All right! Welcome to part one of the finale!

"The world consumed by fire,
The taste of ashes on your tongue;
Though it does not seem like truth,
The battle has been won."
-Me

Once again, thanks for reading, and please review!

The blast of fire sets ablaze the morning, the searing heat devouring the oxygen in the air. Zuko, however, is still able to gasp and grit his teeth when his pupil makes a feeble attempt to mimic it.

"Come on," Zuko criticizes. "You have to be more fierce."

Aang takes a breath and draws back his arm, then steps forward and throws a punch at empty air. A red-hot flame erupts from it, slightly better than its predecessor. Sokka, Toph, and Suki, the spectators, clap politely.

"That was a little better," Zuko admits honestly. "But I still think-"

"Hey, guys!" Katara calls out, striding into the courtyard with a full tray of drinks. "I made some watermelon juice, do you- oh!" Aang and Sokka are in front of her immediately, hands outstretched, while Suki laughs at them from the steps. Before any of them can get a drink, however, Toph bends the tray of juice towards her lazily, the glasses rattling at the impact of the rock as they sail through the air and land with a thud, the drinks sloshing a bit less than they should've.

Zuko grinds his teeth. "How are you all able to be so lazy?"

"How are you so uptight?" Toph replies swiftly, causing Sokka to snort with laughter he half-heartedly attempts to stifle.

"I am not uptight! I just think this isn't the best time for a vacation!"

"I for one," Sokka contributes lightly, "enjoy being lazy. So I am heading down to the beach, and am going to have a party. Anyone who likes having fun can join me." No one says anything at first, so he pulls Suki up and says "Come on" before marching down to the beckoning shore.

Toph smiles slightly, her unseeing eyes spying trouble in the future. "Come on, Sugar Queen," she sighs to Katara. "Let's make sure Sokka doesn't hurt himself."

"I'll come!" Aang offers as the two girls begin to leave, but Zuko quickly rebukes him, hurls sharp words at the boy that don't seem to have the same effect they used to.

"Aang, you're in the middle of a firebending lesson!"

"We can pick it up later!" Aang calls, his toes already squishing the sand, eyes alight with the ocean breeze that sweeps him away all too soon.

Zuko curses softly under his breath. The comet returns in three days, how can they be so stubborn and lethargic? The world is in jeopardy, and they, a group of powerful teenagers, are the ones destined to save it. And they don't care that they are not ready, don't even seem to know just how much the world's fate rests upon them, except for perhaps Aang, who chooses the avoid it for as long as he can. Zuko knows he is the only one to be fully aware that he has this looming reality hanging above his head, for destiny is what ruined his life and saved it ten times over. He knows what he must do, and who must die- the man who declared Zuko prince and son, the man who took that all away in an instant. It lays heavily on his shoulders, the imaginary corpse of his father, like the weight of the world. The painful memories that so often overtake the teen all lead back to Ozai's face, a face unscarred to everyone but Zuko, appropriately.

Something has to be done, Zuko muses. Oh, yes, something must be done.

He walks forward, peering at the five friends grouped happily on the beach, without a care in the world, oblivious to all the cares they should have. As much as he yearns to join them, he knows that it would do the world no good. They will lose this war if Zuko does not think of something to incite a more determined reaction, something to fan the flames. And if they lose, not only will the world fall into a frenzied chaos, but what will become of Zuko's forsaking of his crown, his country? Will it prove to be his greatest regret, instead of his greatest revelation?

How do the others not yet feel this heat? he wonders, and then it hits him, what he can do. He must make them feel the heat.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Aang yells, dodging a tongue of scorching fire thrown his way. He and Zuko stand breathless near the house, while the others race to catch up and decipher how Zuko has spun into madness, lost all control and fallen victim once more to the influence of his past and his family.

Zuko doesn't answer, just sends another column of hellish flame in Aang's direction with bared teeth and most arduous effort.

"Zuko, stop!" he hears Sokka screech futilely, but Zuko's vision of the rest of the group is quickly blocked by the dense smoke rising from the very trust he has worked for the past few weeks as it burns and disintegrates.

"I won't hurt you!" Aang shouts, airbending a blast of fire away from his body and scattering wisps of flame it in all direction. He turns on a dime and sprints through the courtyard into the house.

"Fight back!" Zuko screams at his retreating back. "FIGHT BACK!"

Aang cranes his neck in the doorway to look at his unexpected opponent, face flushed, and sends a stream of cool air his way. Zuko is knocked backward in a whoosh of wind and lands flat on his back; the attack was not designed to hurt him, he knows, just give the Avatar time to escape. He sputters out a cough as he sits up, forces himself to his feet when he spies silhouettes darting through the smoke.

"Aang!" roars Zuko as he runs into the house, the walls and objects catching fire, fire that licks and destroys as it consumes with a deadly kiss. But what does he care for these things, the relics of his family, no matter what Aang d the others are starting to think? It is better that they fall into these ashes, are devoured by his fire and his fire alone- the paintings and toys and ancient books that he once spun his happiest dreams of, before he woke up to the harsh reality seeping through his sheets.

Aang runs through the crackling orange and red tunnel of a hall, and Zuko forces his way through the eye-stinging smoke and gusts of needed but malevolent air. They fight their way through the crumbling foundation of the house, and only when they reach fresh air again does Aang finally launch a real attack, sends his own jet of flame at Zuko, which is quickly deflected but followed by a clump of heavy dirt that hits him square in the chest. Zuko tumbles backward and feels cold hands clamp onto his arms and twist painfully. Katara. She shoves him to the ground, fury etched on her face as the others tentatively come up behind her. Aang also approaches, panting, as Katara fumes above Zuko.

"What is wrong with you?"

Zuko grimaces. "How can you guys just relax and have a party when the comet comes in three days time?"

Sokka blinks. "Is that what that was about? Spirits, you could've just asked!"

"You wouldn't have listened!"

No one says anything in reply to this, just shift uncomfortably, as if they all bear a secret Zuko hasn't an inkling of.

"Well? Are you going to answer my question or not?"

Aang sighs, and shuffles his feet. "Well, the thing is… we sort of decided to wait until, you know… after the comet. The Fire Nation has already won the war, why can't we just wait until we're ready?"

Zuko looks at Aang in disbelief, but allows the Avatar to help him to his feet again. "What do you mean?" he asks dumbly, fear making his stomach sink.

"Well, things couldn't possibly get any worse, right?" Katara says.

"Actually," Zuko replies grimly, and notices with a bleak satisfaction when panic overcomes their faces. "They can. On the day before the eclipse, a war meeting was held, the last I ever attended. We discussed the rebellion of the Earth Kingdom, and Azula…well, Azula suggested we just burn it all the to ground. So my father came up with a plan. To do that." The others don't say a word, are smothered by a stunned silence. "So, if you guys wait to save the world, there might not be a world to save anymore."

"You mean…" Aang says slowly, eyes widening in horror. "I have three days to confront the Fire Lord?"

Zuko nods dourly. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

Aang wobbles slightly, his knees giving way, and Zuko and Sokka hurriedly reach out to steady the younger boy.

"It'll be fine, Aang," Sokka assures. "The six of us can take him, no problem."

"The six of us?" Aang repeats numbly.

"You didn't think we'd be sitting on the sidelines while the Fire Lord's wiping the floor with you, did you?" Toph questions, and the others cringe at her bluntness.

"What? No!" Aang objects loudly, finally grasping the concept as if it's something slick and slippery. "I'm not letting you guys put yourselves in danger for me!"

The other five exchange slightly amused glances.

"A little late for that, sport." Sokka laughs. "We are going take down Fire Lord Ozai together."

And that's when Zuko experiences his first group hug with the gang- well meant, encouraging, and extremely awkward.

"Come on, Aang," he says after he escapes, and he and the young airbender head to the courtyard once more. "If you are going to face my father, there is one technique you must know."

"And what's that?"

"How to redirect lightning." He takes a breath and walks him through the movements. "Although the feeling is exhilarating, one wrong move could prove fatal."

"Well, not fatal, right? I mean, there's always Katara and some magic healing water."

Katara bites her lip as she and Toph watch nearby. "Actually, I used it all up in Ba Sing Se." She avoids Zuko's gaze when she says this.

"Oh." Aang mimics Zuko's motions, trying hard not to show fear. He looks at Zuko, who nods approvingly.

"Against an opponent as vicious as Ozai, Aang, you'll have no choice but to take his life." He pretends not to notice the disgusted look. "You have to direct it from your arm and through your stomach to your other arm. If it touches your heart, that's it."

Aang looks queasy. "Have you ever redirected lightning, Zuko?"

The ex prince of the Fire Nation sighs, remembering a sunless day and the feeling of power coursing through his body, an electric storm. "Once."

However, he knows the storm is only beginning.

"Toph, would you watch where you're throwing those rocks?" Sokka yells, slicing his sword through the air.

"I am not Toph!" Toph cackles from her place next to a melon dummy of the Fire Lord as she sends rocks at the training team. "I am Melon Lord!"

Zuko senses Katara roll her blue eyes from next to him, and the two continue to weave through one another's patterns and footsteps, watching each others' backs vigilantly and sending their elements through the rocks Toph hurls at them. They are a good team, Zuko must admit, but he can still feel Katara's anger at him for his earlier stunt contaminating their dynamic.

Aang breaks through the path they've cleared for him and uses his glider to approach the dummy, a vicious scowl on his face. He pauses with his glider raised just above the melon, and Toph, as well as Zuko and the others, frowns.

"What are you waiting for?" Sokka calls from where he stands, sword poised, with Suki and her dangerous fans. "Finish him off!"

"I can't," Aang replies. "It doesn't feel right."

Sokka storms up to Aang and thee dummy and promptly slices off its head. "There. That's how it's done."

The night passes excruciatingly slow, and Zuko's dreams are too twisted to decipher; all he can remember is the terror upon waking up, a terror that is proved justified when he realizes that Aang is gone that following morning.

"Katara, have you seen Aang?"

She looks at him worriedly. "No. Suki and I looked everywhere. At first I thought he might be on a Spirit World journey, but his body would still be here, right?"

"Right." he answers glumly. Sokka, Toph, and Suki troop into the room. "Let's split up and search the island.

"I'm going with Zuko!" Toph states, too possessively and too quickly. Everyone looks at her strangely, and Zuko edges and inch or two away. "What? Everyone else has gone on life-changing field-trips with him. It's my turn."

"Wait a minute," Sokka says. "Is his glider still here? And Appa?"

"Yes…"

"Then he probably didn't run away."

"You think he was stolen?" Suki questions worriedly.

"It's a possibility."

Everyone looks inexplicably to Zuko, who scowls. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Well," Toph supplies. "You are the expert on hunting the Avatar."

Zuko rubs the back of his neck, considering his options. Two days until the comet, so they have no time for guesses. "I know who can help us," he says.