Maybe his bones were getting weak, Zuko mused to himself. Maybe the fire nation's long-drawn winters had taken a toll on his weathered body. Or maybe, after all these years, Zuko was finally feeling the pain from all the arenaline-filled fights of his youth.

Those were the days, he supposed. When Aang and Katara still pushed each other around like indignant children. When Toph still found joy in making fun of Sokka's constant clumsiness. When they were all together and young again.

Sokka was the first to go. Then Aang. Then Suki. Then Katara. And now, Zuko himself. Toph was too stubborn to die off like the rest of them. Zuko assumed she would probably pull a Kyoshi and stay alive for over 200 years. She would probably hold on as long as possible, just to break Kyoshi's record.

Zuko had died peacefully in his sleep.

When he woke up, he felt lighter. He looked down at his hands and instead of the wrinkled, softened hands of an old man, he was met with youthful hands. Callous and strong. The hands of a skilled swordsman.

Zuko lifted a hand to his face, feeling tight skin where there should have been wrinkles. He was young again. He was in the spirit world and he was young.

"Zuko?" A familiar voice called out.

The firebender froze in his place. He hadn't heard that voice in a long time, and it certainly hadn't been that young. He turned around, nearly giving himself whiplash in the process.

"Katara?"

"And me too!"

"Aang!"

He bolted forward to embrace the two of them, ignoring the tears that had began to well up in his eyes.

"You guys are here!" Zuko took note of how young his voice sounded, like when he was still a young adult, just barely crowned.

"And you're looking younger than ever!" Katara laughed, throwing her head back.

"I didn't have a say!" He protested. "How come I'm still a teenager and you guys are middle-aged?"

"In the spirit world, when we die, we take the form of the most important moment in our lives," Aang explained easily, setting a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "For Katara, it's when she established a waterbending school in the southern water tribe. For me, it's when Tenzin was born and I was no longer the last airbender."

Zuko allowed a small smile to perk up the corners of his mouth. "What about everyone else? Sokka, Suki? What about Uncle Iroh?"

Katara gestured down a path and they all began to slowly walk down it. "Sokka's just a little older than me. It was when he became chieftain of our tribe. Suki's your age. Her defining moment is when she opened an arts school on Kyoshi Island. As for Iroh... I think it's best you find that out yourself."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Aang paused at a particularly sharp bend in the path. Both he and Katara stopped. "Go on," Aang encouraged, a wide grin on his face.

Zuko looked at Katara's and Aang's twin smiles. He shook his head in amusement, continuing to walk down the path, waving them both goodbye.

Once he made the turn, he realized exactly why Aang and Katara had wanted to give him a moment alone.

Because there was Iroh, in all his glory, with Lu Ten sitting at his side.

"Uncle."

Zuko didn't know how to react. He had imagined this very moment hundreds of times, ever since his Uncle died a year after Zuko had been crowned Fire Lord. He had imagined himself screaming, crying, but he had never imagined himself being stunned into silence.

"Nephew! Come join your cousin and I for a cup of tea."

Zuko didn't say anything. Instead, he sat down in a lotus position in front of his Uncle and cousin, accepting the steaming cup of tea.

For once in his life (or afterlife), Zuko didn't complain as he sipped his Uncle's tea.