#i'm not sure why 95% of the time my dialogue ends up right to left???

[shuruzy]

More buccaneer Aramis.

Featuring another blonde-haired blue-eyed dual sword wielder who wears red.

[xerith-42]

yo yo could i perhaps have a crumb of your rewritten storyline for s2 ep 95? luv ur stuff

I always love people describing art in a fandom as crumbs. Makes me think I'm sitting on a park bench throwing out crumbs and bird feed to the local crows but instead of food I'm just tossing out pieces of paper with my inane ramblings about block people on them.

This is a segment of my rewrite of Season 2 Episode 95, titled Fool of a Muse. Said rewrite is the one with my oc Haven in it, so she's there because she's one of Laurance's emotional pillars, and I change Aph's name to Irena because I like fucking with her. I actually re-rewrote this scene a few weeks back to include some of the original dialogue to prove that aspects of the scene could work given the right context.

Fool of a Muse

Laurance tried to keep his head straight, but it simply wasn’t possible. Not there. Not while hearing her speak of secrets of the deceased. The voices of the calling were always louder when reminded of death, and staying in a tomb was practically asking them to start acting up. He left in order to get some space to clear his head, walking towards the beaches, hoping the ocean waves would drown out the sound.

Instead he found the opposite of what he wanted. Standing on the sands was Irena, a hand over her stomach, who turned at the sound of Laurance approaching. Clutched in her other hand was Aaron’s bandanna. The voices only got louder at the reminder and the sight of their target.

“Laurance? Is everything alright?” She asked softly. Laurance stepped back, which only worsened her concern.

“I-I’m fine,” He lied. Irena simply laughed, turning around to admire the sunset again.

“You don’t have to lie to me Laurance, I know that look.”

“You needn’t worry about my well being.” Laurance finally stepped closer to her, standing at her side and hesitating at the urge to try and hold one of her hands. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing… alright.”

“Now who’s lying?” Irena chuckled a little bit, and Irene help him if that wasn’t one of the most assuring sounds Laurance had heard. Even if it was shaky, she could still laugh.

“What makes you say that?”

“Dante told Garroth about what happened to you the other day. And Garroth couldn’t help but tell me.” Irena sighed, tucking the bandanna into her pocket.

“I told him to keep that between us. It was just an imp playing a trick on me.”

“Why are you trying to hide from me?”

“I’m not—”

“Yes you are.”

“I just don’t want to talk about it. Not while the wound is still fresh.”

“You know that Dante told Garroth because he’s your guard, and that’s why Garroth told me. It’s our sworn duty to take care of and protect you. We can’t do that if you refuse to tell us what’s happening.”

“I wasn’t going to keep it from you for long. This is a security issue on our island that would be brought to light in due time. I just… I needed time to process what I saw.”

“You mean who you saw.” Irena let out a sigh.

“Why did you run?” Laurance turned away.

“You know why.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

“Irena, I… I couldn’t be around you like that. The calling never ends, not in my waking hours. If I had seen the way you were immediately after his passing, I don’t know if I would have been able to hold myself back.”

“Are you sure that’s what this is?” Laurance finally looked to his side and saw Irena’s pitiful expression. They were alone. She was weak. He could just do it now.

“I told you, I’m not your problem to worry about.”

“I'm going to worry regardless. I know you aren’t proud of it, but you are prone to jealousy. I just want to ensure that’s not what this is.” Laurance looked away as his hands clenched into fists. Why was she pushing this?

“And what if it was?” Irena went silent. “Look, I’ll never pretend I understood Aaron, or why he did any of what he did. And I didn’t trust him entirely either, not after he hid he was the Lord of Falcon Claw from us.”

“Laurance, it’s not that simple—”

“What I want to know is why you cared so deeply for him. What made him so special he was worthy of your love?”

“I-I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Well I do.”

“Laurance, regardless of my feelings, he proved himself trustworthy to us. Remember when you turned? He saved my life without killing you.” Laurance held back rapidly growing tears.

“And I’m ashamed he had to do such a thing. But you’re avoiding the question.”

“Maybe it’s a question I don’t want to answer.” Irena’s continued refusal had Laurance already losing his patience. The voices had enough too.

“Why not?!”

“Laurance!” Garroth suddenly snapped. “That’s enough.”

“Stay out of this!” Laurance suddenly roared, his head jerking so he could snarl at the intervening guard. Irena moved back when she saw the flash of red in his eyes.

“It’s not our place to question her on personal matters.”

“Don’t pretend like you aren’t upset over this too.”

“I’m only upset I couldn’t protect my lord adequately. You should be grateful you have the opportunity, not throwing it away over your jealousy.”

“You weren’t here, Garroth! You didn’t see the way he acted around her!”

“I only wish I could have been. He made the ultimate sacrifice for her, and in turn did the same for me. You should understand that. You were lucky enough to come back from it.” Too far and Garroth knew it, but there was nothing he could do now. Anger flowed through Laurance faster than he could keep up with, the voices of the calling louder than his own thoughts. Garroth was right, he was taking this too far, he knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Don’t speak as if you understand the hell I’ve been through! The hell I went through just to get back to her! I’m here now so why care about him?!” Laurance’s eyes flashed back to their normal state, but by the time regret came to his expression, the damage was already done.

With those words, Haven finally moved from where she’d been watching the conversation, racing forward until she was a step away from Laurance, before slapping him across the face. Irena groaned, nearly falling over which made Garroth rush to her side while Laurance stood there in shock. When he finally could hear his own thoughts over the voices, he saw the tears building up in Havens eyes.

“Would you listen to yourself?!” Haven nearly screamed. “Would you think of saying the same thing if I had followed through?! If I had used my own life to break the realm barrier either of the two times I almost did it, would you be stupid enough to be enraged with someone for grieving over me?!”

“Y-You’re different–” Laurance couldn’t even fully remember what he said.

“Am I?! Aaron loved Irena the same way you love me! Would you accept someone yelling at you for mourning my death?!” Laurance opened his mouth, but closed it after a second. Then he noticed Haven’s hand on the handle of her sword, her sheath undone. “Whether you realize it or not, your selfish words have begun to harm Lord Irena. If you continue to do harm to my lord, I will not hesitate to strike you down.”

“Irena, you need some rest,” Garroth insisted as she groaned again. She just nodded, letting Garroth half pick her up and carry her over to her home.

“Will you stand down, or are you finally going to fight me?” Haven could see the battle in Laurance’s features. Streaks of red flashed through his eyes, and his pupils had begun to shake. There was a clear conflict about what the hell to feel and how to act on it. It went against his nature to wish harm on Haven, let alone Irena, but the calling was almost jumping at this chance. The voices in his head started to demand it.

But he couldn’t. Laurance’s shoulders slumped, and he stepped away from Haven, his humanity clearly winning. Haven still didn’t remove her hand from the handle of her sword, not until Laurance finally fell to his knee, tossing his sword aside, and hanging his head in shame.

“If you see it fit to punish me, do it now,” He insisted. “I have acted shamelessly, and allowed my emotions to cloud my judgment. Only a fool would ask for forgiveness, yet I throw myself at your feet to beg for it.” Haven sighed, finally buttoning up her sheath and taking her hands off of her sword.

“I will grant you what you ask, but in exchange you must promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“I need you to promise me that you won’t keep running away from how the calling making you feel.”

“Haven, I didn’t run today, and look what happened.”

“And look at how Irena didn’t even have the strength to yell at you to leave. Your Lord is in frail condition, both emotionally and physically.”

“The calling will tempt me.”

“And if you ran from it, she could die without you there to protect her.” Laurance groaned at the thought of it, something that clearly ran through his mind every day he was away from them, and Haven knew it. She knew Laurance frustratingly well. “And if Irena were to fall, not only would the grief of losing her begin to take hold of your mind, the calling would latch onto me next. Would you really risk that happening?”

“I would fall on my own sword before I ever considered hurting you.”

“Well you’re no good to me dead.” Haven glanced down at him. “Pick your head up.” Laurance raised his head to look at Haven, and she saw nothing but love and oh-so-human fear in those beautiful eyes of his. “I want you to promise me you won’t run from this. And if you do, know that I will follow after you.”

“Haven–”

“I didn’t before, remember?”

“And I told you–”

“I don’t care what you told me! Laurance–” Haven rolled her eyes and groaned as she tried to formulate the best way to word this to him. “Look, I know you guards struggle to understand this, but the people you’re protecting care about you. Even if you’re willing to go to ridiculous lengths to protect us, we’re willing to go to the same lengths to ensure you don’t die in the process.”

“Seems like an exhausting thing to do.”

“It is! If I were able to, I’d just stop caring about you sacrificial idiots! Unfortunately–” Haven looked down at that frustratingly charming smile of Laurance’s. He loved seeing Haven riled up and frustrated, and he was clearly enjoying the way she kept pausing to try and get through to him. They were both furiously stubborn, and he loved it. “Unfortunately, if I were in the Shadow Abyss that day, I would have thrown myself into whatever danger I had to in order to save your life.” Laurance froze for a moment, a chill going down his body.

“Haven, don’t say stuff like that.”

“What I’m trying to say is that you aren’t going to get away with this again. You can’t just keep running from the consequences. You wanna run off into danger, try to satiate yourself with isolation so you don’t want to kill somebody?! Too bad, cause I’ll be right behind you!”

“But I don’t want you to be!”

“But that’s not how the story goes.” Haven smiled as she knelt down in front of Laurance. “The poet will travel to hell and back just to get another glimpse at their muse.” Laurance sighed, finally relenting, taking his hand off of his knee and holding it out to Haven, who took it tenderly.

“And their muse will always follow, in hopes of hearing just one more note of their song.”

“So, darling muse, will you make this poet into a soldier who fights the fates for you?” Laurance looked up into Haven’s eyes, before pulling her hand closer and placing a kiss against it.

“My fabled poet, you need not do such a thing. They already fear you.” Haven giggled, before pulling Laurance into a kiss. It was slow, not about feeling particularly good, rather just about cementing in that promise. And the fact that Haven was easily the more stubborn of the two.

[radishaur]

May I please request 87, 93 & 95 from dialogue prompts to make a reader swoon for Zuko? I'm in the mood for something angsty. Thank you!!

We love a good angst moment. I hope this lives up to your expectations! I might write an optional happy ending later on, but for now I’m going to leave this one open ended. I feel like that’s the ultimate angst. Just not knowing. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! For those who haven’t read the prompt list here they are. #87 is “Don’t tell me you love me unless you mean it”, #93 is “They told me that you’d break my heart but, holy shit, they never said it’d feel like this”, and #95 is “I just want you to be happy, even if your happiness doesn’t include me, I just want you happy”.

- Zoe

•••

All Just Lies (Zuko x Reader)

Warnings: None

Genre: Angst

Part: 1/3

Summary: See Request

•••

You hated Ba Sing Se. It all seemed too happy. Traveling with the Avatar had shown you that pretty much every town was touched by the war in some way. Even if it wasn’t physically touched, the stress and emotions that war brought along was undeniably present everywhere you went. Everywhere expect here. To you, Ba Sing Se seemed just too good to be true.

There wasn’t any mention of the war anywhere you went. Not a single conversation or passing comment. Not even the hint of one.

Granted, you had only been allowed to stay in the Upper ring of the city. It was easy for rich socialites to ignore the hardships of war. You wanted to explore the other rings, but Joo Dee had insisted that you stay with the group to be under her careful guidance. You weren’t buying it. She was hiding something for sure.

That’s why you decided to sneak into the lower rings on your own. You pretended to be sick and left the house when the group had gone with Joo Dee. And that’s how you found him. You were walking around the lower ring watching for anything out of the ordinary when you saw him.

He was serving tea to an old couple with a forced smile on his face. His hair was longer than it had been the last time you had seen him and you probably wouldn’t have recognized him if it wasn’t for the scar. It made him hard to miss.

You decided to watch him carefully to see what he was up to. You spent the entire day outside of the shop and he simply continued serving tea. You were about to leave when you saw him walk outside. You hid further in the alley way as he began looking around. He had his hair smoothed down the middle which made you laugh. He looked ridiculous. It was almost worse than the ponytail. Almost.

Your mouth hit the floor when you saw a girl come up to his side and ruffle his hair. You trailed after them as she brought him to a restaurant. You watched in disbelief as you began to realize what exactly you were watching. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation was on a date.

You continued watching mostly to make sure he really wasn’t onto anything, but also out of curiosity. Unfortunately, you let your curiosity get the better of you. When you saw him kiss his date you accidentally knocked over a crate. You snapped your head to see Zuko staring at you, recognition crossing his face. You had been seen. You immediately ran off to avoid him finding you, but no such luck.

Just when you thought you were out of sight, you felt a warm hand grab your wrist and yank you into a dark alley way. Zuko stood in front of you with the familiar angry glimmer in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he growled, his hold on my wrist still firm.

“What are you doing here?” I shot back.

“I’m the one asking the questions. Answer me,” he ordered.

His grip was beginning to get warm as he struggled to contain his anger. I wanted to rip my arm away but I knew he was stronger than me.

“I was trying to figure out why this place gives me the creeps. I stumbled across your little tea shop as I was exploring,” I answered, desperately hoping that he would let go of my wrist.

“You’re lying,” he hissed, his palm now beginning to burn my skin.

I whimpered slightly and began to tug my wrist out of his grip. He held on tighter which caused me to let out a small cry of pain. At that, his eyes widened in shock and he cursed slightly under his breath as he let go. I cradled my wrist in my other hand and saw that it had burned slightly.

“Come with me,” he huffed, reaching out to grab my arm again.

I immediately back up against the wall and looked up at him in fear. I was stupid for believing that this would end any other way than badly. Why did I have to trail him on his stupid date.

His eyes softened at my response and he seemed almost upset as he realized I was terrified. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“I’m not going to hurt you. My Uncle can fix your burn,” he said.

I hesitated, but decided to go with him. His Uncle was a kind man and the burn on my skin was really painful. Not to mention that it was dark out. I didn’t want to walk alone in this part of town injured. I sighed before nodding and following him as he lead me to their apartment.

When his Uncle opened the door and saw me, he sent his nephew a questioning look. I waved slightly and his eyes widened when he saw the burn on my wrist. He immediately pulled us inside.

“I see my nephew has still not learned to control his temper,” he scolded as he sat me down on the couch.

“She was following me!” he exclaimed, sitting himself down on the opposite end of the couch.

“So you burned me? That seems equal,” I snipped back in response, glaring at him.

“You know, I liked you better when you were terrified,” he snarled.

That earned him a smack against the back of his head from his Uncle. I had to hold a hand up to my mouth to muffle my laughter. Zuko was practically glaring daggers into me.

As his Uncle parched me up, I continued to explain what I was really doing in the lower ring and why I had been following Zuko. That lead to his Uncle explaining why they were there in the first place. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I promised not to tell the others they were here in exchange for them letting me check up on them. Just to make sure they kept true to their word.

The gaang had been super worried when I finally got home, but I gave them a story about how I had burned myself trying to cook while they were gone and had to go get myself patched up. They all seemed to buy it.

For the next few weeks, I continued to do surveillance checks on Zuko and his Uncle. At first they were just that: checks. I would slip in and out. But they soon became longer and longer. I got to know them both and I would even have called Zuko a friend. As my stays became longer and longer, Zuko and I became closer and closer. Eventually, we even started dating.

He seemed happy. He had given up on searching for Aang and seemed to be content living the rest of his life here with his Uncle. He made me laugh and he treated me well. It was everything I could have hoped for, until it wasn’t anymore.

When the time came to choose, he chose Azula. I managed to hold them off with Uncle as Katara escaped with Aang, but I was then taken as a prisoner. Zuko didn’t visit me the entire ship ride back to the Fire Nation. The first time I saw him after his betrayal was a week after his return.

“You have a visitor,” the guard informed me.

I was shocked to see who it was. There Zuko stood, a plate of food in hand and an unreadable expression on his face. I glared at him and stayed silent as he sat down on the floor outside my cell.

“I brought you some food. I figured you might be hungry,” he said, shoving the plate under the whole in the bars.

“I have no interest in speaking with you,” I growled, turning my head away from him and crossing my arms.

“I thought you might say that. So, all I ask is that you hear me out,” he pleaded.

He took my silence as his invitation.

“I know you don’t understand and that you’re upset. But you have to understand that I did what I had to do. This is where I belong and I wasn’t going to give it up. But I still.....that doesn’t mean I don’t miss you. That I don’t still have feelings for you,” he said, scooting closer to the bars in an attempt to get my attention.

I scoffed at that. If he thought I was stupid enough to believe that he had another thing coming. I expected him to get angry and yell at me for not responding. What I didn’t expect is what he actually did.

“Y/N, I’m in love with you,” he said quietly.

His words broke my heart into a million pieces. I clutched my fists at my side and turned to look at him.

“Don’t you dare say that. Don’t tell me you love me unless you mean it”, I spat venemously, “Which, by the way, I can assure you you don’t.”

“You can’t tell me what I feel!” he exclaimed, finally giving me the angry response I was expecting.

“Oh really?” I challenged, turning my body to face him, “If you loved me, would I be sitting in this cell right now?”

“That’s not-“ he began, but I cut him off.

“Everything you’re saying is a lie! It’s all a lie!” I screamed, pointing a finger at him in accusation, “I’m in this cell because you decided to sacrifice your Uncle and I for your own selfish need. You gave up the only two people who cared about you for a man who burned you and threw you away.”

“Shut your mouth,” he hissed, small flames igniting in his hands.

“And don’t think I haven’t heard about your new girlfriend. Mai, I believe her name was,” I said cooly, leaning back against the wall.

He was shocked into silence. The flames that were in his palms immediately disappeared.

“H-How....How did you even find out about that?” he asked in disbelief.

“Maybe you didn’t visit me on the ship ride home, but your sister sure did,” I said, wiping at a stray tear that had begun to fall.

“Oh,” was all he said.

His head hung in shame. I shook my head and laughed as I wiped yet another tear from my cheeks.

“Can you believe I was stupid enough to fall for you? I even told my friends about you,” I said, chuckling slightly about my own stupidity.

“You did?” he asked.

“Katara saw you and your Uncle in the upper ring when Iroh opened The Jasmine Dragon. I told her you had changed,” I let myself laugh at the last sentence, “I told everyone about us and how much I cared about you. And do you know what Katara said?”

He didn’t say anything.

“She told me that I was a fool. Who knew just how right she would be,” I sighed.

“Y/N, I didn’t do this to hurt you,” he argued, clearly grasping at straws for what to say.

“I should have listened to them. They all warned me. They told me that you’d break my heart but, holy shit, they never said it’d feel like this,” I admitted, now letting the tears fall shamelessly.

“You could have come home with me. The Fire Nation would have welcomed you as a hero,” he said.

“You’re delusional. I’m not from the Fire Nation. I’m your enemy. I’d be in this same spot wether I helped you or not,” I snapped back, my temper finally getting the better of me.

“I knew this was a bad idea! I take back everything I said. You can sit in this cell and rot away for all I care!” he exclaimed, standing up and throwing fire at the wall in frustration.

I watched him and I couldn’t help but feel so sad. Sad about what could have been if things had been different. If we had not been on opposite sides of a war we never asked for. I wanted to be angry at him, but I couldn’t. I looked at him and smiled.

“You know, even after everything, I don’t hate you. In fact, I know I’m in love with you. I just want you to be happy, even if your happiness doesn’t include me, I just want you happy,” I said sadly.

He stopped at my words. I could tell he was struggling with what to do next.

“I hope the sacrifice was worth it,” I said, turning my head to hide my tears.

“What kind of mind games are you trying to play?” he snarled.

“I’m not playing any game, Zuko. When you truly love someone, you want them to be happy no matter what,” I huffed, desperately wishing he would leave.

I just wanted to lay down and cry. I wanted to cry until my head hurt and my eyes were puffy and red. I wanted to cry until my voice gave out. I wanted to mourn what we had so I could forget about him.

Zuko didn’t say anything. He stood up and opened the door as if to leave. He paused to look over at me one last time.

“Goodbye, Prince Zuko,” I said, smiling sadly.

He slammed the cell door. The sound reverberated back and forth into nothing. And the silence was back. The horrible, head splitting silence that comes after such a moment.

The calm after a storm.