This is complete outline of the first draft and summary of whole story. For the revised version I mentioned in my other fic, I'll upload it when I'm finished with summaries. Sorry!
Set few months after the series ended. Mai disappears shortly after Zuko's coronation. Everyone tries their best to search for her, but fails. Few months after, Mai returns with heavy injuries all over her body. Healers and Katara try their best to cure her, but the wound is too fatal. And unfortunately Mai isn't able to talk due to the wound. Few days after her return, she dies leaving a strange symbol. Burning with rage, Zuko tries to search for the person who done it, however there are too few clues. Instead of letting people search for him, he decides to do the revenge himself. Zuko, Katara, Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki goes to Fire Nation Communication Tower to search for the information about the symbol. There, Zuko tells Katara why he felt so sorry for Mai's death...
After a lot of research, everyone feels that something fishy is going on in the Fire Nation Army. When Sokka asks Zuko what is he going to do when he finds the murderer, Zuko says that he will have that person executed by the law of nation. Aang comments that Zuko is somehow growing to be too much like Ozai and he should forgive the murderer instead. Then, a fight between Zuko and Aang breaks out but Suki prevents them, saying that it's not the time to fight over matters like this when this dangerous assasin army might be at large. When all of them return to the mainland of Fire Nation, meaning to ask questions to Ozai, they spot some rebellions. Although the lower class of Fire Nation liked Zuko's policies, higher classes didn't. It seemed that higher classes managed to pursuade lower classes to hate Zuko. It seems that the rebellions are going to strike the palace in a few weeks. Azula, who had been changed a lot due to the treatments she received(she doesn't want to be like Ozai now), sends Zuko and Katara to Water Tribe, Aang and Toph to Earth Kingdom in order to ask for helping hand and armies to prevent the rebellions(Sokka and Suki remains in the palace to spy on the rebellions). They decide to solve Mai's problem later. On the way to water tribe on coach, Katara and Zuko gives a ride to an old woman who said his son was coming after her to kill her. When Zuko and Katara arrives at Water Tribe, they find that the Water Tribe still has some hostility towards Fire Nation. Water tribe refuses to send some men to Fire Nation. Katara tries to persuade the head of Water tribe, but fails. In the end, the head says he will send a small army later. On the way back to the Fire Nation, Zuko and Katara spots the old woman they had helped earlier. She was running away from her son who turned out to be... Yon Rah. Katara is shocked to see him again. Before Katara and Zuko could do anything, the old woman jumps off from the edge of the cliff, saying that she's ashamed of having a son like him. Unable to contain his anger, Zuko lunges at Yon Rah. Yon Rah, scared and cornered, falls off from the cliff while running away from him. Zuko is shocked by what he had done. On the way back to fire nation, they encounter masked men who turn out to belong in Amber Eye Division, the secret army that had killed Mai.
After getting rid of them, they finally arrive at fire nation, only to see that the rebellions rose up already with Ozai on the lead. When they thought all the hopes were lost, the soldiers from Earth Kingdom(with kid whom Zuko had helped in the old days on the lead), powered by Bei Fong's fortune, soldiers from Southern Water tribe(who came voluntarily) and few of the Fire nationers who supported Zuko's regime come to prevent the rebellions.
After everything settles down, Zuko executes few people who started the rebellion. For Ozai, Zuko sends him back to his prison after showing him the lives of people he has ruined. Aang seems uncomfortable by this. Zuko says tha he will support the families of the executed rebellions financially, and that might cut loops of neverending revenge. Zuko admits that he had been too harsh to the people who supported Ozai's regime. He says that although he's not going to support them, he will treat them more kindly then before.
Now we're done with summary... some scenes
1. While searching for information about the symbol Mai had left in archive.
"Let's take a break for a while." said Katara, looking at Zuko. Zuko was reading through a particularly large and ancient book.
"No. I'm going to keep searching." said Zuko, not turning around.
"Come on, you've been working all day today. A bit of break wouldn't hurt. Besides, resting a bit can increase workspeed." said Katara brightly. Zuko seemed to think for a while.
"Fine. I'll make some tea." said Zuko, closing the old book. He stood up to get some tea leaves and teapot.
"Is there any progress?" asked Katara, as Zuko started to grind tea leaves. Katara rolled the scrolls she has finished reading.
"No... I wish I had. Katara, water." said Zuko airilly, looking at her. As Katara opened the window, soft cool wind blew into the room. Katara stretched her arm out of window and bended some water from the small well below. As Katara moved her hands, the large bubble of water flew into the room, into the teapot. Then, Zuko started to heat the pot with firebending. As the pot heated up, Zuko sighed deeply. Katara sat on the long sofa facing the opened window. She could smell salty scent and feel the night wind from there.
"Oh, cheer up Zuko. You're doing the best you can do for Mai." said Katara caringly. Zuko looked at her with sad, empty expression on his face. Zuko kept heating the pot as Katara watched him. After a while, Zuko spoke.
"There's something making me regretful ever since Mai died." said Zuko tonelessly. He poured some tea into two cups. He walked over to Katara with cups in his hands.
"Here." said Zuko, handing Katara one cup.
"Thanks." said Katara, as Zuko sat down next to her with his cup. Zuko slowly sipped his tea.
"I'm regretting that even though I knew Mai for a long time, I never got to know about herself properly. See, I didn't even know that her uncle was in charge of Boiling Rock! I feel guilty about it." said Zuko gloomily. There was a silence between them. Zuko stared into the space darkly while Katara wondered what to say.
"Well, even if you didn't know who she was factually, it's all right if you knew and understood who she really was inside. Everyone can know that Mai was 'Master of projectile weaponary','Niece of Head of Boiling Rock'. But only those who really cared for her know who she is as a person." said Katara finally, looking out into the starry sky beyond the window. Zuko looked somehow confused by this.
"But..." Zuko started, but he lost what to say.
"It's better to understand who she was than knowing who she was in this world, but not knowing who she was in person if you really are the person who endear her. And I would rather prefer the first person too. There's nothing you should feel guilty about." said Katara, smiling kindly at Zuko. Zuko looked as if a small realization struck his heart. Zuko felt some weights being lifted from his heart. After a moment, he smiled gently for the first time in weeks.
"Thanks, Katara." said Zuko, looking back at Katara. Katara sipped her own tea and noticed that it had gone cold. Looking slightly startled look on Katara's face, Zuko noticed what had happened.
"Give me your cup for a moment." said Zuko, putting his own on the window-sil. Wondering what he is about to do, Katara handed him her cup. With Katara's cup in right hand, Zuko ignited a small fire at the tip of his forefinger on left hand. Then he placed left forefinger under the cup, warming it up. After a while, Zuko gave Katara steaming cup.
"Thanks, Zuko." said Katara. She smiled at Zuko mildly, and Zuko's heart began to beat slightly faster than usual at this. But before Zuko himself could notice, Sokka and Suki bursted into the room.
2. While riding to the Water tribe by Salamander coach with old woman, Baihe.
Since Baihe was in present, they couldn't talk about Mai nor things going on in the Fire Nation at the moment. Even though Baihe was sleeping, they couldn't risk it. So, the topic turned into something more personal. Soon, they were swapping cooking recipes and embroidery patterns. Katara somehow felt that Zuko is more understanding than Aang in a way.
3. Dinner with Baihe in presence.
Zuko stopped the salamanders by the river to feed them water. Katara went out to water and caught some trouts by waterbending. Zuko made a campfire to cook fish for dinner. Just as Zuko was about to grill the fish, Baihe hurriedly came out of the coach.
"Your balls are going to fall off if you cook! Have shame on yourself!" Baihe snapped. Zuko seemed to be shocked by this statement while Katara laughed.
"Grannies in my town used to say the same thing to Sokka whenever he tried to cook. I guess it's the thing about old people." said Katara, giggling. Zuko had his jaw dropped in shock.
"Besides! Your fire is too violent for cooking. You're going to burn all the fish! Let me do it." said Baihe. Slowly and delicately, controlling every movement of the fire, Baihe grilled the fish. Meanwhile, Zuko toook table and dishes in the coach out.
The fish tasted really nice. After eating, Katara and Baihe washed the dishes together,
"My son used to be in the army for a long time. So all he knew was how to fight. When he retired, he could to very little by himself. So I tried to teach him how to farm good fruits by himself, but it was no use. He always produced unedible products." said Baihe grumpily. Katara bended fresh water out of river to shower the dishes. Baihe looked bewildered by this, but Katara did not notice.
After eating, Katara and Zuko washed hair in the river. Katara dried her hair by bending water out. Thinking that it looked cool, Zuko tried to dry his own hair with firebending. However, his efforts of trying to look manly results in fire on his head. Katara pours water over Zuko's head and his hair becomes wet again. Looking at each other's face, Zuko and Katara laughs together.
(Note: I'm Asian, and the ball thingy is what my grandma(who is 85 years old) said to my little brother when he entered kitchen to help her with lunch lol.)
4. Toph and Aang, on their way to Earth Kingdom on Appa.
Toph, who felt really nervous when travelling on Appa, put some soil on Appa's back. Now the seats somehow looked like a minature garden with fertile soil all over. Suddenly, a huge flock of migrating birds came towards them. Toph pretended to be not scared, but she couldn't hide it in her face perfectly. Seeing this, Aang changed the direction of the birds by changing the air currents.
"Ah? I can see the birds!" Toph suddenly shouted. Aang jumped at her sudden yell.
"What? What do you mean Toph?"
"I... I dunno... Somehow, I could see what was in the air just like how I could with my feet... It must have been the air currents... It happened a few times before, but it was so clear this time."
Suddenly, Aang had an idea that will enable Toph to 'see' flying things.
5. Zuko and Katara is being chased by Amber Eye division at night in an abandoned underground prison.
Katara half-carried unconscious Zuko into the room and locked the door behind her. She tried to extract water from air and heal Zuko, but strangely, there weren't much water in the air. Katara was in great shock so she couldn't think much. Those shiny, amber-like eyes... She now understood why they were called 'Amber Eye Division'. With such clear eyes and innocent face, they killed people mercilessly without any kind of guilt. They had no emotion. Besides, she was still shaken by the fact that even if it was for a moment, Zuko tried to kill her. Even though Zuko had somehow broke his own arms to prevent himself from attacking her(who couldn't waterbend due to the lack of water in the air within this building) with firebending, it reminded her of the time when Zuko was after Aang. She put down Zuko to the floor. Suddenly, Zuko twitched and Katara shuddered.
"Hypnosists... I thought they only existed in ancient legends..." Zuko grumbled... Katara, still uncovered from the shock, was unsure about how to react at this.
"I know that you're confused... It's secret arts of firebending... only at night some of the talented people can put people under their will by using firebending... you know, there's a saying that candlelights can mesmerize you... I know it's hard to believe... So there's one thing I want to ask you. I know that you can't waterbend here right now, nor we can run away in state like this. And I know that they will come after us... And as you saw, it's hard for me to fight their hypnosis..." said Zuko. He flipped around to see the nearly full moon shining above them.
"It's nearly full moon... I know that you really hate it... but you're a powerful bender... This place used to be a prison to keep waterbenders, so there might be not much water in the air... There's only one way we can get out..." said Zuko. Suddenly, Katara realized what Zuko is trying to say to her. Like an old forgotten nightmare, a chill went down her spine.
"No... you can't possibly mean..." said Katara. There must be some other way to get out of this mess. There must be. She couldn't do this to her friend... to someone who she endeared so much...
"I don't want to hurt you again... Please Katara... bloodbend me..." said Zuko desperately.
6. Aang met up with another airbender who happened to live in secret until recently.
"So, you don't feel any grudge towards fire nationers who made our race like this?" said Ansu the airbender outrageously. "So you feel that you should value a person's life, even when that person has not valued others'?"
Ansu ignored Aang and began bending movements with wild look on his face. In a moment, the fire nation soldier made a very painful face, as if there were no air to breathe. The another soldier screamed and twitched like mad, as if an elephant was crushing him slowly. Aang was shocked by this. This technique was forbidden among Air Nomads due to its cruelty so Aang had only seen it in books, but he didn't know that it could be this horrible. It was Aang's first time seeing Pressurebending with his own eyes.
(Note: I thought, if water had ice, fire had lightening, earth had metal, why not pressure for air?)
And other abandoned ideas:
1. Azula actually wanted to be a king of Fire nation for a long time. She wasn't evil from the start. She was just way too ambitious. So she shaped herself up to be a perfect Fire Lady, even the personality. However, she was a girl and was daughter of second prince. So there was almost no way for her to become a ruler of fire nation. This is when her personalities began to go to the current direction. She tried everything in her power to bring down people in her way. Her goal had ruined her so much in so many ways. And when she realized it, she couldn't go back. After a few years of psychiatric treatment, she changes a lot.
2. Zuko feel that he likes travelling more than staying at one place as king. So he gives his throne to Azula, who wanted it so badly and worked hard for it. He then prepares portable teashop. For the rest of his life, he travels whole world with Katara, sending mail hawks to Azula if there are any areas with problems.
These two ideas, were sent to trashcan after I re-analyzed Zuko and Azula character.
There were so many other things I wanted to write about such as Katara thinking about meaning of revenge again, Zuko in anguish because he thinks he's more like Ozai than he used to think, Aang learning that there are people who never feels guilty and can't forgive everyone.
Looking back, this fic looks kind of childish in a way, but I admit that I really enjoyed writing it. I contribute this whole fanfic to katara_zuko, and the awesome grownup!Zuko and grownup!Katara poster drawn by atla animating director (which I can't link due to ffnet's policies.)