Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to Bryan, Mike, and Nickelodeon. Please don't sue.
Setting: Warning - AU deathfic. Aang and Zuko are pretty old at this point. Rated "T" for violence. Speculations and set up for Legend of Korra. But meant to be viewed in the style of one of those cartoon episodes where the universe all goes to hell and then at the end it was all just a dream/prophecy/AU that can be changed and wasn't what really happened, like Batman TAS's "Over the Edge" or TMNT 2k3's "Same as it Never Was," so take a little comfort in that.
Call Down the Heavens
It rained the day the Avatar died. The sky was overcast, but the mood joyful as Aang and Zuko were set to unveil a new statue in the central plaza dedicated to the anniversary of their dream becoming a reality, a place all four nations could co-exist in harmony – Republic City. Or so they had thought.
Rumors of something ugly had been spreading. A growing discontent with benders in general since the war had ended. People who felt no one should have such power like the Fire Nation had abused, but by extension also thought no one at all should have that potential control over others no matter their element, especially one powerful enough to control all four elements.
It wasn't that the Avatar and the Firelord didn't take the threat seriously, they did. They had family and friends who were non-benders and knew not to underestimate them. Zuko's wife and some of his own children weren't benders and were among the most skilled and dangerous people he knew. If anything, it was perhaps too much faith that was Aang's downfall. He always tried to see the good in people no matter what and Zuko, since the time of becoming Aang's friend, had always put his faith in Aang. Maybe that was why they couldn't conceive of a weapon so horrible that even the Avatar was unable to stop such a thing from taking his life.
They called it a gun.
A group of about twenty cloaked rebels had gathered in the square and came forth out of the crowd in the distraction of everyone admiring the statue. The rebel leader held his weapon in hand and made a short speech about the righteousness of his twisted cause. Aang had instinctively positioned himself in between the rebel leader and the Firelord. He adopted a non-threatening posture, arms spread wide, ready to talk and listen. Aang took one step forward when the shot rang out.
The impact of the bullet sent the Avatar crumpling back into the arms of the Firelord who sank to his knees in disbelief cradling his dying friend. The Firelord was now surrounded. He would be next. In the suspended moment of time after the light faded from the Avatar's eyes an unspoken plan of retribution was formed and released with terrifying vengeance.
The skies opened up in torrent of rain that the pregnant clouds had stored up all day. Katara's fury! Thunder boomed. Air crackled. The rebel leader droned on as before, in love with the sound of his own voice. Then the sky flashed. The Firelord stared down the rebel leader, who learned in that moment why the firebender was also called the Dragoneye.* Zuko unleashed his wrath and did something he'd never mastered before. He called down the lightning! In the moment of realization that Aang was truly gone the ability built up inside him as he called out to the cold blooded fire and it came to him like a grounding rod. Katara had opened the skies to him and now the lightning channeled through him and flooded into the bodies of all the murderers followed by a firestorm of flames, overloading and incinerating the rebels on the spot!
He knew Aang hadn't wanted it this way – to kill for him. But the raw emotion was too great, the power coursing through Zuko in agonizing waves beyond his control. Never before and never again would the lightning come to him so violently. The lightning took the right path, but even deeper was the grief channeling through his heart. His very body burned itself out until he too collapsed, arms once again protectively around his best friend as he whispered a final prayer for forgiveness and breathed his last. By the time Katara reached the fallen pair on the platform there was no difference between the rain and her teardrops.
Aang and Zuko. Avatar and Firelord. Destiny binding them in death as it had in life. The wheel of karma turned again. Darkness became light. And somewhere a waterbender's sad tears became happy ones in the birthing wail of a blue-eyed baby girl. Hope was born anew.
Notes: "And then Aang and Zuko woke up realizing Sokka had spiked the punch with cactus juice again…" or something like that. Seriously, I know this is dark, sorry about that, but I did try to make the ending bittersweet at least. And I think there is something poetically right about Aang and Zuko going out together. I really can see the two of them going out fighting side by side somehow and Aang sacrificing himself for one of his friends or vice versa (assuming they didn't just pass peacefully in their sleep and everyone from TLA really is dead by the time Legend of Korra starts in her 16th year). I predict that their deaths just like their lives will be intertwined in some way. Call it thematic destiny. Just like Raph and Leo in "Same as it Never Was" or the final episode of Blake's 7.
I also wanted to do something with Zuko and lightning. I just got this image of him surrounded by lighting fury and wondered what would make him mad enough to do that. The idea of a firebender (or firespeaker as its called) being in danger of burning their body out came from Shannon Hale's wonderful book "Enna Burning." I recommend it and all the Books of Bayern series to Avatar fans for their wonderful characters and their examination of the elements. For anyone confused, Zuko doesn't create the lightning here since he never had that ability, but rather this is meant to be a variation of his channeling ability to directly call lighting that has not been specifically directed at him from another source such as the sky.
*Dragoneye is my nickname for Zuko a la Iroh is The Dragon of the West. To find out how Zuko got the name, check out my other fic, Zuko: Crown Prince Chronicles, Chapter 5.