A/N: Ok, this is my first fan fiction, and I'm really hoping it's halfway decent. It's set during and after the last episode. Basically my musings of what would have happened if everything had gone wrong instead of right. POVs will switch fairly often, as more than one thing is happening at once. Also, Jet's not dead. Make of that what you will. Rating is at T for violence, death (of at least one major character), and maybe more later on. Most ships have been decided, and all of them are non-canon except for Maiko. Mostly based on canon, but a few things are different. Some direct quotes and some paraphrases. Characters other than my OC's belong to their respective owners (Mike and Bryan,) as do the quotes and original storyline. If you don't like this, please tell me why, and if it's about my writing style, (not ships, major plotline, etc) I'll do what I can to improve. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: What is Lost

(AANG)

Aang knew he was going to lose the minute he saw Ozai's flames. The man was just too powerful; there was no way a twelve-year-old boy could defeat the most powerful man on the planet when his powers were amplified this much. It just wasn't possible. Aang played his classic airbending: "avoid and evade," as Bumi had called it. There wasn't much more he could do: he was an otter-penguin against a tiger-seal. He was eventually forced to trap himself inside a sphere of earth, and wait for the worst. "Prepare to die!" his enemy yelled. So filled with fear, and empty of hope, Aang prepared for death. To see his people again. To not have to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He prepared to have peace.

Peace didn't come, but power did. He went into the Avatar state, the power of his predecessors coursing through his veins, his bending not limited by regular mortal standards. He sent his once overpowering enemy on the run. Forced the Firelord to flee from his attacks. Forced him to feel the fear he'd imposed on the world he'd created. Forced him to see the darkness in his fire. He deserved to die, to atone for all the unspeakable atrocities he'd committed against the world. Aang brought down his hand, controlling all four elements, to end the enemy.

He couldn't do it. "No, I'm not gonna end it like this," he told the Firelord. He left the State, and dropped to Ozai's level. After blocking the man's flames, and restraining him, he attempted to use the power the lion turtle had taught felt Ozai's consciousness meld with his own, his dark emotions consuming Aang's. It was then that Aang realized that the Firelord's conviction outweighed his own. Aang then saw his darker emotions: his guilt and grief at the deaths of his people, his anger at the Fire Nation, the numerous regrets. Then he felt weaker than he'd ever felt before, and he knew he'd lost everything…

Aang had been the Avatar: able to bend all four elements, and supposedly the most powerful person in the world. Back then though, he'd been too weak to kill the Fire Lord. Instead he'd tried to take his bending, but his resolve hadn't been strong enough, and he'd lost his own instead. He'd been afraid then. Afraid of what killing Ozai would have meant. Now he wished he had just done it. It would have turned out better in the end. Now he was still the Avatar- he hadn't died, so he couldn't be reincarnated- but he was useless to save the world. And the world… well, there wasn't much left of it…

After the battle, Ozai had uncharacteristically shown him mercy. Or had it been cruelty? Either way, he hadn't killed Aang, and therefore forced him to keep living as a constant reminder of the Phoenix King's power. Aang had fallen into a deep depression then, he'd walked out into the ocean and expected to drown- but he hadn't. Ozai had stopped him. The Phoenix King had wanted him alive, and he would stay that way. He'd put Aang aboard an airship and sent him to the fire nation capital, where he would be granted property, as an example of the King's "great and benevolent mercy." Aang was silent throughout the entire ride, his youthful excitement and carefree demeanor erased with his power.

Also, for the first time since he'd been freed from the iceberg, he didn't want to see Katara. He didn't want her to see what he'd become: a shell of the Avatar now relegated to being a political figurehead of his enemy's kindness. In one day he'd gone from being the second most powerful man in the world to a simple piece of propaganda. Losing hadn't been an option. The fate of the world had rested on his shoulders, and he had failed.

When the airship arrived at the Capital, the soldiers escorted Aang to his new house. It was richly decorated, made of intricately carved sandstone with a red roof adorned with gold. He went inside and saw two girls and a boy, all of them about Zuko's age. They bowed to him when he entered. He asked them who they were. One of the girls replied, "your servants, my lord." Servants? Intricately decorated houses? Soldiers escorting him home? He'd gone from the fire nation's public enemy #1 to a member of its nobility by failing to save the world. This special treatment felt more like a punishment though; some of the fire lord's sadistic "mercy."

Aang went immediately to his new, lavishly decorated bed and slept, ignoring his "servants," and trying to forget what had happened that day.

He was trying to forget what he'd lost.

(ZUKO)

When Zuko saw Azula's defiant smirk, he knew it was the end. He knew she was going for Katara, and that he had to save her. It was part of who he had become: he had to do this. It was the ultimate test of his change: could he sacrifice himself to save the world?

The familiar energy of lightning in his body returned, but it would not be redirected this time: it was too fast, and he was nowhere near the right stance. He was in midair, unable to perform uncle's redirection technique. No, instead, he absorbed the lightning into his body, to shield Katara. To finally get his honor back. The pain was unbearable. Zuko screamed into the sky as his mind exploded with an agony he never could have imagined. His vision blurred. He could only see blue. Uncle had been right- lightning was the cold-blooded fire- it felt like ice burning his veins, eating away at his existence. The pain made him think of his life- did he deserve this pain, this death at so young? He looked inside himself, at all he'd thought and done, and knew the answer was 'yes'. But all the same, Zuko didn't want to die; he wanted to live, now that he had a real cause. He wanted to live to bring his nation back from its power-hungry ways, and to restore peace. But he had always known he could never be Firelord. He wasn't what the world needed. None of his family was…

Zuko decided he would hold on until Katara beat Azula, if only so she could hear his last words. He used the last vestiges of his strength to keep himself alive for just a minute more. He watched as Azula's fire boiled the water Katara was using against her. His sister really had gone insane. She was beyond her childhood mischief: she'd turned into a cold, sadistic monster. This made him remember when they were younger- before Zuko had gotten his scar, before Azula had become fully evil, before Ty Lee had joined the circus, when Mai had had emotions… Mai… He wandered off, thinking of the woman he loved, how much he loved her, how much she loved him, without loving anything else. What would happen to her when he died?

Katara was able to defeat Azula. She chained her to a grate after freezing her, a second before Azula's lightning would have hit her. Azula screamed, breathing her characteristic blue fire into the sky, signaling her descent into madness. She was finally broken. Katara ran to him, and tried to heal him. Zuko knew it would fail: he was too damaged internally to be healed. Exactly like Aang had told him that Jet had been before he'd died: unhealable. Katara realized this after only a moment of trying. Tears streamed down her cheeks the second she knew. Zuko reached his hand up to caress Katara's face. "I'm sorry, Katara. I'm sorry I've failed. I hope you can forgive me for everything I've done to you, to Aang… Tell Mai I loved her…" he said, and closed his heard Katara scream his name.

Zuko sees his family like it was meant to be, all sitting around the table, eating together, seemingly at peace. Then his father gets up and walks away, to be replaced by Uncle Iroh, his real father. Azula does the same, being replaced by not one, but three: Aang, Sokka, and Toph. His real siblings. Katara sits to his left, and Mai to his right. He's with those who have actually been a family to him. He then realizes that he'd had to lose what he'd begun with in order to gain what he'd needed.

But then his mother fades away, then Aang, then Toph, then Sokka. Katara also fades, but as she does so, Zuko hears her say, "I forgive you." Then Uncle Iroh begins to disappear, saying, "I'm proud of you, Prince Zuko. I've always thought of you as my own son." Then he's gone. Last is Mai. She kisses him tenderly as she begins to dematerialize. Her words are the most loving he's ever heard her, "You know there aren't many things I love, Zuko. But you, I love more than anything. You're everything good about the world… It's worth nothing without you, but… Goodbye, Zuko." Her eyes reflect all the time he spent with her, her shadows and his flames. He reaches up to touch her one last time, but before his hand makes contact, she's gone. Then the scene fades and he feels no pain. He's standing in a grassy meadow, filled with a strange beauty. Zuko walks around, and takes in the scenery, lost but at peace until he sees two familiar faces: his great grandfather, Avatar Roku, and the water tribe girl he'd seen in the Northern Tribe, with white hair and sad blue eyes. They both greet him with smiles, and he returns them with his own. The girl and Roku then both speak in kind, comforting tones, "Welcome home."

(SOKKA)

"SUKI!" he screamed as he saw her fall. He felt such fear in that moment. He couldn't lose her. No! Fate couldn't be so cruel as to rob him of two loves in such a short time. That couldn't be right. But it happened all the same. He heard her anguished cry and looked down, to see the fractured body of the airship on which she was standing plummet to the flame-scarred landscape below. Fate granted him a final glance into her sad, fearful eyes. Her expression was one of both fear of what would come, and of acceptance. He could see her lips moving a moment before the ship hit the ground. He would always wonder what she'd said. Sokka screamed. Screamed for Suki, for Yue, for his mother. He screamed for what he'd loved and lost. The tears flowed freely down his cheeks, dotting the red surface of the ship with dark crimson.

Toph, however, was able to control her grief. She metalbent the rudder of the ship to force its collision with the others. Sokka felt the metal jarring beneath his feet, then nothing, as he fell. He plunged his sword into the hull of the ship, hoping to slow his fall, but the sheer sharpness of his sword caused it to quickly slice through the iron hull. He fell to the deck, and caught Toph's hand before she could fall to the ground. Sokka absorbed the largest part of the fall on his leg. The pain was intense, but not all-consuming. He held Toph's hand as a lifeline, although he knew in reality he was hers. "It looks like this is the end, Toph," he tells her, and sees the tears drip from her blind eyes, holding an expression of loss and sadness on her face.

The soldiers surrounded them, and one was about to surely kill them with fire, so Sokka used his last resort: he threw his space sword at the platform. It was severed in less than a second, leaving the man unable to attack. "Bye… Space sword…" He disarmed the one on the other side by throwing Boomeraang, one last time. He knew he was only prolonging the inevitable. Or that's what he thought… An airship came crashing in, obliterating the enemy and allowing Toph and Sokka to join their savior on board. 'Who would save us?' Sokka asked himself, and then he saw someone he thought he'd never see again…

Jet.

A/N: Ok, there's chapter one. I know its pretty sad, but it'll get better eventually... please review and say what you liked/disliked, and if you have any recommendations, feel free to tell me. Thank you, and goodbye (until I write chapter 2).