A/N: Hey everyone! This chapter is kinda choppy, with a little skimming of a couple of monotonous weeks. You'll see what I mean. This is the second to last chapter, with the next one being the finale. I'll update this one more time when I release the sequel, but it is finally coming to a close. I have been doing a terrible job responding to reviews, so I vow to personally respond to each one for this chapter, so review. More importantly, enjoy Chapter 25!
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Aang and Toph had flown throughout the night, determined to reach Ba Sing Se as quickly as possible. The young airbender sat on Appa's head, eyes scanning the horizon for the trademark stone wall. He knew that Appa was getting tired, but he also knew that he would need to get to Zuko to start his firebending as soon as he could. Toph was asleep in the saddle and the sun was just beginning to rise when Aang spotted the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom capital. He still had no idea that the city had been liberated, and wasn't exactly sure how he planned on finding his firebending master. He figured the easiest way would be trying to spot them from the air, but he was worried about the kind of attention it would attract. He had eighteen days until the comet arrived, and he had a ton of firebending to master in that amount of time. There was no time to waste on staying safe, and if Aang wanted even the slightest chance of mastering the Avatar State in time for Sozin's Comet, he knew he would need to reunite with Zuko before the day was over.
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Zuko had gotten up early and was out watching the sunrise in the back of Iroh's apartment. So much had happened in the past few months and he had never really had time to process any of it. Hell, enough had happened in the past few days for the firebender to be in dire need of some serious alone time. While he was really enjoying spending the time with his mother, uncle, and Katara, he had a nagging feeling that something bad was going on with Aang. He sighed as he sat leaning on the trunk of the lone tree in the small yard. "You sound a little stressed," came his mother's playful voice from behind him. She sat down next to Zuko and stared at the rising sun with him. "Is it about Katara again?"
Zuko shrugged slightly. "Among other things, yes. I'm pretty confident about all of that stuff; I'm a lot more worried about Aang right now."
Ursa laughed lightly and put an arm around Zuko's shoulder like she had when he was a kid. "Worried about him mastering the Avatar State or the fact that your father and sister are trying to kill him?" She talked playfully, trying to lighten the situation, but it was too close to the day of the comet for Zuko to feel comfortable.
"Both. Frankly, I'm not even sure Aang can defeat the Firelord in the Avatar State, and if he loses… it's over." Ursa sighed at her son's dark tone, hating the amount of pressure he was under.
"We just have to believe that Aang will be strong enough to defeat your father… there isn't too much else that we can do." Zuko huffed in annoyance.
"That's the problem," he said, getting up to emphasize his frustration. "I feel like I need to do more; like I should be able to help him fight. Why does the fate of the world have to rest on his shoulders? I don't think he has the guts to do what needs to be done…" Ursa stood up and put her hand on Zuko's shoulder, smiling reassuringly at him. Just as she was about to respond, they both heard a loud groan and looked to the sky to find Appa flying overhead. "Aang?"
"I'll go get Iroh and Katara," Ursa said as she turned to head inside.
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Appa was flying over the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se when a blast of fire shot up a few feet away from them. Aang looked to where the poorly fired blast had come from, and noticed a small figure standing alone in a small yard. Another blast shot up at them, clearly not trying to actually make contact with the flying bison. Aang guided Appa toward the ground to see what was going on, and sped the bison up once he realized that Zuko was the one firing at them. Appa landed in the grass, taking up almost all of the room behind Iroh's apartment. And Toph and Aang dismounted as Iroh, Ursa, and Katara made their way outside.
Zuko was right next to Aang by the time he hit the ground. "Please tell me mastering the Avatar State was way easier than you had expected." Aang looked down in shame and smiled sheepishly.
"Umm, not exactly. Apparently the only way to master the Avatar State now is..." the monk rubbed the back of his neck and dropped his voice to a barely audible level. "… to master all four elements." Katara's eyes widened and Zuko stood awestruck.
"No…" Katara started, vaguely wondering if it could just be a bad dream she was about to wake up from. "Y-you can't be serious. How- but… That's not possible."
"There is no way you can master firebending in eighteen days. Even if my uncle teaches you; that just isn't realistic." Zuko said. A momentary silence fell across the group as Zuko tried to think of a plausible course of action. "Okay, so I can go get Sokka and the others while my uncle teaches you firebending and then we can-" Iroh cut Zuko off from his rant by coughing loudly from behind the flustered firebender.
"That won't work. I'm leaving to go to the Eastern part of the Earth Kingdom. I'm meeting back up with the Order of the White Lotus to plan our invasion of the Fire Nation on the day of the Comet… We figured that Ozai would be spending most of his resources focusing on taking back Ba Sing Se and the Palace City would be left vulnerable."
"Katara and I could go get Snoozles and his girlfriend while you teach Aang." Toph added, but Iroh shot down her idea as well.
"All of you will need to head East as well. If you can catch the Fire Nation Army off guard on the coastline you will have a bit of an advantage. If you allow them to reach Ba Sing Se, they will already be prepared to attack and expecting resistance."
"What if Aang and Zuko train during the day and Katara and Toph fly back at night?" Ursa offered. "This way you can travel and still get in as much practice as possible."
"That sounds like the best idea we have…" Katara said, and the others nodded in agreement. "I'll go get started on breakfast and then packing all of our stuff." Katara turned to head inside, followed by Ursa, Toph, and Iroh.
"I'll go take a quick nap and then we can start training." Aang said as he started making his way inside, only to be jerked back by the collar of his shirt.
"Not happening. We don't have time to waste." Zuko said, causing Aang to turn and look at him skeptically.
"I agree, but I haven't slept in almost a full day." Aang whined, watching as Appa laid down and drifted off into his own slumber.
"You can sleep when you're dead." Zuko responded forcefully. I just hope it doesn't come to that…
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Everyone was loaded onto Appa's saddle, ready to head off to pick up the others. Aang fell asleep before his head hit his pillow, and Katara grabbed the reigns to lead them back to the Air Temple. Aang's training session had been focused on 'defensive firebending,' which basically meant dissipating fire before it actually struck anything. Aang had not created a single spark of his own fire, but had spent all day being shot at and told to only use firebending to block the blasts. Ten hours of this with very few breaks had left the monk singed, tired, hungry, and thirsty. Even Zuko had begun to feel fatigued by the end, and he too was planning on sleeping through the night as the Gaang made their way back to the Eastern Air Temple. Katara and Toph had slept during the day, so they were going to stay up and guide Appa. Toph couldn't do much of the actual steering, but decided to keep Katara company on the long ride back.
After everyone had said their goodbyes and was ready to leave, Katara commanded Appa into the skies and moved back to the saddle with the others after steering the bison in the correct direction. Toph had her usual take-off death grip on the saddle and Aang was sleeping with Momo curled up next to his sleeping roll. Zuko was still a bit shaken up after having to leave his mother so soon, and couldn't seem to fall asleep. Katara noticed and scooted over to him, trying to think of how to comfort the firebender.
"Don't worry about it Katara, I'm fine." Zuko said, shocking the girl out of her thoughts. She hadn't been expecting him to break the silence, and she could easily tell he was lying.
"No you're not, and I wouldn't expect you to be… I can't imagine how hard it must be to leave her so soon after you found her again." Zuko sat up next to his girlfriend, smiling slightly as he put an arm around her shoulder.
His expression saddened quickly as he was unable to fake a smile with everything going on. "I just can't help but worry that this was the last time I will ever see her…" Katara turned to Zuko in surprise, slightly angered at his pessimistic outlook.
"Don't talk like that Zuko. You'll be fine." She said confidently, trying to hide the fear she was feeling as well. "We all will…" She finished a little softer and less sure.
"I hope you're right Katara." Zuko sighed as if he was dismissing the topic. "I need to get some sleep, I have a lot of training to do tomorrow."
Katara nodded and allowed him to lie down. "Goodnight," she said softly, her thoughts shifting to everything that was going to happen in just over two weeks. Zuko responded with a soft 'goodnight' of his own, and Katara made her way back up to Appa's head as she prepared for a long night of flying and thinking about the future.
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The group kept the same schedule for the next two days, and finally reached the Eastern Air Temple early in the morning. Aang still had not even begun to produce flames of his own, as Zuko claimed that his first priority was to stay alive, and that he had three other elements he could attack with. Toph quickly found Sokka and the others as they had ended up circling back near the temple after another incident rendered one of Teo's wheels useless. Sokka and Haru had been forced to carry the younger boy, and had taken a full three days to backtrack to the temple grounds. Katara slept for a while in the morning to rest up after flying all night, but woke up in time to prepare a modest lunch for the entire group. Zuko and Aang only stopped by long enough to pick up their food before heading back to their training, leaving Katara and Toph to explain the situation to everyone else. Teo, The Duke, and Haru decided to fix Teo's wheelchair rather than listen in on the war plans, so Sokka and Suki were the only ones that needed filling in.
As Toph finished explaining and Katara left to go start dinner, Sokka's face fell and his tone darkened. "I guess Zuko and I will talk over some ideas later tonight… This is bad… This is really bad."
Suki nodded solemnly in agreement and Toph sighed heavily. "Yeah, we're in some serious trouble this time. We don't even know how their attack is going to get here. If they come by sea they could already be heading down around the South toward Chameleon Bay. They might just come straight across and make their way to Ba Sing Se on foot, or they can come by air and move in all in one day. Plus we are going to need to take care of an entire firebending army and the Firelord himself."
Sokka looked at the blind earthbender thoughtfully before he decided to cancel out the first option. "They wouldn't come through the South, they lost virtually al of their control there when Ba Sing Se was liberated. They're probably spending a lot of time planning everything out step by step, so I doubt they have left yet. If they come by sea than Katara will have a slight advantage… but the airships would be a huge problem. Basically we are going to need a miracle, but we can discuss it more when Zuko and Aang are here."
Toph and Suki silently agreed and the three were left in silence until Katara broke it by announcing it was time for dinner. Teo, The Duke and Haru were relieved to be eating food cooked by Katara rather than Suki or Sokka, but neither warrior were paying any attention to their meal as they were both distracted by the upcoming comet. Suki offered to help wash the dishes when they were done eating, and Toph decided to deliver Zuko and Aang their meals.
She approached their makeshift training ground with the rapidly cooling plates of food, but neither bender noticed her entrance. "No! I know you're tired, but you have to keep your breathing steady! Breath is the key to firebending… do you really want to go over this again?" Zuko yelled, clearly annoyed that Aang hadn't mastered the basics yet. He knew he was expecting the kid to move way too fast, but the comet wasn't about to wait for anyone.
"No, please not that again." Zuko shot more blasts in Aang's direction in response, all of which the monk dissipated while keeping his breathing steady and even.
"Better… you have ten minutes to eat, and then we need to start back up again." Zuko said, nodding toward Toph when Aang looked at him confused. Aang sprinted toward the food and planned to fully relish every second of his small break, knowing that he would be worked even harder for the last few hours of daylight. Zuko walked over to the food and noticed the way Aang looked. There were bags under the monk's eyes, he looked slightly dehydrated and incredibly worn out. Zuko growled quietly to himself as he realized that pushing the young boy this hard would not get him anywhere, and that he wasn't going to make any progress until he was rested up a bit.
"On second thought Aang, take the rest of the night off. You need to get some sleep. We'll start back up at sunrise." Aang blinked at his teacher in surprise, but who was he to argue? He grabbed his plate and scrambled out of the clearing before Zuko could change his mind, leaving the stressed out firebender alone with Toph.
"Sokka wanted to talk to you about our plans for the day of the comet, if you're done for the night it might be a good idea…" Zuko nodded at the earthbender as they started back toward the main area. By the time they got back, Katara and Suki had already finished up the dishes and were sitting around the fire with Sokka. Zuko and Toph sat down and the firebender began to eat as Toph explained that Aang needed the night off to rest.
"So…" Katara started, waiting for someone to throw out an idea for the battle plans.
Zuko broke the ice, being as direct as he possibly could. "There is no way Aang is mastering fire in two weeks. Even training this much and as talented as he is, there is no possible chance."
"Maybe if you actually taught him to use fire he would have a better chance. He hasn't even made a flame yet." Sokka responded, slightly agitating Zuko.
"I'm trying to keep the kid alive. With the comet boosting firebending it's the only element that he is going to be able to protect himself with. He has three others that he can use to attack, and staying alive is the first priority. We don't necessarily have to win the war on the day of the comet; we just need to survive it." Zuko said, refusing to lose his composure when he needed to stay cool headed the most.
"I agree," said Suki, "but a good offense really helps keep an opponent off their game. Attacking with the other elements will help, but like you said, fire is the only one that is really going to make a difference. Do you really think Aang can just duck and dodge the entire time the comet is there?"
Zuko sighed heavily, knowing the only real option they had left at this point. "No, I don't. Aang will definitely need firepower if he wants to survive this fight. There is no way he is going to be good enough at firebending to fight my father with it in two weeks. Our best bet is if I fight my father with Aang while you guys focus on taking out the army before it can start its attack."
"What?" Katara asked, standing to yell at Zuko. "No way. You aren't good enough to fight your father and we all know it! What if you get hurt?"
"That's kinda the point. If Aang and I team up on him we stand a decent chance, and if all else fails, I'll be there to protect Aang. He is the most important person at this point."
Sokka, Suki, and Toph all begrudgingly agreed with the plan, figuring it was the best they could think of at the moment. "This is stupid! You know what, fine! You guys can all go get yourselves killed!" Katara yelled before storming off to her room. She hated the idea of losing anyone else she cared about to the Fire Nation, and refused to believe that there was no other option.
"Ugh, I'll go talk to her." Zuko said, getting up to follow her. He walked to the waterbender's room and found her sitting on her bed crying and holding her necklace. "Katara-" he started, but was quickly cut off.
"I don't want anyone else to die!" Katara wiped tears from her eyes as she tried in vain to stop crying. "It isn't fair; I've lost enough people to this war. Why do you have to get involved in this?" Zuko sighed as he sat down and enveloped Katara in a hug.
"I'm not dead yet, right? Who knows, maybe we'll be able to pull it off. But even if we can't, you know this is what we have to do."
"I-I know," Katara said in between sniffles. "I just wish no one else had to get hurt. Haven't we fought enough?"
"Heh, I'd say we've done more than our fair share of fighting. But once this is over, we won't have to fight at all anymore. I would say we have a pretty good cause though, wouldn't you?" Katara couldn't argue that the fate of the world was well worth fighting for, so she settled for pouting and refusing to accept that it was fair. "Besides, I seriously doubt I'll get hurt too badly." Katara looked up, curious as to what made him so confident. "I have something, or rather, someone to hold on to now."
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"Good work today, maybe tomorrow we will start working with actual fire." Aang nodded excitedly and took off to go bathe before he went to bed. There were only five days until the comet would arrive, and Aang had already been informed of the plan to have Zuko fighting by his side during the comet. They had continued the pace of training all day every day, and Aang had been improving much faster since a little pressure had been lifted from him. He was an expert at every type of defensive bending Zuko knew, which had been a surprisingly high number. He had even learned to turn fire back on his opponent using some waterbending styles Katara had taught him.
Zuko walked slowly back to the temple taking his time to enjoy the quiet. He had noticed that as the comet drew nearer and nearer, he had enjoyed the calm serenity of the Eastern Air Temple more and more. He assumed it had something to do with the fact that he was worried he would die in a few days, but he didn't want to get too hung up on thoughts like that.
"Sokka, can I talk to you?" Zuko asked as soon as he got back to the main area. Sokka nodded and Zuko led him well away from all of the others. Once they were clearly out of sight, earshot, and far enough away that Toph would have trouble figuring out what was going on, the firebender pulled a blue ribbon out of his pocket. Attached to it was a small pendant that was in the shape of a perfect circle. It was a mixture of blue and red, with hints of purple wherever the two colors clashed. Etched on the front was a design Sokka had practically memorized by now, as it was the exact same as the one Katara always wore around her neck.
"I want to marry your sister."
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The sound of the crackling fire was the only thing that could be heard throughout the entire camp. No one wanted to be the first to go to bed, because no one was going to be falling asleep very easily. It was the night before the day of Sozin's Comet. Everyone was lost in thought, mentally preparing themselves for the coming day. They would eat breakfast in the morning, head to the coastline, drop Zuko and Aang off, and move out to try and attack the army while it was still in route to the Earth Kingdom. None of them were sure of what would happen, but all of them were afraid to find out.
Finally Katara couldn't take the silence anymore, and decided to break it. "We're all going to need some sleep if we want to be ready for tomorrow." It was a stupid statement since none of them wanted to be ready for the next day. They had to be.
"Yeah well, this is really depressing and Sugar Queen is probably right. I'm going to bed." Toph got up and headed to her room without waiting for a response, mostly because no one was listening anyway. Aang soon followed her lead and went to bed as well. A few minutes later Suki got up and headed to her room without saying anything, and Sokka stood up a few minutes later.
"Goodnight. See you in the morning." Sokka said solemnly. Katara ignored the fact that Sokka had left in the opposite direction of his room and decided to focus more on the only person left with her.
Zuko sat across the fire from his girlfriend, his hand clutching the necklace in his pocket. Surprisingly, the fact that he was planning on proposing to Katara was making him more nervous than the comet. "Can we talk?" he asked her, noticing the slight look of confusion on her face. He figured his tone sounded incredibly serious, and he couldn't help but think it had probably scared her a little bit.
She nodded and he slowly led her around the temple, walking relatively aimlessly. He couldn't work up the courage to say what he wanted, and wondering why something so simple could possibly be so hard. "You seem nervous," Katara said as she stepped past Zuko and took the lead.
"You have no idea…" Zuko responded slowly, following as Katara walked further away from the fire.
"Yeah, I guess I'm nervous about it too. Of course, you're probably pretty scared too, huh?" Katara jested playfully, knowing full well that Zuko wouldn't admit to being afraid.
"Terrified, actually." Katara's mood dropped as she realized how scared the firebender would actually need to be in order to say it out loud.
"I can imagine. You and Aang are powerful though, I'm sure you'll be alright. Besides, I'll heal any damage you guys take. You definitely don't need to worry about the rest of us though. Just concentrate on fighting your own battle." Katara tried to be as reassuring as possible despite the fact that she was scared as well.
"I'm not worried about any of that… I'm scared of how you're going to react." Katara stopped walking in confusion and slowly turned to face Zuko.
"How I'm going to react to wha-" Her eyes widened as she turned to see Zuko holding a blue necklace with a blue and red pendant on the end.
"Will you marry me?" He asked, staring into cerulean eyes that began to tear up.
"I-I… Yes!" Came Katara's excited and teary response as she enveloped Zuko into a tight hug before pulling back to kiss him passionately. When they finally broke apart she noticed that Zuko also had tears in his eyes, and was smiling at her playfully.
"I guess I have nothing to be afraid of then." He hugged her again and held the embrace for what seemed like an eternity.
Neither bender could shake the nagging feeling that Zuko was wrong, and that there was definitely something to be afraid of.
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A/N: Rewrite posted the same day as the original post. Suggestion to anyone writing stories out there: If you come up with a plot twist at three am, reread it when you are awake BEFORE you post it. For those of you that have already read the previous version of this final scene, I sincerely apologize for what may be one of the most epic examples of OOCness in any story ever written. I got to thinking that I could increase the drama in this fic with a little Zutara angst right before the comet, and proceeded to destroy any credibility this story may have had, as well as my own plot to a certain extent. To everyone who reviewed and kindly pointed out that the last scene redefined the word terrible, I would not be as nice as you were, and would just say that it straight up sucked. I am actually embarrassed that I posted that, and will not EVER be posting that late at night again. Ever. Sorry and I hope to god this rewrite is better, as it was the original idea anyway.