw him again in Ba Sing Se, she knew it would be worth it. Sometimes, watching Azula play her power games, and Zuko bristle and let her made a fist clench and then unclench inside her, and hoped, a little furious with herself, that when it came time for Azula to take power, Zuko would just bristle and let her. Then she could stand a few steps behind Azula at Zuko's side, instead of at Zuko's side in front of the world.
He should just give way. Azula was unstoppable anyway, and if he just gave up, she could still have him when it was over. They could make their lives in the in between places of the palace, and in the cracks of the world.
Their love flourished in code, in words whose meanings changed shape when they spoke them, in masks they only took off with each other, together, alone. They touched, and Mai wanted to give him everything.
When Zuko left, the world gave way beneath her. She tried to piece it together in that prison chamber, so she could leave him there, but there was something hatefully like hope in his face when he talked about the Fire Nation, and there was that restless, relentless conviction that if he threw himself against anything long enough, it would give.
avatar_500 prompt #40, Give. Meant as a companion to my drabble Shadows on the Floor.Summary: Mai can see it happen.
Stand Beside the World
Mai knew the day she was betrothed to Zuko that she would one day have to stand beside him in front of the world, and the morning she saw him again in Ba Sing Se, she knew it would be worth it. Sometimes, watching Azula play her power games, and Zuko bristle and let her made a fist clench and then unclench inside her, and hoped, a little furious with herself, that when it came time for Azula to take power, Zuko would just bristle and let her. Then she could stand a few steps behind Azula at Zuko's side, instead of at Zuko's side in front of the world.
He should just give way. Azula was unstoppable anyway, and if he just gave up, she could still have him when it was over. They could make their lives in the in between places of the palace, and in the cracks of the world.
Their love flourished in code, in words whose meanings changed shape when they spoke them, in masks they only took off with each other, together, alone. They touched, and Mai wanted to give him everything.
When Zuko left, the world gave way beneath her. She tried to piece it together in that prison chamber, so she could leave him there, but there was something hatefully like hope in his face when he talked about the Fire Nation, and there was that restless, relentless conviction that if he threw himself against anything long enough, it would give.
