A/N: So….it's been over a month. A month on mulling over this chapter. It's finally here and I'm back! Hope you all enjoy it and thank you all for your patience. Let me know what you think! :)

Flashback…

Zuko's POV:

It's been a week since mother has been gone. She was everything to me and now she's gone, she left me here alone with my father and sister who don't give a damn about me. One week I've been unable to get myself out of this funk I've found myself in. I've never been as angry and sad as I am right now and my father just wants me to get over it!

I sat by the pond holding the dagger my uncle had given me, I was so angry I wanted to throw it but knew I couldn't because I could never lose something that was given by someone so close to me. It's one thing to lose my mother but to lose my uncle as well by losing such a precious gift would break me. Uncle Iroh is the only one besides my mother who actually understands me throwing this dagger would be like throwing him away and I can't possibly do that no matter what my father may say about him.

"Zuko!" I look over to see my sister in the doorway, "Father wants to see you immediately!" She had a smug smirk on her face as she stood there, she was up to something and I'm guessing whatever it was would be getting me in trouble. I sigh and stand up, putting my dagger in its sheath attached to my hip, and walk towards her.

As I get closer her smirk just gets wider, "Don't forget to knock before you enter, you of all people must know how he hates rude interruptions." She was referring to what had happened when I first found out about mother not being in the palace, I ran to father immediately and demanded to know where she was and what happened to her. He accused me of being rude and disrespectful and sent me away to do intense training as punishment. I never got my answer to my question and whenever I brought it up again he would ignore me or tell me to get out of his face because I was a disgrace to the royal family and that I needed to build up some courage and strength instead of worrying over such insignificant things. My father is a monster and even though I know this to be true, he along with my sister are the only close family I have left and the only ones who may know where my mother is.

"What does he want, Azula?" I knew she knew the answer to this question but decided to aggravate me by simply shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't know ZuZu… Maybe he wants to finally get rid of you like he did to mother. The putrid wench got what was coming to her and now we just got to take out the trash." She looked me straight in the eyes as she says this still smiling smugly and turns around to walk away. I wanted to make her regret those words but I knew that would only lead to more grief from my father.

Hakoda's POV:

"Aaaaahhh!" I was startled out of my sleep by Katara, my young daughter, screaming. It's been the same for nearly a week now ever since my wife, her mother, was taken by the Fire Nation.

The raid that had happened a week ago had affected everyone but my sweet little Kara Bear has to be the worst affected. She's had many nightmares and mood swings since that day. The nightmares shake her up so much that most of the time she can't go back to sleep.

I sit up and turn to Katara's cot that we moved next to mine, I rub her back and ssh her trying to calm her down. There isn't much I could say to her at this point, she's grieving just like we all are. I look around the room hoping she hadn't woken her brother and thankfully because he is a lump when he sleeps she didn't. As I was looking around I got an idea, I turn to where my wife and I would keep our personal belongings and pull out her necklace, the family heirloom that is now rightfully Katara's.

"Kara- Katara…" I stop myself from calling her by her nickname. She refused to have anyone call her that now and freaks out if they do. "Listen baby, this right here as you remember belonged to your mother. It was handed down to her and has been handed down for years…. Now it is yours, your mother wanted to give it to you since the day you were born and I think she would love for you to have it. Through this necklace you will be connected with your mother in a special way, she will always be watching over you and taking care of you even if you can not see her. Times like these spirits attach themselves to things that once belonged to them to keep an eye on their loved ones and I think if there was anything your mother would want more is to be there for you in anyway she can and this would be how you two would connect. She will always be with you to protect you, you just need to believe in it." I watched as her eyes sparkled and slowly the tears dried as she observed the necklace in my hands. Normally I would never think to give this to her until she became of age but she is clearly heartbroken and needs some kind of hope to hold on to.

Her small hand slowly reached up to the necklace, grabbing the pendant she brought it back to her and held it to her chest. A small smile appeared on her face as she shyly smiled up at me, "Thanks, dad." Once she said this she cuddled into my chest and slowly fell back to sleep.

PRESENT DAY…

Katara's POV:

It didn't take long for Aang and General Iroh to come, Aang came up to hug me which I refused to reciprocate and General Iroh went to hug Zuko. I saw Aang and Zuko glare at each other but I chose to ignore that considering they probably don't trust each other right now despite Zuko helping me.

General Iroh wanted to talk to Zuko so very reluctantly I followed Aang down a tunnel with Jia now strapped onto me once more. I wasn't really willingly following him but I knew Zuko and his uncle will be coming right after us so I ignored my nervous feelings. I was amazed as we came into an open space, it was beautiful but we didn't have time to really take it in because before we knew it Azula had come in and a fight had begun.

Zuko and Iroh weren't far behind Azula and Iroh quickly turned on his niece fighting beside us. We were surrounded by the Dai Li and Azula was yelling at Zuko about honour and how his father would finally be happy about having him as a son if he helped her now at this moment. I was afraid that Zuko would turn on us, on me, if he still wanted to get in his father's good graces. We were clearly outnumbered so I wasn't confident on our ability to get out of this especially with Jia attached to me let alone with Zuko fighting against us as well.

Aang seeing that this could end badly decided to go into the Avatar state, this didn't help my nervous feelings towards him if anything it terrified me as I watched his eyes glow and I couldn't look away but tears of fear came to my eyes. Flashbacks immediately flashed before my eyes and I got lost in my mind as things started to happen around me.

Zuko's POV:

I was caught between two sides, on one hand I could help my sister and possibly capture or kill the Avatar and be welcomed back home and regain the honour I lost in my father's eyes. This would mean I would be betraying Katara and my uncle which would probably mean I would spend the rest of my life making it up to them, especially Katara.

On the other hand I could help the Avatar, Katara and my uncle and we can all escape together and hopefully eventually end this war so that we could all move on with our lives, but then I would definitely never be welcomed back into the fire nation and I would never be able to face my father again if I valued my life.

The Dai Li and Azula were seriously outnumbering the Avatar, Katara and my uncle not to mention they were also at a disadvantage with Jia being present. I watched as the Avatar began to glow and I knew they were no longer outnumbered, he was now in a powerful state. I soon realized this might not be the best idea, Katara was clearly disturbed by this and my sister took advantage of the transition and hit him with lightning and at that I ran to Katara, my uncle grabbing the Avatar and we ran to an opening in the ceiling and luckily enough Katara snapped out of it in time for her to get us out of there while my uncle held them back by shooting fire at them with one hand while holding the Avatar over his shoulder with the other.

Azula and the Dai Li came after us and there was no way we would get away far enough to lose them, uncle stopped and as a reaction Katara and I stopped as well. He turned to me and motioned for me to take the Avatar, "Here, take him I will hold them back as long as I can."

My eyes widened, "What? Uncle no, I'm not leaving you here!" Despite what I said I did take the Avatar from him knowing I had no choice.

He smiled kindly at me, "Zuko you have to. This is what needs to be done if we all are going to get out of this alive. I'm proud of you my nephew… now go!"

I glare at him in determination, "I will come back for you, I promise." With that I turned around and ran with Katara, hearing the commotion behind me really hurt as I knew I would be leaving my uncle who will most likely be put in a cell when he is captured.

We were able to make it out, Katara's brother, the flying bison and the blind girl along with some old man and a bear met us and took us up on the bison and we were off. Once we were in the air I turn to Katara and asked if the Avatar was going to be okay, she shrugged a little and turned to her bag.

As she dug into her bag she spoke, "Hold him up, I think I have something that could help." I did as she said and held the boy so that she could see his back. "This is the water I was telling you about….I'm not sure if I'll be able to use it again." She looked me in the eyes as she said this clearly trying to tell me something, she wanted me to choose because she wasn't really in the state of mind to make that choice. I knew deep down she wanted to save him but with the feelings she's been having towards her friends and especially him and with the fact we just had a conversation about this water and my scar she was conflicted and she knew she would feel bad in some way no matter what she chose. This isn't to say she didn't know the right choice… she knew she was going to save the Avatar but she wanted me to know and to give the go ahead so she wouldn't feel bad if I didn't understand the consequences. Her brother was watching us carefully unsure of what was actually happening between us.

He decided to jump into this conversation, "Katara, you need to help Aang! Come on why are you hesitating?" He was clearly confused about his sister's actions considering we don't have a lot of time I completely understand his confusion, he doesn't know what she has been through and why she could possibly hesitate.

I turn to Katara, "Do it. Don't worry about me…" With that Katara used the spirit water on Aang. For a moment I was concerned that he didn't make it and that it didn't work. The water disappeared so there was no going back so I really hope this worked for his sake, my sake, Katara's sake and the sake of the world.

We heard something from the Avatar and I gently put him down as his eyes opened and Katara smiled down at him. Everyone let out a sigh of relief as we all settled on Appa and made our way to wherever they were planning on going. Everyone was pretty quiet as we went, no one really asking any questions that I'm sure are on the way. We drop off the man and his bear which I realize are the Earth King and his bear friend, the earth kingdom has fallen and he was now going undercover to travel the world and experience life.

As we drop them off Sokka tells us all that it is time to head to the location we need to get to where we will meet his father and his troop. As he is explaining this he turns to me, "So… where do you want to be dropped off?"

I look at him stunned, "What?"

Katara turns to him and glares, "Sokka, he is coming with us! He saved me and helped us escape, his uncle sacrificed himself and Aang is going to need a fire bending teacher. If you plan to just leave him somewhere you are sorrily mistaken."

A/N: Well… that's it! Hope you all enjoyed an expect more chapters to come :)