21 parts Complete Separated, Zuko and Song Lee do their best to cope with the others' absence as they struggle to figure out what to do with their lives.
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The sword slashed out, cutting off some of the fabric of his sleeve, but he dodged to the best of his ability, fire in his hands-
And then he realized all at once who it was he was fighting.
"Wait," he said, but she didn't. She surged forward, and he caught sight of her eyes, and he was terrified, because she wasn't going to stop.
He stopped bending and let the fire go out, but he didn't dodge the next time she came at him. Instead, she used all of her strength to charge into him and push him to the ground. Zuko closed his eyes on instinct, but the grass and the moss was soft beneath his head.
Song Lee was sitting on his stomach, her knees pinning his arms down, no doubt a technique she had learned from Master Piandao. Her eyes were brighter than he had ever seen them, bright with anger. In that moment, absurdly, he was reminded that this was the first time he had seen her in months. Her hair was a little longer, longer than his but somehow even more wild, and his eyes were drawn back to her sword, which was gripped in both of her hands as she stared down at him.
"Song Lee," he said.
"Don't call me that," she snarled, and any other words died on his lips.
She hated him. Of course she did. Who wouldn't?
In that moment, he gave up. His body went slack, his mind empty in its despair.