Takebacks

A/N Request from a friend. Wheeeeeeeeeee Zucest! Havent written anything decent in a while, but I like this. I'll possibly continue it...maybe. Not completely sure whether to label this as an AU or not, since Agni kind of uses a loophole...but enjoy

Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar it would only be allowed to air on HBO and even then it would have to be edited.

Takebacks

The gods created the world, no one doubted that. The stories varied as to how, the southern water tribe believed the moon and the ocean had given birth to land, most of Omashu stood by the story of mud balls from Chaos, and certain parts of the Fire Nation believed it sprung into being when Agni was having an intimate moment with himself and spilled life across the void. Still, though the stories varied widely in events and maturity, it was all undeniably the work of the gods.

And still no culture had ever wrapped a solid hold around 'why'…

The three words that could most accurately describe the Realm were misty, white, and vague. Lacking even the wispy mimicry of solidity that the Spirit World donned, senses didn't so much as exist in The Realm as simply were. After visiting Chaos and the World, most gods agreed that it was a little lacking in excitement, but that was the only way it could contain everything.

Agni was bored. Standing, or more accurately vaguely existing, in the midst of The Realm, the raven-haired teen was staring with disinterest at the scene playing out before his golden eyes. For the past millennia or so, it had been his responsibility to watch this 'most special' of worlds; the original game of the gods the others had quickly lost interest in; but just as a child will still feed a betakoi the week after he won it at the festival and quickly abandoned in favor of cotton candy, the highest of immortals still felt the need to regulate and watch over what happened in the first world. Tag Agni, you're it.

With a sigh, he watched as the puppy-prince and water-bitch defeated Azula. Pity that, really. Though expressly forbidden to interfere with the direct fate of the world, the trickster god had spent some time crafting the personality and power that would eventually become the fire princess, molding her as a glassblower would meticulously twist and shape molten glass into a piece of fine art. She had been his greatest; all the bending strength of Ozai to eventually blossom within in combination with a mind that would not break under the weight of the power that should rightfully one day be hers…he had truly believed that the traditional cycle that had fallen into place; a rigid circle that had begun years ago of good forever triumphing over evil when everything was truly on the line; would be broken by her. He hadn't taken into account what the betrayal of first her lover, then her closest friends, would do to her. Foolish on his part, really, the god should have remembered how much the mortals valued that trust thing. Ah well, there wasn't much he could do now…proper course set and all that. Waving away the scene in front of him with hands the color of shadow and covered in what could have been either skin or feathers, Agni sneered to himself. Defeat. After all he had done to try and ebb the course of history towards a more interesting future, it had still found a way to smooth itself out back onto a peaceful, predictable path, it would still ended in him losing.

The inherit problem with that, of course, is that gods never lose. Oh sure, there might be a battle let go here and there, a few faulty steps along the path and a fake or two…but they didn't _lose, _no high immortal would ever actually place less than first. Yet he found himself in the predicament of coming in second (there, the Avatar and puppy-prince were hugging…-hugging- of all things) with no way to reverse things.

"None at all?" A bit of The Realm had formed, briefly, into the impression of Koh's face. Not the white and blue thing that was his most common disguise, but the primordial, tree-trunk like face with bulbous eyes and two sets of pincer-jaws. Fading back into the mist, his friend's words echoed inside Agni's head. None at all? There was an old mortal saying, prevalent in all the worlds that the gods had created, varying in phrasing but meaning the same thing; no use crying over spilled milk.

God's didn't need to cry, they could simply unspill it.

In front of him another scene began to project, the captive prodigy listless on the floor of her cell, Agni's sneer widened, the edges of both lips reaching his pointed ears. It was time to pay a visit to his most precious creation. Against the rules? Well, technically…but gods never did have a good grasp on fair play.

--

--

"You love me, don't you brother." It wasn't a question. The deliberation of the words, the first three casual and strong, the last three harsher, demanding and confident, the message driven in with the claw-like nails against the back of his neck. Yes, of course he loved her. Closing his eyes as the warm feeling of trickling blood dripped casually down towards his spine, he found nodding to be too painful, instead whispering his affirmative.

"I love you, Azula." The nails began to scrape down, lessening in pressure but leaving thin red lines that would be difficult to explain next time Zuko had to pull up his hair for some formal occasion. Leaning back in spite of the pain, the prince's golden eyes opened to view the last moment of the sunset, the brilliant pinks, reds, and oranges of Agni's banner flashing brilliantly before giving way to the dusk. Over the course of the past two weeks, he had noticed something slightly off about his sister. Though she still carried herself with the same confident, dominating air, now he could detect something…sharper, more intense in her stare and her words, mixed in with what in any other person he would name 'desperation' or 'need', almost like the stone-cold lightning bender was trying to reach out for the same sort of comfort and reassurance from those she deemed closest to her that she normally mocked. It might have been endearing, if every time he had noticed it she hadn't immediately twisted her lips into a smirk, digging her nails into the more sensitive parts of his flesh or whispered things into his ear that could never have passed for 'sweet nothings'. Occasionally he considered simply ending these secret meetings with sister, more often than not ending in sweat and panting and changing sheets, but at those moments he was reminded that she needed him. All the bites, the scratches and bruises, every lie and laugh, were the closest Azula would ever get to saying "I love you" and meaning it. The pain simply proved that he was hers, and only hers, someone to be there no matter what she did, and what else were big brothers for?

"I know." Azula hadn't actually heard the boy's answer, she didn't need to listen to know what it was, and for once her mind was too preoccupied to concentrate on the subtle inflections and tones laced in her lover's voice. Stopping at the point where Zuko's neck met shoulders, the princess withdrew her nails, idly licking the blood from them. It hadn't been a dream, she was sure, if for no other reason than she never dreamt. Still, she wasn't completely convinced of the shadow boy's sincerity in allowing history to be altered. No matter what excuses he made of wanting to preserve the glory of their great nation, gods never acted simply out of the kindness of their hearts. Zuko's pathetic attempts to observe her out of the corner of his eye finally came to her attention, and she smirked, tilting her head to sink her teeth into his ear and taste the familiar metallic flavor of his blood. The fire god's motives could be figured out in time. More important at the moment was altering the flow of time as it headed closer and closer to the eclipse. Simple adjustments had been made, the transfer of her uncle to The Boiling Rock, increased quality time with her brother, even attempts at treating her friends as if they were almost equal to her…all these had been done. The most important thing, after all, was keeping Zuzu from running off to join the Avatar and his crew. After that, the battle would veer onto an entirely different course. 

Releasing the boy's ear and staring back out towards the faint stars, her smirk stretched into a sneer that unwittingly reflected Agni's own from The Realm as the same thought passed through both their minds; this would be fun.


End file.
