I don't own the Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.


A/N: Okay, I've been away for a while... and I had some problems with starting to write again, so I hope this one here will stop that.

So, originally the first, short part of this chap. was supposed to be another not truly full idea, but as I knew I'm not going to make that part longer, I used it as a base to the second half...

And I finally needed some fluff. Hope you like it...


The End of It All

...when the blue lightning ran through him Zuko stopped. For a moment he just stood in his place watching his sister's fuming fingertips then lowered his head to see the burning edges of his shirt and the place where it hit. The only one who dared to move was the avatar who sent an airwave towards the attacker. Then the fire prince fell.

Before he could have reached the ground a pair of tan skinned arms caught him trying to lessen his impact with the cold marble floor. Katara held him in her arms as his body shivered. Her eyes filled with tears when she whispered to him. "Zuko... you can't do this with me..." A tear ran down her face "Don't die..." She closed her eyes when he squeezed her hand and she leaned forward pressing her forehead to his. "I love you..."

He winced for a moment then let out a deep breath looking up at her. He slowly lifted his hand to her face to stroke her cheek and even wore one of his rare smiles when she looked at him again. "I love you too..." He whispered and she smiled down at him looking straight in his golden eyes.

But the moment flew away as his gaze suddenly turned upwards and his eyes started to close. Fear filled up from inside of her and she clenched in his shirt. "Zuko don't!" His eyelids trembled as he tried to stay awake... he really tried... but the pain didn't leave him to do so.

In the same moment when the prince's eyes closed a pair of grey eyes and blue arrows finally started to glow for the first time since the avatar himself felt the pain of the princess' strike.

Their enemies stumbled backwards in the hard wind that surrounded them in the fire palace's throne room as the last airbender's body lifted up from the ground. I'm sorry Katara... He thought to himself. I'm sorry I couldn't be the one you chose... Katara's blue eyes shone up at him through tears before she turned back to the fallen prince with glowing hands. But it is time to let go...

The glowing spread through the room as all the previous avatars' ultimate power concentrated in the 13-year-old monk. As the pair of glowing eyes turned towards the Fire Lord the boy spoke on a voice alien from his own. "Fire Lord Ozai, it is over."


White… When the prince finally opened his eyes all he saw around him was the white colour. The ceiling, the walls, the sheets…

He lifted up one of his arms – in truth he was surprised that he's still able to do that – and even his hand seemed almost white but after all he had always been pale.

He slowly sat up using his arms to shift his weight on them, remembering the pain he felt – the last thing he remembered – but now it seemed to be long gone. Am I dead…?

His eyes scanned the perfect room, which was almost empty except the bed he was on, and a table in one of the corners, and now he saw that there's a mirror standing on it next to a basin.

He pulled off the sheets, only to find part of his upper body in white bandages and in trousers – also white.

By the time he stood up he felt dizzy, as if he had been lying for far too long to suddenly walk, but slowly he managed to get to the table with unsteady legs.

His eyes caught sight of clear water in the basin there and almost instantly reached in it and splashed some of it to his face that way forcing himself to truly wake up.

He repeated the process once more then came to a halt when both of his hands rested above his eyes, because he felt something really strange…

He slowly removed his hands while looking downwards only to find them shaking. For a moment he was glaring at the water in the basin then slowly let his eyes wander to the table, then the lower edge of the mirror.

He only saw a part of his reflection from the corner of his eyes, because he didn't move his head from its lowered state before, so he decided to slowly straighten up.

The bandages… his shoulders… his neck… his chin and…

His eyes went wide when he finally saw the upper half of his face. He let out a gasp and immediately stumbled backwards, which - thanks to his dizziness – made him end up on his rear meanwhile kicking in the table where the basin shakily twisted, then rolled off next to him loudly colliding with the ground.

He was still glaring ahead of him in the mirror, straight at the left side of his face, even when he heard hurried footsteps and the creaking of the door. There he saw something unlike in the last three years: perfect, flawless, pale skin. His scar… disappeared.

"Zuko! You're awake!" The first one who ran through the doorway was the waterbender. When she saw the stunned Zuko sitting next to the table and looking at the mirror with opened mouth she stopped and kneeled down to him with a giggle. "Are you all right, handsome?"

He blinked for the first time he woke up and he slowly turned towards her. "You…" His voice was low and hoarse but he didn't care. "Did you…?"

Katara smiled at him but he surprised even more when she slowly shook her head. "No, it was not me." He was gaping at her without really knowing what to say… "We didn't understand it first either. After I mostly healed the effects of Azula's strike, you didn't wake up for days." She went on while brushing his hair out of his eyes with her hand. "It was understandable, after all Aang went through it once before, but unlike him you started to have a bad fever. Then your uncle said…"

His eyes immediately lit up. "Uncle's here?"

"Oh, of course… you don't know, you were asleep." She said then quickly went on. "He arrived not much later you passed out, and kept Azula occupied so that Aang could…" She hesitated a moment and looked to the side when she finished. "Defeat him."

When she peeked back at Zuko he didn't say anything. He looked downwards with a solemn expression as he made a slight nod. He knew from the beginning what was going to happen when he joined the avatar's group… and he couldn't say that his father would have deserved a better fate than what he got. After all he did not show mercy either when he gave him his mark. And now he remained only a memory, just as his mark…

"But, if you didn't heal me…" He looked back at her with now perfectly matching golden eyes. "Then how…?"

Katara made a gentle smile. "Your uncle said something about a metamorphosis…" Zuko frowned as he heard that word again, remembering his fever after Lake Laogai. "He said that you've stopped it back in Ba Sing Sei somehow, but frankly…" She said then peeked behind her changed to a lower voice. "I didn't really understand what he said because he spoke in proverbs."

The prince made a genuine smile looking upwards for a minute. Finally, someone who understands what it felt like.

"He said…" She started and slightly bit in her lower lip before he turned to her again. "You needed to find inner peace to heal yourself." Zuko looked downwards for a moment while a smile crossed his face that seemed so perfect now that a part of her knew already that she's going to be jealous in the future for sure because of him. "But you've fallen before it would have been over. You didn't know if we'd won… then how did you do it?" Knowing golden eyes slowly locked with unsure blue ones. "What did you find peace in?"

"Don't you know?" He asked on a low voice and slightly leaned closer to her lifting up a hand to stroke the side of her face. "I've dreamed about an angel…" He whispered and placed a gentle kiss on her lips before pulling away only enough to see her expressions.

She smiled brightly for a while but it slowly changed into a smirk. "For your sake I hope it was me." He let out a snicker nodding once, when she pulled him closer wrapping her arms around his neck. "And in that dream… did I do this?" She kissed him passionately while her fingers trailed up to his hair in the process that sent slight shivers down his spine.

The two enjoyed themselves until from the side they heard someone clearing his throat.

Sokka, Aang and Toph stood in the doorway, looking at them.

Katara slightly scooted away from him, and Zuko's eyes wondered around all of them while making a slight smile. "Are you all ok?"

"Yeah, we've managed…" The avatar said rubbing his neck with a wide smile then peeked at the blind bandit who was leaning to the doorway. "You know, we'd have come sooner if Toph hadn't sunk us into the floor two times just for the fun of it."

Toph shrugged with a smirk then winked at the two. "I just wanted to give you some alone time, no need to thank me though."

Katara let out a light giggle before both she and Zuko turned to look at the third boy in the room.

Sokka stood with crossed arms looking at the two with an unreadable stare. After a seemingly long minute of silence, which made him sure that the tension was high enough, he finally closed his eyes heaving a sigh. "I still say if the two of you are together you're going to do a great deal of damage in your surroundings…" He said then after opening his eyes he made a shrug. "But why should I care? This is your place from now on, isn't it?"

Katara got to her feet and almost jumped in her brother's neck. "Oh, Sokka! You're the best!" He finally let her be with the one she wanted and there were not many things he could have said that would have made her happier.

"Yeah, yeah…" The water tribe warrior said patting his sister's back once before she'd pulled away. Then let his eyes return to the still sitting other. "Do you plan to get up from there so that we could finally have lunch? I'm starving!"

"Sure." The smirk that was on Zuko's face since Sokka talked reduced when he got to his feet.

Aang and Toph left the room together and already laughed about something outside when Katara joined them. Then the prince realized that suddenly there was another silent moment when he and Sokka were watching the other suspiciously. Of course… he should have counted on this.

The silence held on a bit longer and Zuko's mind already put together the proper death threat the water tribe boy was going to use… when Sokka's glare slightly moved above his eyes. "You still have only one eyebrow, just to let you know…" He said with a grin before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.

Zuko made a slight smile now that he was alone again. One of his hands slowly rose to touch the skin above his left eye, and he felt with his fingertips a slight brushing feeling where his eyebrow was about to grow out.

"Hey…" Katara's voice snapped him out of his thoughts when her head appeared in the doorway again. "Aren't you coming?"

He opened his mouth when looking up at her then closed it without actually saying anything. She raised an eyebrow at him before the edge of his lips curled upwards. "Well, I just realized…" He started while walking to her.

"Realized what?" She asked and smiled up at him.

He put his arms around her, almost securely, and just held her in his embrace, breathing in her scent before finally finishing his sentence. "That all my dreams suddenly came true..."