Here it is guys! The last chapter! *silent scream* And by now I'm convinced that Katara and Zuko are completely out of character, but they're in love, so I figured that was a good enough excuse right? Ok i'll stop boring you guys and let you read. Hope you like it *crosses fingers*
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar...it's sad
Aang sat cross legged on the highest butte overlooking their small camp site. He was high enough so no one could see him without knowing where to look, but low enough so he could still see the goings on far below in detail.
After talking with Zuko, Aang was determined to get some sleep and went to his tent. He maybe got around twenty minutes of quality shut-eye before he was startled awake by the sound of Appa noisily landing in the near-by meadow. He decided not to investigate and instead rolled over to give sleep another try. Then he heard voices: Katara's and Zuko's. He scrunched his eyes shut and tried forcing himself to believe that he didn't care what was being said, but soon realized the effort was futile. Very carefully, he opened a flap of his tent just wide enough to see Zuko standing by Appa and Katara standing several feet away.
Zuko then held his had to her which she took after a few words of meaningless protest. They then climbed up onto the bison and took off. Aang knew something like this would happen eventually, but didn't think it would be this soon. It stung a little to see just how eager Zuko had been to pursue Aang's first love after he had given him permission to do it. But he wasn't helping matters any by spying on them, so he forced himself to close the tent flap and lay down on his sleeping bag.
After far too many failed attempts to go to sleep again, Aang sat upright and rubbed his face with both hands in an attempt to relieve his frustration. Letting go was hard and trying to have a good attitude about it was next to impossible. There was no way he was going to sleep tonight knowing Zuko and Katara were up on his bison doing who knows what. He grabbed his staff and stepped out into the night.
After a quick scan of the sky, he spotted Appa in the distance. At least they didn't decide to elope with his bison. That would have been more than he could handle. Aang shook his head. He knew he was over exaggerating things, but couldn't seem to help himself.
There was a very subtle light in the horizon that hinted that it would soon be morning, so Aang figured that if he wasn't going to sleep any more tonight, he might as well wait out the rest of the night and hope for the best in the morning.
He whipped his staff open and flew up to the highest place possible and now here he was. He had been sitting there for what felt like forever while he waited for Katara and Zuko to return. When they did, he had been expecting to see them embracing each other, but what he didn't expect was the horrible icy feeling that exploded in his gut the moment he saw Zuko with his arms wrapped around her. He sighed deeply. This was going to be even harder than he thought.
"You ok, Twinkle Toes?" came Toph's voice from behind him. He jumped but wasn't overly surprised at her presence. She came and sat beside him once again. "I couldn't help but feel that you were restless all night." She shrugged.
Aang drew in breath to answer her question with 'I'm fine' but stopped himself knowing she would be able to see right through the lie. "I will be," he finally decided to say.
Toph smiled in understanding and put a hand on his shoulder. The knowledge that she was capable of such a gentle and tender gesture surprised Aang. "Don't worry, Aang, it's not the end of the world." She gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "After all, there's plenty of other fish in the sea." Toph felt herself blush a little. "And don't forget that I'm….I'll always be there if you ever need someone…if you need to talk about it."
Aang brought a hand up to his shoulder and placed it on top of Toph's. He turned his head to look at her and squeezed her hand. "I know."
***
Zuko slept more peacefully than he could ever remember sleeping in his life. His unconscious mind took him to beautiful places. A tall crystal water fall, a snowy mountain top surrounded by clouds, and finally flying through the sky on a bright starry night. His mind then wove in sensations and feelings so real, he forgot that he was only dreaming.
He was walking on the sky as if gravity had no hold on him. He felt weightless and completely free. He reached out his hand to touch a star that seemed to be directly in front of him. His hand came in contact with it, and the star changed shape to take the image of Katara. She shone so bright and her beauty was ten times that of any star he had ever seen, he feared he would go blind.
He thought he had never seen eyes so radiant, so welcoming, and so full of love. She stretched out her hand to him, and he eagerly reached for it. When his hand finally made contact, he felt as if a shock of electricity had suddenly shot through his arm.
Bang! Zuko felt his whole body convulse as if he were being electrified. Bang! He felt a sharp pain in his back.
Bang! "Rise and shine you sleepy heads!" came Toph's voice from outside. There was another bang, and the ground shook. It took Zuko a moment to realize what was happening and then he groaned in annoyance and stuck his head under his pillow.
"Are you numbskulls listening?" shouted Toph. "I said," she cleared her throat louder than necessary, "rise and SHINE!" As she said 'shine' she used her obnoxious element to then launch Zuko, and probably everyone else still trying to sleep, three feet in the air.
Zuko grumbled as he forced himself to get up and leave the tent, his tired limbs protesting his every movement. As soon as he left the tent, he glared icicles at Toph only to mentally slap himself for remembering she couldn't see his face. "There you go, that wasn't so bad was it," Toph teased. Zuko then noticed that everyone else was standing outside their tent looking like death and rubbing their sore backsides.
Today was the day they had to get moving. The comet was still a ways away, but they still needed to find a hiding place a little deeper in the fire nation. Sokka ascertained this the day before, and so gathered everyone together in a meeting (after they all got over their crabbiness at Toph that is).
They sat in a circle to discuss this matter and Toph sat between Zuko and Katara. In a way, Zuko was thankful for this, otherwise he wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything being said. He still couldn't help but steal the occasional glance in here direction though. He even caught her doing the same thing. After being caught, she would look down and smile with a little hint of color in her cheeks.
The meeting was short. Zuko knew exactly where they could go: his vacation house on Ember Island. His family never went there anymore and it would be the last place they would look for the Avatar, so it was perfect. The rest of the day was then spent packing.
Other than periodically making eye contact and smiling at each other, Katara and Zuko's behavior betrayed nothing of last night's events. There was an unspoken agreement that it was best not to unload everything on the rest of the group at once…especially Sokka who would most defiantly freak out.
They didn't pack the dishes until last because it was nearly lunch time when they had finished packing everything else. Katara caught some fish to fry and Aang went and gathered some wild berries because he didn't eat meat. After enjoying their last meal they would have on that island, Katara gathered the dishes and took them to the spring to wash.
Katara knelt beside the secluded spring and experimented with different water bending techniques as she washed the dishes. She jumped in surprise and dropped her water as warm arms came out of nowhere and slowly slid around her waist pulling her into a warm embrace from behind. At first she was surprised that she hadn't heard his approach, but then realized that this was Zuko she was thinking about after all. Katara sighed as Zuko's head rested on her shoulder. She closed her eyes as she leaned her head against his and brought up a hand to cup his far cheek.
"How are you," he whispered in her ear.
"Well…" she replied, "I was fine until you got here." She felt his arms around her waist suddenly stiffened. Afraid that she offended him, she turned her head to better see his face. He turned his so she could better look him in the eyes. "But now I'm more than fine," she said and couldn't help but smile, "I'm wonderful." She playfully kissed the end of his nose and soon after Zuko quickly moved to press his lips to hers as his arms tightened slightly around her waist. Katara used one hand to cup the back of his head while she placed the other on top of the warm arms locked around her midsection.
The kiss sent tingles up Katara's spine and then throughout her body while it lasted just as the other three had. Also like the other three, it ended too soon. She couldn't imagine herself ever getting tired of kissing Zuko, but knew better than to overdo it, so she didn't encourage him to kiss her again after they broke apart. Instead, she looked forward again and leaned her head against Zuko's as he did the same.
They sat there for a moment before Katara's brain started thinking rationally again. "I really should finish these before the others start to wonder what happened to me."
Zuko loved the way Katara felt against him like this. Her back fit nice and snug against his stomach and he didn't want to let go. He groaned in disappointment and squeezed her tighter to him.
Katara patted his cheek. "I know I know," she said in mock comfort. Only after she patted his arms encircling her waist did he finally force himself to let go with the thought there would be plenty of opportunity to cuddle more in the future.
But he still didn't want to leave her just yet. "I'll help you." For the remainder of their time alone, Katara washed the dishes, and he heated them in order to evaporate the water off them. Katara could have easily dried the dishes herself, but was happy to give Zuko a reason to stay other than just sitting there and watching her work. They had a lot of fun splashing each other and talking about how fun it would be on Ember Island once they got there. Zuko was so lost in conversation, he regretted when the last dish was cleaned and dried.
Katara picked up a pile of dishes signifying the end of their time together. "Time to get back." Zuko nodded, but couldn't smile. He picked up his pile and they walked side by side as they made their way back to camp.
***
After the last bag was secured on Appa's saddle, Aang moved to climb up on his head. "No no you don't! Not yet. Get back down here!" Sokka scolded.
Aang did as he was told, but couldn't hide his confusion. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Sokka replied, "It's just that we've been on this island for a few weeks, and it's kinda grown on me." He put his arm around Suki's shoulders and gave her a little shake. "Don't you think it's grown a little on you too?"
Suki raised her eyebrows as she looked at her crazy boyfriend. She humored him and awkwardly smiled. "Uh…yeah, sure."
"See? So I think we should all stand together and give her one last look before we fly off," Sokka said with a note of finality.
Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes, but no one was in the mood to fight with him so they lined up as he requested. Sokka looked down the line and took attendance before he began his speech. "Here's to the island that blessed us with no trouble from the fire nation soldiers during our stay. Here's to the island that gave us some of our more pleasant recent memories." Zuko and Katara looked at each other and smiled before blushing and returning their gaze back to the island. Sokka continued."Here's to the island that helped make our friendship stronger." At the end of his speech he grabbed Zuko and Suki on either side of him and pulled them closer in an awkward side hug while wearing a cheesy grin. Zuko quickly wriggled out of it and pushed Sokka away making Katara giggled. Aang grabbed Toph's hand and gave it a light squeeze. Toph smiled and returned the gesture.
"Well said, Sokka!" said Toph with a hint of sarcasm. "Now can we leave?"
Sokka's smile instantly vanished and transformed into mock disappointment. "Yes," he said bluntly.
Together, the gang climbed onto Appa and each took their place in the saddle while Aang took his on Appa's head. Appa launched himself into the sky and Katara automatically leaned against Zuko and rested her head on his shoulder while Zuko gently cradled her under his arm. Sokka and Suki were too busy cuddling to notice them doing the same, so Katara allowed herself to be held.
And so they made their way to Ember Island where they would have a fresh start. But it was more than that. It was a fresh start for Katara and Zuko. There they could start over and get to know each other as soul mates instead of enemies. Whoever would have thought that a prince of the fire nation and the only water bender of the South Pole would fall in love? Whoever would have thought that natural opposites and sworn enemies would be so well suited for each other? This was a new beginning…for them and, when the war finally came to an end, for the world.
THE END!
Ah finally! To be honest, when I started this story I had the skeleton of the plot, but I didn't realize just how draining adding all the meaty bulk would be. This is where I stress just how important your reviews are to me and to every author on here! You guys kept me going and it's all thanks to you that I was able to summon the energy to finish this story. Here's a little tip for the future. The next time you read a story that you like, don't hesitate to tell the author how much you liked it because you can't imagine the difference it makes to know that someone likes what you're writing. It could mean the difference between a finished story with a happy ending and a cliff hanger that people start to write and forget about.
In conclusion, thank you for reading, and may God bless all of you guys who reviewed and kept me going.
