Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer...
So I said I'd do this... thanks for giving this a shot. Really, thank you. Um, cheers, yeah?
Zuko can't believe it.
He's been happy. No, he's been more than happy. He's been ecstatic. He's been... he's felt wonderful.
But that doesn't mean anything anymore. He thinks he'll never feel as good as he has over the past years. His days of smiling are probably over now, because the reason - or, rather, its remains - for his smiles has been taken away, back to its old home, far away from the Fire Nation, all the way in the South Pole.
Because, the one thing the Fire Lord has ever treasured above everything else in his life is now gone.
Gone for good. He can't it get it back. He can't get her back.
Zuko is standing by the shore. Only hours ago Sokka had come to reclaim her body. He hadn't spoken a word to the young man; he'd simply left him to get the body in the boat himself; he had been avoiding it since the funeral. He hadn't wanted to see her dead, looking peaceful and at rest while was crumbling away on the inside, falling apart and to pieces slowly but surely.
Zuko wants Katara back. There had been nothing anyone could do for her, all the doctors said so. All of them told him that she had been lucky.
Zuko doesn't care about luck.
He's not sure if he cares about anything anymore.
As far as he's concerned, the only thing that was worth caring about is now gone. Dead.
He will never hear her laugh again. He will never see her bend again. He will never get to spar with her again. He will never get to hold her, to kiss her, to make her laugh, to make her angry, so when she turns red, he claims she's blushing. He'll never get to do anything with or to her again.
And no one will ever make him smile again. He's dead sure about that. No one made him as happy as she had. No one could ever compare to her, to her beauty, to her ability to care, an ability he was still working on, even as an adult. Her bending was not, by far, the greatest thing about her, though she had been a master waterbender.
Her ability to love had been her greatest trait. No one could care like Katara. No one could bend like Katara. None could love like Katara.
No one.
And whoever said otherwise either hadn't met Katara, or was lying.
He would kill the liars.
He would make the strangers remember her, remember that she cared about what happened to the Fire Nation, to everyone. She had been an amazing Fire Lady. A feisty, clever, beautiful, loving Fire Lady, that would compare to no other.
Zuko feels something sliding down his cheeks, and he hurriedly wipes whatever it is away. He tells himself it's just the ocean spray, that he's not crying.
This only works for a matter of seconds.
He sinks to his knees, and is now in the sand. He makes no noise, but his body will soon be overcome by his sobs, by the product of his grief, of his love for a woman who could love him and everyone like no other.
Zuko feels like his heart died with Katara.
She had made him smile, laugh, cry, angry - all the things he had made her to.
Katara is gone now.
Therefore, Zuko shall never smile ever again.
Never.