"The end of everything is here, Katara." The words reverberated through her very soul. Why did everything have to come crashing down on her in a matter of hours? She turned away from Zuko. Her eyes were slowly but surely glazing over. Turning as cold as she felt inside. As cold as the hands of death that she could almost feel slowly taking hold of the world, and crushing it to dust. Her world, and everything in it that she held so dear.

Zuko didn't even try to reach out to her. He didn't know what he would say if he did. And the news was affecting her too. After all, what were you supposed to say, or think when your power crazed father was on the verge of being able to tap into an unimaginable amount of strength and power? And when your always-conniving sister appeared to have mysteriously changed sides for even more mysterious reasons? When you hadn't heard from the one man who had stuck with you through it all for months on end? When you feared that he was…dead?

After a while passed in silence, they sat down, at different ends of the clearing. The clouds had finally cleared, and the pure light of the moon shone down upon them. Yet still, neither of them spoke. The wind whistled through the branches, and the leaves rustled. But no sound was uttered. A cloud passed in front of the moon, but both teenagers remained in their respective shrouds of silence. Time seemed suspended, as if refusing to move on without the two youngsters sitting motionless.

Both dozed off after a while, neither having spoken since Zuko's outburst. They were exhausted, and knew that it'd be a lot easier on both of them if they faced what they had to face in the morning. Once the raw emotion had had time to settle in, and that the sharpness of it had lessened. Once they stopped being at a loss of what to think. Once they understood what was going on. Once their minds were out of the state of numbness that they were presently in.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Back to the Campfire 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Everyone had eventually gone to bed. The last one to doze off was Suki. But in her semi-sleepiness, the overhead moon seemed to grow larger. And the she could see a face. Actually, no, it was an entire body. The body of an ethereally beautiful young woman. She seemed to be coming closer and closer with each passing second. But Suki's sleep-starved mind found it quite normal. She simple smiled up and the moon girl. Everything seemed so clear… "You're the one that made him so overprotective of everyone, aren't you? The one who makes him seem so sad while he looks at the moon."

Yue nodded, with a sad smile on her face. "I still miss him. I won't deny it. But you can love him for both of us. And he does need our help, after all!" At this, Suki chuckled lightly. "He deserves to be happy, but will also need a strong ally in his darker days. Someone who will always have faith in him no matter what. He will need us. No matter what he says."

Suki smiled at the semi-transparent girl in front of her. "You still love him, don't you…Not only do you miss him. You still love him." She smiled ruefully. "I think that I understand what you want from me. But more importantly, you should know that he misses you too. I'll try to help to make him happy, or as happy as I can make him, okay? I'm just glad you're not too mad at me for trying. You were his first love, but between the two of us, we should be able to figure out a way to do make this work. Thanks, Spirit of the Moon. It's awesome…the way that you're willing to give me a chance. Thanks, Yue."

The two girls, connected despite themselves, embraced warmly. Suki was too tired to wonder at the fact that she could touch a spirit, but was happy that she could. After all, souls could recognize when they were meant to love the same soul sometime in their lifetime. Yue smiled and gently backed up. "Listen, Suki-chan." Suki was rather surprised to hear the archaic appellation used, but since Yue was a spirit, it kind of made sense that she would use it. "I have put a tiny…well, it's kind of a link. I'm not really sure about how to explain it. But if you kind of…search? Yes, that would be the world. Look for the link in you head. It will be slightly pulsing. If you touch it mentally, you'll be in direct contact with my thoughts, and I'll be in your thoughts. It's kind of iffy, but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to figure it out quickly enough. If you're bored, or just want someone to talk to, don't be afraid to use it." She smiled. "I'll appreciate hearing from you, Suki-chan."

And then, she faded away. Suki felt a warm pulsing start up at the back of her head. She smiled. Yue was good. She had managed to give Suki a way to tell her if there was a problem with Sokka, and a way for the Gaang to reach her if they needed any help with anything Spirit-World related. Suki slowly fell asleep with a tiny smile on her face. Her conscience was at peace.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Middle of the night 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Toph's Dream

Dark. Pain! Screams… all around, no on there…

Fear… You could smell it. Dark. Screams echoing.

It was the end. Over… No more hope! It was…Pain. Pain!

Screams. Lightening cracked. A bolt seared across the sky.

No…more hope? Ever. Never. Dark!

They died. All of them…Dark. Screams. No hope.

Red all over. Eyes flashing. Dark. He stared.

Fall. No more. Death. Death by fire…

End of the world. End of everything.

He had died. No more hope. Pain… Dark, Fear.

Tears…no more. Never. No more hope.

Toph sat up, breathing quickly. It had happened again. The visions were back. And, if she could trust what had happened last time, Aang would be after her soon to ask her what she had seen. Well, more of demand to know. And she doubted that anyone would bother to interrupt him this time around. Not that she minded Aang as a person… He was fun to tease. It was the dark side of him that she was almost afraid of. He turned into a person with no mercy, no "nice flower obsessed side". Then she felt it. The little fluttering of feet that meant that Aang had just jumped into the air. She waited for the feather-light impact that meant that he had landed before she whispered, in a voice that barely wavered, "W-We have t-to talk, Aang." It was amazing at how much effort that they had taken.

She had been taken aback when Aang had out-earthbended her. She had been slightly broken, the walls around her cracked. And the fact that she had kept on having the visions only made her more nervous. She wasn't even sure about what she was going to talk to Aang about. She was rather nervous, and was afraid of what he might do if she flat out refused to talk. She would have normally not even have questioned his intentions, or the amount of danger he represented. But she had no idea what this darker, obviously power-infused version of the Avatar might do, or do to her. She had actually started to suspect that he was in a variation of the Avatar State, in which he was fully aware of the world around him, yet still possessing the power of all the Avatars before him.

She stopped behind a rather large boulder, a few meters away from their camp. She made sure that her back was to the rock, so as to be able to know the general direction of Aang. He seemed to have developed a way of avoiding her probing. "I…" She faltered. What was she supposed to say?! Then…

"There are people coming here. I can feel them walking!! And I think… that they're Fire Nation soldiers. I think. Although I could be wrong, since I'm just guessing from their walking styles. And there are a lot of them! We have to go wake the others!"

Glad with the distraction, she sent small rocks popping up under all of the sleeping forms that she could sense. Zuko and Katara's forms seemed to be far off, but she didn't bother to really think of it, absorbed as she was by trying to calculate the numbers that they were going to be dealing with. They were coming too fast… They weren't going to have time to react!

0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Zuko's Point Of View 0o0o0o0o0o0

He had woken up at the sensation of being roughly pulled to his feet. It took him a couple seconds before he realised that he was being tied to a tree. He started to wriggle, but the rope was already solidly around him by the time he managed it. 'Katara!' He blinked at the light from the flames around him, trying to see her through the darkness. It then dawned on him. 'Firebenders! They caught up to us!'

"Hello little prince." A cold drawl that he would recognize anywhere. Zhao. Zuko wondered for barely a second why he had left his ship, but then focused his attention on the man in front of him. He could feel the hate welling up inside him. He didn't even bother to acknowledge him. Zuko figured that Zhao was only trying to make him mad enough so that he would reveal things that he shouldn't.

"Oh, Zuzu, I heard the most interesting news the other day. In fact, it was about a man that I believe you hold dear. Your uncle, the Ex- (he put extra emphasis on the "ex" part) General Iroh." His eyes caught Zuko's almost hidden look of interest. "Ah, so you do want to know. Well, as you know, your sister captured your uncle a while back. She handed him over to the prison near the Capital. When she got ex-patriated," (At this, Zuko managed to muster up a look of surprise.) "Your father let him rot in his cell for a while before he finally took interest in him. Oh, I must say, you father has the best sense of timing ever."

Zuko's stomach was starting to drop. It was definitively bad news that his uncle had been in his father's hands. The same hands that had scarred him so badly. And the fact that Ozai had actually taken interest in Iroh's fate was even worse… Zuko wasn't sure that he wanted to know what Zhao meant with the comment about timing. But it wasn't his choice to hear or not. The spiteful man kept on talking.

"You know, a couple of weeks ago, it was your banishment anniversary. Who would ever have known that your father would think of that day as the day to deal with your uncle for good? Your uncle was executed on the same day as you were banished. Executed by your own father, in the same Agni Kai arena as you yourself learned the tough lessons of life. Good day to you, Zuzu."

Zuko just stared as the man that he loathed went to rejoin his soldiers. And suddenly, there was a very loud war yell as the blind earthbender, the strange boy that came with his sister, Azula and the Avatar came rushing at the soldiers from one side of the clearing. Katara's brother and the other girl that had arrived the other day ran in from the other side, looking just as determined. Zhao and his men started to back off.

Before long, they had high-tailed it out of the clearing. Sokka quickly slit Zuko and Katara's ropes. No one spoke as they walked towards Appa. Zuko walked as in a daze. He was just…stunned. He hadn't had time to take anything in. It was just happening all at the same time. All at the wrong time. Iroh…was gone. It just hadn't hit him completely yet. He didn't want it to. 'As long as I am still busy, I won't have time to think about it. No!' He hurriedly made his way to the camp to pack his things and to help with the others' things. They had decided that Sokka, Tomaku, Suki, Zuko and Azula would be flying on Appa. The others could propel themselves thanks to their bending, and they were sure that if they all got on to Appa, and added their weight to the weight of the gear, the latter would be exhausted after only a few minutes.

Zuko didn't want to fall asleep. But after all that he had just gone through, and all that he had felt, and thought about, and admitted… It was no surprise that he was asleep within mere minutes. He didn't want to see his own dreams. He was scared of himself. Of what he might think of. Of what his conscience was trying to tell him. Of what might happen if he tried to think of what Zhao had cruelly told him, and of what it entailed. He was terrified of sleeping, of thinking, of resting, of talking… Of remembering.

He was barely five years old. Running through the hallways of the palace, laughing care freely like only innocent children can. He rounded a corner and stopped dead. His father and his uncle were both standing there, seemingly in deep discussion. He stared at them for a second, then hid behind the corner as quickly as possible. The voices started to escalate. Timidly, he looked out, and saw his father shaking his fist at his uncle. Zuko felt his stomach sink. Suddenly, a blast of fire erupted. He sank down to the ground hiding his head in his arms. He didn't want to see what had happened. Like any five year old, he was terrified.

But then both men appeared in front of him. Iroh smiled openly, but Ozai seemed rather troubled. Both seemed to be looking at him intently.

Ozai spoke first. "Boy, you know that you must always put your father before all. I created you. You have a debt to me. Now come."

Zuko looked up at him fearfully. He didn't want to have to choose. But something in him was pushing him to make a choice. There was no middle ground.

Iroh just kept on smiling. Zuko relaxed slightly. He wouldn't be hurt.

Ozai cleared his throat. "What are you waiting for, boy? Get up, you wretch! You don't deserve to be of my blood! You don't even deserve to be alive. Yet I am talking to you, and if you knew anything, you would show me some respect and come with me."

Zuko's eyes went wide. He didn't understand. Why was his father mad at him? "Daddy…"

Ozai's eyes flashed angrily. "Never call me that. You are no son of mine. You dishonoured me in front of the whole war council. You dared to oppose me. I am not your father."

Zuko could feel the tears start to fall down on his cheeks. Why did his father hate him? He was just trying to be good. But Daddy was always mean to him. Always telling him that he was useless. Not as good as Azula. Why did Daddy always hate him? Why? He had never done anything wrong! But was he really useless like Daddy said? What was happening?

"Daddy!" Zuko cried out. "Daddy! I'm sorry, Daddy!"

Ozai's face went blank. "You dared to call me that again. You stupid, useless boy. You never learn. Well, it's time that you learn a lesson. And suffering shall be your teacher!" His fists lit up. The five year-old Zuko curled up into a ball, covering his face. He couldn't look up at his father. He … deserved this. Daddy was right. He was useless. Tears rushed down his cheeks. He waited for the pain of burning fire. But then…

"No Ozai. Not this time. You can't touch the boy. I won't let you. He is not, as you just said, yours anymore. I claim him as my own son. And you shall not touch one of my blood." Zuko peered up between his hands that covered his face. His uncle, the Dragon of the West, had stepped in front of him. And turned to smile at Zuko.

Zuko screamed. "UNCLE!!!"

And it was like in slow motion. A wave of fire left Ozai's extended hand. And hit Iroh in the chest, as true as an arrow. And then, the Dragon of the West fell. Gracefully, as if time itself refused to let him go. He slowly lay down in front of the terrified child. And Zuko's eyes clouded even more with tears from a pain that he refused to feel. Iroh was still smiling. Even in death, he brought comfort to his nephew.

Another sound drew Zuko's attention. Daddy was falling too. Daddy… with a hole in his chest. Daddy was gone. Daddy…couldn't hurt him anymore. Daddy would never love him. Uncle was gone forever. Uncle, who called him a son. Daddy, who renounced him. Daddy who said he hated him. Uncle who said he loved him. Dead. Both of them. Zuko was afraid. Alone. Forever. Alone. Uncle. Father. Iroh. Ozai. Dragon of the West. Fire Lord. Death… Pain… No more life. Love… Gone… Son… Nephew… Son… Daddy. Uncle…

The rest of the Gaang had woken up to terrible screams. Zuko had risen up in the air, surrounded by a halo of fire. Burning as bright as the sun. His unearthly scream had ceased, but his for remained suspended a couple of feet in the air. Through the fire, they could barely glimpse his body, but had figured out that he looked mostly unharmed. Sokka had remarked that this looked rather like the time when Aang had come into the Avatar State for the first time, at the Air Temple. Katara had tried to break the shield of fire with a dagger of ice, but it had only melted. Toph had tried to grab though to get Zuko's feet and pull him down, but the rocks had turned to liquid magma and she had quickly relented. Aang had tried to blow the flames out, but they only grew wilder, forcing the group to retreat until they returned to normal.

Azula had merely declared that he wouldn't come down until he was ready, and had returned to what she had been doing. Tomaku stared at the ball of fire thoughtfully and Suki had given up a while before Azula. Eventually, they decided that one of them should stay near the ball of fire that imprisoned Zuko while the others went walking around to get some food and water. Even if they were in a cave, that didn't mean that they weren't going to find anything: with Toph's super-senses, they were sure to get at least some things to eat, and water was in no short supply. Since Aang could waterbend, and that Katara was the only healer amongst them, she was voted to stay near the living fireball, in case he ended up burning himself when he got out.

She had deeply resented this at first, but the rest of the group ran away quickly and left her with the decision of either going after them, and missing a hurt Zuko exit the flames, or staying put. And, being Katara, she stayed. It was a rather boring thing to be doing, but after a while, she started to wonder whether Zuko could actually hear her or not. Feeling rather stupid, she called out. "Zuko, are you okay?"

In response, a flame burst out from the top of the sphere, almost giving her a heart attack. She backed away a few feet. She stayed quiet for a second, wondering if he was mad at her, or if he could even actually hear her. And, being who she was, she tried again. "Zuko, do you need help to get out of there?" This time, the fireball seemed to shrink a bit. Katara was puzzled. Did that mean that he wasn't okay, but that he needed help anyways? 'One last try, then I'll see if I can get him out of there.' She took a step towards it again. "Zuko, what did Zhao say about Iroh –"

At the retired General's name, the ball of fire seemed to explode. Katara jumped onto the ground in an effort to protect herself. But there was no need to do so. The fire that had so scared her didn't even touch her. As if it was purposely avoiding her, not wanting to hurt her. She stood up. The fire had receded, and the fireball was at a constant size again. But now the waterbender had an idea. She made herself a water glove, just for extra protection, and approached the wall of fire that separated her from the elder boy.

Hesitantly, she moved forward until she was almost touching it. Every single reflex that she had as a waterbender was screaming at her to get out of there, and to back away from the fire. But she forced herself to keep on going. And, as she had predicted, the fire recoiled from her, not seeming to want to burn her. She reached out with her gloved hand, praying that she had used enough water. As soon as it touched the wall of fire, a cloud of steam formed around her.

She kept on reaching forward. To her horror, the water was completely gone around her hand. But she didn't feel any burning pain. So she didn't withdraw her hand. Suddenly, she touched something that felt as cold as ice. And started when it grasped her hand, pulling her forward. Terrified, she resisted, but was overwhelmed by the superior strength of the one pulling her. She closed her eyes, ready to die. Heart full of terror, but no screams coming out of her mouth.

And then, feeling nothing other than ice cold, she opened her eyes. And there stood Zuko, floating in mid-air. Yet so was she. He was grasping her hand. He was a pale white, almost icy. The inferno that swirled around them seemed to do nothing to warm him. His eyes were wide open in terror, and confusion. He shook slightly, as if he was cold. 'But that's impossible! With these flames, he should be burning up…' It was then that she noticed that she wasn't warm, or sweating anymore. The iciness of the centre of the fireball had chilled her to the bone.

Zuko still held onto her hand, like onto a lifeline. Then he spoke. His voice was grave and emotionless. Like the cold fire that surrounded them. "You wanted to know about Iroh." The inferno responded with a roar. Zuko didn't even seem to notice. His eyes shone were still staring piercingly at her, making her skin prickle. They seemed almost … dead. "Iroh. My uncle. The only father I ever had." All around them was being consumed as the fireball erupted. Yet the two teenagers stood, face to face, heart to heart, in the middle of it all. "He was killed. Executed. By the man who always claimed that I was no son of his. By my traitorous father. By the man who hates his own son. By … Dad." He seemed to almost spit out the last word.

His eyes had captured Katara's and were bringing her down into the swirling depths of the broken heart of the young man who stood in front of her. Darkness, Light, interwined, swirling all around them as they made their descent to his very soul. Katara had started to shake, mirroring the one in front of her. Both were terrified, reliving time and time again the times when they were at their weakest. The darkest times in their lives.

My mother died when I was too young… Mom sacrificed herself for me…

Dad left me all alone. Abandoned me. Daddy hated me. He wished I was never born.

I was so scared… So scared… So alone… I was so lonely…

I had to grow up too fast…I was made to be an adult overnight…

I hate this war… This war has ruined my life…

It just … … … … isn't fair.

I'm terrified I won't be good enough. Scared I won't know what the right choice is.

We're just teenagers… but we don't have a choice.

We have to end this war.

We have to be strong.

Together.

And when they resurfaced, both clinging to each other as tightly as possible, they knew that trust would never be an issue. Never again. Seeing the soul of another person wasn't exactly a walk in the park. They were linked inextricably to each other now. But it would help them through the darkest times. In the deepest despair. When they truly needed someone, they would know someone else was there for them.

And then they were standing on the ground, with no notion of how they got there. Still holding each other as tightly as physically possible. Katara was vaguely conscious of the fact that the fireball had disappeared; leaving a mist that blocked anything further than three feet away from view. The noises of the cave slowly came back into being. And the two teenagers reluctantly let go of each other, blushing horridly now that the moment was passed. Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, while Katara fiddled with her hands. Until she noticed that her right one was all red and puffy. Her stomach sank. She needed to get it healed before the rest of the Gaang returned, or they would think that Zuko had attacked her.

"Zuko, cup your hands." He looked at her confusedly, but did as she said. With her left hand, she bended some water out of the mist into his hands, then put her right one into it. Luckily, his hands were larger than her own and contained enough water for her to immerge her injured hand almost completely. She healed the first two layers of skin, bended out some more water, and then healed the final layer. Her hand looked exactly like it had before the whole incident.

She grinned, then lifted her eyes back to Zuko's face. "Ok, Hot Head, we now have to find a convincing story to tell the rest of them before they get back. Since I'm betting that they're going to want to know where the steam came from. And I hope that you're a good liar, because Toph is a walking-talking lying detecting machine."

Zuko's grin matched her own. This was going to be fun, after the deeply emotional morning. After all, how often do you get to lie through your teeth to people who would joyously scalp you and anyone else involved if they knew what had actually happened?

They turned towards a clear slate of rock and started to plot their final act.