The Avatar walked across the land, the ruins of the world. Everything was burned down and gone. This was not the great Earth Kingdom he had remembered of his youth. Where were his friends? The massive walls were beaten in and worn down.
From his slumber inside of the globe of ice, in his own world, nobody had awakened him for 150 years. A glacier struck his globe and the Avatar emerged with his flying bison to a cold world. After nights of rest, the two flew for days and found the Earth Kingdom, or what had been left of it.
"Appa... what happened? What is this?" The Avatar asked, enraged and hurt all at the same time. "This can't be Ba Sing Se!" It was Ba Sing Se. "Where is everyone?" His eyes began to form cold water and fell in streams. "Anybody!" He shouted, his hands cupping around his mouth. Appa groaned. The Avatar rushed in, examining the ruins, trying to find anything that would signal some kind of massive, incredulous prank. He ran right to the palace, but when he arrived, he stopped immediately. The walls were in horrible condition. They were bombed, withered, and crumbling. He ventured in deeper, and realized he was standing right where the throne would have been. Two small fragments of the legs of the throne were the only things that were left of the throne room. Panic for his people emerged from inside of him, and the Avatar rushed back to his bison. "Appa, we need to go to the Southern Air Temple! Now! Yip, yip!" Appa took flight, and the Avatar and his bison soared the skies for days until they'd arrived.
With a small glimmer of hope, the Avatar jumped off Appa once they'd arrived.
"Guys! I'm home!" He was running in full sprint, but slowly began to walk in the silence. "I'm sorry for running away! Monk Gyatso?" He ran to his bedroom, found no one, and raced to other rooms. Many rooms were covered with skeletons with old fire nation armor. "No." He stops in one room, realizing one of the skeletons was wearing a very familiar Air Nomad garment. He stepped closer to the skeleton and could not believe his eyes. "What is this? What's happened to my people?" He fell, covered his face full of tears, and shouted. "Gyatso!" His body was overcome with rage and sadness, triggering his Avatar State. Having nobody to stop him, the Avatar destroyed whatever surrounded him until his body tired. Once done, he fell down on the floor, laid down, and blacked out.
This was the last destination. He'd gone full circle and found no one. He knew there would probably be nobody here either if the rest of the world was barren of any human life. He was at the Fire Nation Palace. He wasn't prepared for anyone to suddenly attack him as he hadn't slept for days. He figured there was some kind of war with the Fire Nation and the rest of the world since in his travels, he'd found the majority of Fire Nation remnants. Not surprised, the Avatar tiredly climbed the stairs to the royal palace. Everything was completely still. He entered the throne room and, finding no one, collapsed to his knees, tired.
"What are you doing?" The Avatar jumped at the voice and turned his head to see who had spoken.
"Who are you?" The Avatar asked, a glimmer of hope reaching from inside.
"Fire Lord... Fire Lord Zuko. Who are you?" The man was old and seemed just as tired as the Avatar.
"My name is Aang." It was dark, and the two could not see each other very well. "What's happened to the world?" He asked, agony spoken in every word. The old man took a minute to reply.
"Where did you come from?"
"Why? Answer my question, Fire Lord Zuko!" Aang was growing desperate.
"There has been a war for 140 years."
"A war? Why?" His child innocence was beyond prepared.
"The Fire Nation wanted to take over. Where have you been hiding? Nobody is left in the world." Fire Lord Zuko had no emotion in his voice, only exhaustion.
"Why would the Fire Nation do this? No, it doesn't make sense! I have friends who were in the Fire Nation!"
"Where have you been hiding?" Fire Lord Zuko asked again.
"I'm the Avatar." Fire Lord Zuko laughed tiredly.
"The Avatar? I've finally found you, Avatar. After all these years, I've finally found you. Now that father is dead, you just come walking into my hands." Fire Lord Zuko began to leave in shock.
"Wait! Tell me more about what has happened! I need to know!"
"I'm tired, Avatar. Maybe you should disappear for another 150 years."
"Please!" Aang rushed to the Fire Lord and clung onto his arm. The Fire Lord's face turned to look at him, finally giving him a chance to see this Fire Lord. The Avatar almost pulled away at the sight of the Fire Lord's terribly scarred face.
"I haven't seen anybody react to my face like that in so long. These are the scars my father gave to me for defending the scum of other nations. Are you happy, Avatar Aang? You've destroyed lives."
"Please," Aang pleaded, "Please." After staring at the last air nomad for awhile, Fire Lord Zuko finally responded.
"Come with me." They entered the Fire Lord's hiding place. His room was torn apart, but there was evidence of him trying to patch everything up. Food was stored in a pile and torn old blankets were in another.
"Fire Lord Zuko, tell me about the war." They sat down, and Zuko began the treacherous story.
The Fire Nation craved controlling the rest of the nations, eliminating the residents who were not of Fire Nation descent even. It started with the Air Nomads. They killed every last one of them, or so they thought. They overtook Earth Kingdom colonies, starting slowly, but their attention was averted to the Water tribes. Year 120 of the war, revolts started, led by a man named Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. The Southern Water Tribe and Northern Water Tribe had joined forces to create a strong army of waterbenders and non-waterbenders. The Water Tribes attacked the Fire Nation. While fighting against the Water Tribe, a small group of soldiers traveled to the Southern and Northern Water tribes where the weaker people were and took advantage, wiping the Water Tribes. After hearing the news, the Water Tribe soldiers were discouraged and therefore, easier to battle. The Fire Nation easily captured the soldiers and turned them into their servants. They continued their rampage to the Earth Kingdoms where the war grew even more intense. The Fire Nation was quickly advancing in war technology and after conquering Omashu, with spirits lifted, the Fire Nation conquered Ba Sing Se as well. In year 130 of the war, the Fire Nation caught word of alliances against the Fire Nation and sought them out. One they'd found them, they captured and killed the members and their family. They had not found one group, though, who was led by a man named Jet. He had a great army of earthbenders and non benders. The Freedom Fighters, he called it. The Fire Nation slowly started to lose power, but quickly retaliated. They dropped bombs down on the Earth Kingdoms, eliminating both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom people. Everything was burned down.
"The Fire Nation army was led by my father, former Fire Lord Ozai, and my sister Princess Azula."
"Where are they? They need to face their consequences, now!" Aang shouted in anger. He was slowly at the peak of triggering his Avatar State.
"They're dead."
"What?"
"The Freedom Fighters was a strong army. My father and sister personally went to, what they thought would be, the complete conquering of Ba Sing Se but the Freedom Fighters found where they were, and quickly assassinated my father before he'd had a chance to act. My sister killed Jet and the group he was with. She took control of the throne and became Fire Lord, but she lost control of herself and ordered the death of every human that was not Fire Nation. The Freedom Fighters still fought, even after their leader's death, and killed many Fire Nation people in elaborate ways. They bombed our villages, did everything they could. And finally, they killed my sister as well. I was the only one left to become Fire Lord. And I had enough by that point."
"What did you do, Fire Lord Zuko?" Aang's anger directed towards Zuko now.
"I killed my people."
"How could you? What kind of Fire Lord are you? You and your family!"
"They were monsters and savages, the Fire Nation. There's no one left...," Zuko spoke to himself. "It's just me... and you Avatar. Damn you, Avatar Aang. Look what you've done. You've killed my family. You've killed everyone in the world. You've done this to me," The old Fire Lord silently wept.
"No, no... No!" Aang cried with him. The last two people after the horrible apocalypse of the world wept together, having no one else. "I did this." He said in between big weeps. "I've let everyone in the world down."
"You're too late," Zuko agreed. "You're the last Avatar, Avatar Aang. This is where your cycle ends." Aang stood, beyond empty and guilty. "Where are you going, Avatar?"
"I'm too late." Aang walked back to his bison, having enough of the tragedy. He, too, was done.
"I found him, Father," Fire Lord Zuko said, alone in his room. "I found the Avatar." He wiped at his cheeks. "Do you love me now, Father?"