He barreled into his father, punching, thrashing, lost in furious flame. He couldn't tell when fists met the vicious man or when he hit the earth beneath him; his knuckles were torn open and bleeding, the scar on his face throbbing from the heat, his vision blurred with smoke.

Something smashed into the side of his skull and Zuko's world spun; he was hardly aware of falling to the ground, blinded with pain, his joints momentarily paralyzed. The next thing he was aware of was a biting, furious pain in his back and he struggled to stand as blood ran freely across his bare muscles.

His father had slammed his elbow into the side of his head when he was lost to rage and sent the young fire bender spinning off the platform, landing cruelly in a bed of dead thorns. His back was torn open and Zuko, still struggling to regain balance, fell to his knees, the world swirling in a mesh of red and black. The form of the Fire Lord was barely distinguishable above him, the fires in his palms mere glimmers in Zuko's obscure reality.

"You should never have been born - I curse the day you were, miserable, disloyal traitor -" he grabbed Zuko by the throat and pulled him into the air, clenching his burning hand around th Prince's throat. "This will be over, no more banishment, you had the Avatar and you let him slip through your unworthy, treacherous fingers -"

His grip tightened and Zuko, hanging limply in the air, cast his eyes to the ground. Through the blurred vision of his left eye he saw something faint, something as pure blue as the heavenly eyes he longed to look into, glittering on the ground. Katara' necklace, broken fiercely into two burned halves, lying abandoned among the thorns.

He felt his breathe catch as the flames burned up his throat and he closed his eyes, awaiting the blow.

I'm sorry, Katara...

He heard the sound of rushing wind and waited for the heat to make contact with his face, but it never did.

Aang let out a great cry and sped between them, catching the Lord's arm with his glider and tearing it sideways in an irregular direction. The bone snapped and the man howled in pain and frustration, the fires vanishing from his right limb as Zuko collapsed to the ground.

Appa let out a great groan and Sokka leapt from the saddle, blade in hand, his boomerang repaired and clenched in his fists. The elders all panicked and ran from the courtyard, calling for guards to save them. The Fire Lord, keeping his footing on the rough ground, faced the air bender and Aang glared, the wind hissing in a great whirlwind about his young frame. The burned, hideous man thundered towards him, his left arm flaming, his right arm hanging limp and useless at his side. He came within a foot of Aang before the air bender yelled, twirling with marvelous fluidity, and sent the Lord hurtling across the courtyard and into the opposite wall. The wall shattered and threatened to collapse, ashes and stone raining down on them as Katara skid beside Zuko and gently pulled his torn body into her lap.

He still couldn't see her, his vison blurred and his strength all but vanished from his strained muscles. But he could feel her as she took his hand, gently, the soft, smooth touch that she saved for him only; the way her chest rose and fall with her light, sweet breathe as she cradled his head beneath her neck, humming soothing words that he was too disoriented to recognize. But the very fact that he could hear her returned his will to fight, and he tightened his grip on her hand.

Sokka walked up beside Aang to where the dust was starting to clear. Feeling the death of the great Lord was evident, the Avatar lowered his hands and turned to Sokka with a weak smile. It was less than a second before he caught the glimmer of red from his eye.

Aang skidded across the floor and Sokka's boomerang flew, deadly in its aim, towards the misshapen body of the Fire Lord. The wretched man caught the boomerang much as Aang had previously done, but on the bladed side; a deep gash formed in his palm and he half-laughed, half-screamed in anguish before another flame knocked the warrior to the earth. Bleeding, burned, oozing fluid, and with most of his bones shattered, the man looked more like a walking corpse than a fearful Fire Nation Lord.

Zuko longed to lay against Katara for eternity, to feel the cool peace flowing from her body, the soft echo of her heartbeat within her chest. But he could feel his father, even in his state of dazed recovery, fuming at him, longing to extinguish the life he had before bestowed. He fell forward to his knees and got up on one leg before hearing Katara insist on his rest.

He staggered onto both feet and his half-focused, golden gaze turned towards her. Katara's insides turned to terror as she saw the way his eyes half-glazed, numb with pain, his body moving by pure will power alone.

"Help...my uncle," he whispered, his eyes never resting, always misting and clearing again, as though he was struggling to remain conscious. His father was still limping across the courtyard, unstoppable, relentless.

"Zuko..." bean Katara, but she froze as Zuko fell to his knees again and scooped up the two delicate halves of the necklace from among the thorns, callous to the pain the action caused his hands.

"I...will end this...Katara."

As he said her name she broke down and the tears began to flow from her icy eyes. Zuko could not dwell on grief at the moment and turned to face his oncoming father. His right hand lighted in flame and he stepped shakily forwards, past the groaning form of Sokka who sat up, rubbing his head.

"That hurt like -"

"Sokka, go tend to the old man," snapped Katara instantly, striding past her brother after the Prince. Sokka blinked twice and heard a groan coming from the old man on his left. Crawling, he crept over to him and turned him over, seeing a great gash upon Iroh's forehead.

Zuko knew she was behind him. His father was twisting grotesquely as he hobbled towards him, his left eye ripped from its socket among the giant burns along that side of his body. The rest of him was torn muscles and bone piercing skin, bloody clothing and silent scars that seeped with pus. The Prince did not need to hear Katara say anything.

The Lord's flaming fist flew, and Zuko ducked beneath his arm as the great blade of ice flashed through the air, striking the man a pulsing gash across the great vein in his chest. As blood rained through the air Zuko leapt, the flame in his hand dying slowly as it made one last contact with his father's face.

"You try much too hard, young Avatar," said Iroh, chuckling at Aang as he ran desperately around the upper deck of the ship, his shirt flaming bright in the intense cold.

"Why is it so hard to - AH! Katara - put it out -"

Katara laughed, grinning slightly with Iroh, and sent a splash of torturously cold water towards Aang, who shivered at the sudden onslaught.

"AH! NO! That's even worse -"

Lighting up his hands again, the Avatar tried to warm himself, but began panicking again as the flames rode up his arms - never burning, but threatening to incinerate his highly flammable air bender clothes. Iroh shook his great, grizzled head again and let out another soft chuckle.

"Perhaps you and I should open a shop one day, Aang...I've always wanted to sell curio...antiques and old furniture, you know..."

Sokka walked up on deck, yawning loudly and scratching his ear. The wind whipped brutally at his face but he didn't seem to mind. Breathing in the scent of dry, freezing cold air, he let out a terrific sigh and sank beside Katara on the banister.

"This place has the greatest weather on earth," he muttered fondly, lost in his own thoughts. Katara smiled and looked down into the icy waters. When she didn't reply, Sokka raised and eyebrow and a grin began to form at the corners of his mouth.

"So...I went below deck today to -you know - check on things, and I bumped into this guy."

Katara was hardly listening and Sokka continued to grin out towards the ocean.

"He was very respectful, you know, very typical of Fire Nation. Thanked him for joining us on the way to the North Pole, we talked about the war a little too..."

Katara twirled her fingers idly and the ice beside the boat melted. Sokka closed his eyes and went on.

"He asked me how everything was going and I said fine, nothing to complain about. You know, I didn't recognize him at first, with all his bandages taken off, but when he started rambling about you I knew him instantly..."

Katara's eyes snapped open and she turned, hardly daring to believe the words coming from her brother's mouth. Sokka just grinned at her as Aang stood in the background, his sleeve catching fire again, a good-humored Iroh smiling beside him. Katara's breathe was caught as she leapt on her brother, too stunned for words, suffocating the air from him with a fierce hug. When she broke away she skidded along the icy deck and flung the door open to the lower decks. Gold met blue and tears streamed, unconstrained at both ends.

Zuko had sustained terrible injury during his duel, his death seemingly inevitable, his body broken and torn ruthlessly by his own father. But that father was now in ashes, his evil breathe lost on the wind, his hold in the war vanished. Weak and gasping Zuko had ordered and end to the war, but not all took to kindly to his words. Admiral Zhao had detached himself from the nation, his alliance of brainwashed minions following him into the shadows of the world where they plotted and grew in defiance. Zuko himself had remained treated for weeks as Iroh, recovering from much less strain than his nephew, gathered them all onto a small ship and set a course for their original destination. Until this point Katara had sat by the Prince's bedside, her voice quiet and calm, the touch at his hand allt he healing he would ever need.

Now he was gazing at her, lost to words, the breathtaking cold air only perfecting her flawless beauty. He thought back, suddenly, to the time when he had loathed her, followed the Avatar with a fury that threatened to consume him as it had his father, burning up his soul into agony even in death. And he had escaped it.

Because of her. The untouchable beauty that now lifted her hand to caress the delicate scar along ths side of his face. The vision in his eye blurred, but no from her gentle fingers. Tears were dripping to his chin as his free arm slipped, subconsciously, to her waist, and his features closed in against hers.

"I missed you," she whispered. Zuko's heart fluttered gently and Sokka, who had glanced over across the deck, sweat dropped and puked over the side of the ship. As he raised his head, a flaming Momo leapt onto his scalp with a panicking Aang following.

The fire bender felt their cheeks nudge gently and he smiled, rubbing his thumb along her side. Katara nudged him in the side in what was the faintest expression of a tickle. Zuko grinned and his hand closed on hers.

"Be careful. I can tickle you twice as badly, you know," he whispered. He felt a smile grow steadily on the amazing outline of her features. Slowly she let her fingers slide along the back of his neck and he felt and irresistable need to shiver.

"But you wouldn't, would you?"

He smiled and kissed her lightly as Iroh grabbed Momo and put the embers out in his fur. Sokka groaned and his stomach gave a loud, decisive growl.

"LUNCH! Time for lunch. I'm happy for you two, but we all need to eat. To the fish!" and Sokka scampered below deck with a greedy look on his face. Aang, still frustrated that his fire bending wasn't quite controlled, bounded up to Zuko.

"Tomorrow I'm training with you, cause your Uncle's insane," he stated flatly as Iroh followed behind him, smiling widely. Zuko nodded to the Avatar and the boy skidded past them and through the door, closely followed by Iroh, who was muttering something about how lovely the tea would be. Katara took the fire bender's hand to follow, but he pulled her back, praising the moment of solitude.

The fires of Zuko's heart flamed in deep passion, his fury dissolved with new embers of hope, igniting flames of loves that fluttered from the ashes of lost hatred. Katara was a river of serenity, unshakeable in her belief, her heart overflowing with the unmistakable joy and tranquillity that her love for the Prince had freed inside her.

The sun was still glowing as night came on over the freezing Arctic, the air still light blue. Sokka and Aang were below deck scarfing down food as Iroh watched, drinking his copious amount of tea. And Zuko and Katara turned inside as Zuko's lips left hers, disappearing below deck.

The war was dragging on, pro-longed by the rebellions of men as evil as the Fire Lord himself. But for the moment, the occupants of the ship were content with their meal of ice-water fish and the terrific thundering that echoed onboard as Iroh began his music night.

The End

P.S. - I decided to leave the remainder of Zuko and Katara's romantic life mostly up to you. That way I don't disappoint anyone. :) Also, was going to do personalized thank you's, but there were too many and I didn't want to leave people out.

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