Chapter 9:

Happy Birthday

Her eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the bright light coming in through the window. Looking around she realized that Zuko was nowhere to be found. Frowning she slide out of bed and noticed she was in different clothes and new clothes had been set out of her. Blushing at the thought of Zuko seeing her in her underwear she grabbed the new clothes and went to the bath. Finally she stepped out and placed on nice royal red robes. The golden color trim around the edge of the red material stated royal status.

Tying the golden sash, she placed her hair piece in letting the rest of her hair fall free. She loved being a Waterbender, she easily dried herself without towels, and her hair was always dry the second she got out. It was a nice perk she never had before. A frown appeared on her lips again as she stared at herself in the mirror. Her checks were finally starting to round out again, her face had more color, and her eyes finally looked like there was life in them.

She knew that her ribs were still noticeable, she couldn't help all the pain she felt not knowing who she was the last couple months and suffering from starvation and dehydration. She didn't have to worry about that now, but she realized she had missed so much between the gaang, and she wasn't there to help rebuild Ba Sing Se like she had promised. The last couple months actually seemed more like a dream then a memory.

All her memories were so overwhelming it made those months seem like they didn't really happen. The frown that now seemed permanent on her face grew. Everything seemed so different, yet so much the same. She almost wished she was have slept the last couple months away in a coma, then things wouldn't seem so confused and jumbled in her mind.

Memories would dance in front of her, from the battle, from death, from talking to Zuko outside Ba Sing Se before the battle, from the days spent on Ember Island. She couldn't stop thinking about everything she wasn't able to do or help with because she didn't even know that it was her that had promised so much to everyone. Becoming overwhelmed and dizzy from the thoughts roaming her mind, she made her way to the eating hall.

She pushed open the door and stood staring straight at everyone. They all smiled and waved, as if none of them knew she had her memories back. Even Zuko looked like he didn't know. Or, maybe they really didn't know. How could they not know? As she glanced from one to another memories began to surround her and make it hard to breathe. It felt like she was drowning.

Beginning to get dizzy again she fell, collapsing onto the ground trying to force herself not to puke under the stress and pressure, too many memories, too little time to absorb it all. Not enough, she needed to be alone, she needed to be able to think in peace. Zuko rushed to her side and asked if she was feeling alright.

"I need to be alone," was all she said after he helped her stand.

He nodded his head and watched her rush to leave. They waited for hours but she never came back. She didn't say she needed all day and they were starting to get worried about her.

"Do you think we should look for her?" Aang asked

"She did say she needed alone time," Katara stated.

"But, she has been gone for hours," Sokka sighed.

"She seemed a bit sick to me," Suki offered.

All eyes landed on her. Shock and fear ran threw them as they all rushed to stand and look for her. She did look pale and very ill. They had to find her fast, if she was outside, it was probably getting cold and she might get worse seeing as it's been so long since the battle it wasn't quiet spring yet. They all split up looking wherever they thought they could find her and they agreed to meet back up in the court yard.

After an hour of searching, they all met up in the court yard and that's where the found her. Her feet were dangled into the pond, and her tears were dropping and mingling with water. Her head lifted and she stared at them, none of them moved afraid she would be upset that they went looking for her. She didn't wipe away her tears; she merely stared right at them.

"I'm sorry for everything I've put you threw," her hand was holding her right side, "All the trouble I caused because I wasn't strong enough in the end. All the promises I've broken and lies I told."

"You remember," Toph asked.

"Everything, every memory came back to me last night. I can barely stand it. It hurts so much, my mind is buzzing with all the thoughts that are there. I can't have a moment's piece because I feel like I've done nothing but wrong and let everyone down."

"You didn't let anyone down," Katara provided.

"But, in the end I did. If I would have told you about my side, my rib wouldn't have been broken. If I would have told Iroh I wasn't fit to fight, he could have helped me make it to the center. If I wouldn't have lied every time I got hurt," she stared at the dragon scar on her arm, "maybe things would have been different. I could have helped in Ba Sing Se. I could have helped repair all the damage emotionally that's been done to all the Nations."

She pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms over it and lowered her chin onto her crossed arms. Zuko knew she only did that when she was truly upset. When she felt like she was vulnerable and upset. He took a step toward her and stopped when she flinched.

"I keep asking myself why you guys disobeyed my wishes and still helped me live when I asked you to leave me be."

"We couldn't let you die! You're very important to all of us, we all love you, and want you to be here with us," Aang cried.

"Maybe so, but even then, it takes far greater respect for a person to listen to their wishes then to deny them their will."

"How could you suggest that I don't respect you enough? How fair is it to us to lose you when you have so much left to live for," Zuko cried out.

She stood and stared straight at him, a sad smile on her face, "I love my life. I love all of you, so very much. It's all so confusing and my mind is swirling. But, I know that I asked you to allow me to pass away there, surrounded by all of you."

"Aloria, please, will you let me speak with you, alone?"

Sitting back down, she didn't say a single word. Zuko looked at the others and they nodded their head before leaving. He sat down next to her and remained silent, letting her think until she was ready to speak. A few minutes passed and she looked at him.

"Last night, you let me kiss you."

"I wanted you to kiss me," Zuko admitted.

"I thought you and Mai were…"

"We were. Until I realized how much I have cared for you, and always have."

"She saw us the other night, right?"

"Yeah, I'm assuming you heard me explain to her that it was you."

"A little bit."

"It's always been you. I've always cared so much for you. I never noticed how much I loved being around you, or that I always wanted to be around you. When Mai saw us, she was upset, because she didn't know it was you. She thought I was with another woman she had never met, and was very offended."

"Why is that?"

"We believed you were dead. I told the whole Nation that I was going to rebuild this Nation in your honor. And when Mai asked me who you were, I told her everything, even how I feel about you."

"I can understand how losing a best friend can be hard," she smiled, her eyes staring at the pond.

"But, that's just it, you're more than just a friend to me," her eyes snapped to his face, her mouth open in shock, "Can't you see that I love you?"

She didn't move. She didn't speak or answer his question. What could she say? That she was sure that he would never see her as more than just a friend? That she never thought that he could love her, she wasn't very high royalty.

He placed his hands on either side of her face, and pressed his lips softly against hers. She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. They sat there kissing for some time, just enjoying each other's warm bodies on such a cold night. Finally he pulled away and smiled at her. He helped her to her feet, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a necklace just like the one Katara wore. Except the beautiful piece was red and carved into it was the Fire Nation symbol.

"Is this…"

"Yes. I had made it for you before the war. I wanted to give it to you when we were in Ba Sing Se, but you never gave me the chance. I know you're not of marring age, but we can wait till you are," Zuko blushed, "Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Of Course, I wouldn't dream of marring anyone else."

He clasped the black band around her neck so the red pendent was right in the middle of her neck, he whispered in her ear, "Happy birthday, my Princess."

Her eyes widened and she stared at him in shock. She had lost that long of time. She was fifteen yet she lost so much of last year it didn't seem like it was possible for her to already be fifteen. But, that also meant that in a year she would be able to marry Zuko.

Shocked she smiled at him and kissed him once more. When they pulled away they agreed it was time to go explain to everyone what was going on, and to say sorry for being so rude. They found them in the eating hall where Sokka was stuffing his face as fast as he possibly could. They were alerted to their presence when Aloria began to giggle at Sokka.

"Wats su fonny," Sokka spoke around the food in his mouth.

She began to laugh harder, her face lighting up and her hands clutching her sides. It had been so long since she had seen him do this, well with her memories anyways. Tears began to track down her face and that's when Sokka noticed the necklace.

"Hey, who gave that to you?"

"Do you like it," Aloria asked, finger the pendent.

"It's beautiful, the craving on it is fantastic," Katara gushed.

"I did the best I could," Zuko blushed.

"I think it's perfect, the best fifteenth birthday present I could ever get," she smiled at him, blushing.

"Wait, it's your birthday," Aang started to freak out.

"Oh man and we didn't get you anything," Toph sighed.

"It isn't important. I didn't even know it was my birthday till Zuko mentioned it."

"So you asked her to marry you, even though there is still a year left before she can get married," Suki asked.

"I figured it wouldn't hurt, we could always just plan for the wedding now, and marry sometime after she turns sixteen."

"What do you think the people of the city will say when they get news your engaged? None of them know Aloria is even alive," Katara pointed out.

"I guess I will have to find a way to explain to them all what happened and that it's really Aloria I'm engaged to. I mean, I'm sure they will realize it's her, once all of you say it is, and that she shows them she is the second Avatar, because everyone knows she is an Avatar."

"You mean I would have to perform in front of everyone? But, I'm hardly any good at bending anything other than fire," Aloria began to panic.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure no one will notice I'm engaged till way later on down the road and by then, you will be able to put on an amazing show," Zuko encouraged her.

"Yeah right," she smiled, "you're Fire Lord, someone is bound to find out and spread the roomer like wild fire."

"At any rate, we need to sit down and talk more. You missed out on a lot," Toph stated.

"I would like to hear everything,"

"We were… kinda hoping you would tell us what happened," Aang scratched the back of his head.

She sighed hard, and sat down around the table, staring at the food she recalled all the memories of what happened.

"I remember thinking, 'I can't do this', as I ran through the streets, but I knew I was being depended on."

She paused and her eyes closed. Zuko sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her waist; the other's sat straighter and watched her, waiting to hear everything, wanting to know all details about what happened to their beloved friend.

"I fought each person as they arrived, using water, then fire, then air, then earth, and I repeated. I didn't want to use just one, and I didn't want to over use them either. As I neared the center, I knew I had fought more people then I had originally thought, because I felt weak and my bending was nothing like it was in the beginning. I neared the center and I was suddenly surrounded.

Out of all the men there were three none-benders and I decided I would get rid of the benders first so that when my bending was exhausted I could simply use my hands and sword. But, I was wrong. After the last Firebender was taken care of, the three circled me. They must have seen me favor my right side. Suddenly two came at me, one from the left and one from behind and I side stepped to the right, they ran into each other like I had planned but the guy on the right slammed his sword hard into my right side.

The rib snapped. I almost blacked out the pain was so horrible. I could barely see, my sight was darkening, and when I got it down to just one of them, he slammed his sword threw me as far as it would go. I had never felt so much pain in all my life," her hand gripped her left side.

"Even the breaking of the rib felt like a tiny needle prick compared to the pain from the sword. I blacked out, it was too hard to stay awake, the pain made it more unbearable every second I forced myself to stay conscious. The next thing I knew, I heard Iroh explaining my broken rib to you guys and I made myself wake up, just to say goodbye even though the pain was tearing me apart. I wanted nothing more than in the moment for my pain to end and I knew once it did it meant I would be dead.

I felt the blade being removed from my body and it hurt so much worse than when it went in. I was in and out of consciousness; I didn't even want to be awake. I kept praying that I would just die already because the pain was becoming more unbearable, and then the pain lessened. I felt the cool feel of water on my wound and my pain stated to fade away just a little, but I noticed that after a while the pain started to return, but the feel of the water never left."

"That must have been when I started growing tired from using my healing on you for so long," Katara guessed.

"I remember the pain suddenly returning tenfold, then the water returned and this time, it felt so much better. The pain faded, but I ended up in the spirit world. They told me, that I had wished to die, but someone had saved my life. I pleaded with them not to let me go back. They said they couldn't stop me from returning to my body, but they could help me forget. They never said anything about forgetting everything.

I didn't want to live knowing that Zuko had gone another way, and chosen someone else to love. So I told them if I could only forget the love I had for him, I wouldn't mind living again. They took my memories, and they sent my spirit back to stay here. Had I known they would have taken all my memories, I would have just came back normally, but I was so scared, and I wanted nothing more than death at this point.

Cause, while the physical pain was gone for the moment, the emotional and mental scars were wide open."

Everyone bowed their heads, she suffered so much and they couldn't even think about the pain she was in worrying too much about losing her to even care if she was in pain.

"Enough about me, I see that you got over your fears Katara," Aloria smiled slyly.

Katara blushed wildly but still managed to say, "I took what you said to heart. After the war was over, there wasn't anything left to be afraid of."

"I'm glad. Love is very inspiring," Aloria winked at Katara and they shared a very large smile.

"This is because of that one night, isn't it," Sokka asked.

"If you're referring to the night on Ember Island, where I went to talk to her in her room, then yes," Aloria laughed.

They began talking about everything that happened. From Sokka, Suki, and Toph raiding the air fleet, to Aang taking the Firebending from Ozai. To the feelings they all felt when she was dying, to the trouble they went through to take her to the Northern Water Tribe. They sat there, for hours saying everything they had been wanting to say, even going as far back to the very beginning to when they first met in Omashu.

Smiling she stood with Zuko to go to his room. The night had been perfect. She was engaged, and happily wearing her necklace, even though it's only a Northern Water Tribe tradition. He had said that he noticed her liking of Katara's necklace, and she had even mentioned at one point liking Yue's necklace. So, he thought since she liked them so much, he would make her one, even if it was a tradition that was normally only used by the Northern Water Tribe.

They had talked about everything that needed to be said and more. There was no longer any misunderstanding between them. Now, all she had to do was get Katara and Aang to openly announce their relationship. She knew that Suki, Toph, Sokka, and Zuko didn't even know they were together. Aloria had only guessed because they seemed more comfortable together and there was no nervous blushing anymore, they touched often, and while to other's it looked accidental, she could tell, they were doing it on purpose.

It was an amazing day indeed. She couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would be like, now that she had Zuko by her side. She smiled at him as they lay in bed together getting ready for sleep. They shared one more sweet kiss before they got comfortable and went to sleep.