This is one I had to rewrite so feel free to point out any mistakes you see. The battle scene is pretty good, so read up!

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"We should be able to get there in a couple days." Aang was waking up, stretching on the sand after a good night's sleep. It had been a couple days since they left the Air Temple. "That is, if Appa will wake up," he giggled as he walked over to his furry friend and lifted up the fur over his eyes. Appa opened one eye and grunted loudly, almost knocking Aang over, before closing it again. "He'll have to fly straight through those days though."

Katara yawned and looked around. She sat up as she noticed it was still pretty dark outside. Zuko was still asleep beside her, and for some odd reason Sokka was on her other side. Aang was the only one awake. "You realize it's still dark out, right?" she asked as she walked over to where he was. He was already putting the little supplies they had left into the little bag on Appa's saddle.

"I know, but the sun will be up any minute now. We have no idea where Azula and her friends are now and I'd rather get moving before we find out."

"I guess that makes sense." She walked back to where she had been laying and woke up Sokka and Zuko. "Guys, come on. We have to go."

"Are they coming?" Zuko asked, still half asleep and yawning.

"No, but we should go before they do."

Sokka had rolled over and gone back to sleep, so Katara threw some of the icy cold water from the ocean on him and finally he got up. "Ah! That's cold!" He looked around. "It's still dark! Why do we have to leave?"

Katara just sighed as she walked over to Iroh and Momo to wake them up. Momo had really taken to Iroh, he slept with him every night they had been together. Katara touched Iroh's shoulder and his eyes popped open. He looked like he was about to wake up anyway. Momo, on the other hand, didn't want to wake up so Iroh carried him to Appa's back and let him sleep. They were off right before the sun peeked over the horizon.

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"They should be here in the next day or two with the Avatar and two traitors of the Fire Nation. They will not be harmed as long as they cooperate and hand them over." Azula had been pacing back and forth by the people of the now fairly large tribe.

Katara's Gran Gran stepped forward. "My Katara won't give up without a fight and neither will her brother."

"The grandmother, I suspect?"

"I am," she said with pride. She had no signs of fear in her voice and that agitated Azula.

"Well then, you're the first to go if they decide to fight back. I'm sure they won't be able to resist that, what do you think?" Azula was up in her face by then.

Pakku stepped forward at that. "Kana will not be harmed."

Azula lifted an eyebrow at him. "And what do you plan on doing to stop me?"

"I am the waterbending master from the North Pole. I'm sure you've heard of me, the other Fire Nation soldiers have. I'm the one that taught her Katara to be a master herself and if you plan on harming Kana, you'll have to go through me first. If I can't stop you, Katara can."

Azula laughed. The water peasant she hated so much was a master? "Wow, you're funny! I should hire you to entertain my father!" Sarcasm dripped off of every word. "There's nothing you can do to me that I can't handle. You forget, I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. I am the firebending prodigy, everything my brother is not. I can handle anything you throw at me."

Kana held her hand out in front of Pakku as he started forward. "Let my Katara handle her. She is very capable, I'm sure. She learned from the best. If she needs your help, let her ask."

Pakku stared at her and sighed. "You're right. But you will go down in the end," he said as he turned his attention back to Azula.

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"You know what?" Katara was talking to Sokka and Zuko. "I feel so stupid, I forgot my own birthday."

Sokka looked at her, confused. "Your birthday? When was that?"

"The.." she paused for a second and thought about it, eyes widening. "The day the pirates found us. The first storm. That was my fifteenth birthday. Well, no wonder I forgot about it! There was waay too much stuff going on that day."

Zuko had to laugh. It was funny! "That was good, that was just funny. I'm sorry, I had to laugh." He laughed a little more before Katara's glare shut him up. "Sorry. Happy late birthday." He smiled a little at her and got her to smile back.

"Yeah, happy late birthday, sis." Sokka grabbed her around the neck jokingly. She laughed and pushed him off.

"I can't believe I turned fifteen already. It doesn't feel like that long ago that I turned fourteen. I guess time just flew after we left the South Pole with Aang."

Aang turned back to them. "Appa's really flying today." He laughed as he realized he made a joke. "We should be there in no time."

"Good," Iroh said, stretching. "I'll be glad when we can stop running for a little while. The day we spent in the mountains felt good."

"I wonder what the Fire Nation will think when they see the Air Temple back," Aang laughed.

"I can't wait to see Gran Gran again." Katara smiled thinking about it. "I haven't seen her since.." She looked at Zuko. "Actually since the day you crashed through our walls and we first met. You and Aang are the reasons I left home all that time ago. He's the reason we met, you know."

Zuko hugged her. "I know. I just wish I had realized how great you are sooner."

"Like, our first run-in with the pirates where I ended up tied to a tree?"

Zuko almost laughed remembering that day, but then remembered he had lost his ship to them over the waterfall. "That's actually when I first started liking you."

"Yeah, I thought I heard a hint of flirting in your voice when you had my mother's necklace hanging right in front of me."

"Well, one, you had guts talking to me the way you did and I guess I liked that. No one ever talks to me like that. Two, you looked so pretty and helpless. Three, I saw no fear in your eyes, I saw fire. You were ready to fight for your friends the way I fought for my uncle not long after. I respected that about you."

"At least someone respects me," she said, elbowing Sokka.

"Hey, you get respect when you give it!" he said, elbowing her back. He took out his boomerang and started sharpening and cleaning it.

"I think sometimes you care more about that thing than you do me, your own sister. You would probably remember its birthday over mine."

"It's almost here. Dad gave it to me before he left to fight in the war. He left it up to me to be the warrior in our village, but I left. With good reason, of course, but I still left. Gran Gran kind of made us go. We had to warn Aang about.. him." He pointed at Zuko.

Katara looked at him. "I wonder what she'll think about seeing you again. You weren't exactly a gentleman, yelling in her face and all."

"Well, the first thing I'll do is ask her forgiveness for that day. Then I'm sure when she sees you, she'll notice the necklace and we can tell her together about that."

"Sounds like a plan!" she said, burying herself into him. "Iroh, did you see any blue parkas in the bag or were they lost in the storm?"

Iroh turned his attention away from the view for a second. "I think I saw one in there."

Katara turned around and looked through the bag, luckily finding both of them in there. "Here Sokka, this one's yours." She threw his at him and put hers on. If the blankets had been in there, she would've grabbed one for Zuko but they were lost in the storm. She wrapped her arms around him to help keep him warm and realized he's a firebender. He heated his ownbody up, but let Katara's arms stay around him.

Aang didn't have a problem with it when they found him frozen in the iceburg or after they brought him to the village, and he still didn't have a problem with it. He just thought of it as 'a bit chilly'. He was weird like that though. Iroh seemed comfortable. Momo was keeping his lap warm, but the rest of him didn't seem to be bothered by the cold. He was just watching over the saddle at the water and iceburgsflying by them.

Suddenly, Aang yelled, "Oh no!" He swung around to face them. "They're already there!"

Katara jumped up and looked out in front of them. There was her.. home? I guess Pakku really fixed it up, she thought. But sure enough there was a Fire Navy ship there. She started to get angry. She knew that if Azula was on that ship, her Gran Gran was in trouble, and maybe Pakku too. The gold spots popped up in her eyes again as dark clouds formed over the ship. The waves crashed against its sides, the rain poured down on it. Appa flew faster at Aang's command, towards the city just ahead. Aang looked back at Katara. She was sitting on the edge of the saddle, hanging right over Aang's shoulder. Her brown and gold hair was flying, her eyes practically glowing, her face concentrated on the growing storm ahead.

"Guys, she's doing it again!" Aang yelled back to the others.

"Let her this time. She's warning Azula to back out, but my sister is stubborn. I think she's looking for a fight!" Zuko yelled. They were almost right on top of the storm now. Suddenly, Katara jumped off the front of the saddle, towards her home and the unwelcome ship.

"NO!" Aang yelled. He tried to reach for her but just missed. Then he tried to use his airbending to manipulate the air around her and make her float down safely. That seemed to be working. She floated down right behind Azula. Azula had heard the storm behind her and saw the bison almost right on top of them, but luckily didn't see Katara floating down behind her. She felt the wind from Aang's airbending around Katara and spun around. She was almost afraid. All the other times she had seen the waterbender, her eyes were blue. Now, they were spotted with gold and almost glowing and she looked incredibly angry. Azula couldn't help but smile at the challenge. It made it all the better when she noticed the necklace around Katara's neck.

"I knew my brother had a thing for you," she said, preparing herself to fight. "That's what made him weak, just like you."

At that, lightening struck right beside Azula's feet, making her jump. "Gotta keep on your toes, expect an attack at all times!" Zuko yelled as he jumped down from Appa as they landed.

Azula smiled at him. "Aw, my big brother finally learned how to fight!"

He was still running towards them when Katara's hand flew up, forming a thick wall of ice around her friends. "I can do this," she said, her eyes never leaving Azula. Azula stepped back and got into her stance.

"You can't beat me, I don't know why you're going to try," she smirked.

"Luckily for me, I have help." Her voice was mixed, just as Aang's was in his Avatar State. Suddenly, Katara's eyes burst into full gold. Her spirit now had full control and spoke through her. "By all the waters in the ocean and sky, you will not win this battle!"

Azula looked surprised, but kept her stance. What was that? she asked herself. That was not the Water girl's voice. She could hear behind her the running footsteps of her soldiers. Obviously running back to the ship, she thought. Maybe I can get a surprise move in.

Azula shot a fireblast at Katara fast. Right before it hit her, she shot up in the air on a big stream of water from the ice below her. The fire hit the water and created a little steam, but didn't affect Katara at all.She shot the stream down at Azula, forming it into ice as soon as it hit her. She was frozen, back to the ground with her hands frozen down by her face. By then she had gotten really angry at this stupid peasant that was defeating her at her own game. Her hands were frozen down, but she just heated up her whole body and the ice quickly melted away. Katara lifted a hand and refroze the wall that Zuko was trying to burn through. Azula kept shooting at her, but Katara kept dodging.

"I thought dodging was the airbender's job!" she yelled.

Katara jumped down from her big stream and attacked her head on. Ice spikes, fireballs, waves, lightening, back and forth like that for at least 10 minutes. Everyone in the city was watching as the young waterbender slowly overpowered the princess. Katara glanced at Pakku, who was silently begging with his eyes to help, and she nodded him in. He drew her attention away when he formed a big water whip and Katara caught her offguard with a thick, hard ice ball to the head. Azula fell limp, blood running slowly from her head from the impact of the ice. Katara walked over to the limp princess. She lifted both her hands and released the ice wall Zuko had been trying to burn through, then released the storm.

Ty Lee was watching the whole battle from the deck, along with Mai and the rest of the crew. Ty Lee held back a smile when the 'simple waterbender' took down one of the most powerful firebenders, not to mention the princess. She thought the whole war was stupid and, although Azula was her friend, she thought she was taking it too far. She started down the ramp when Mai yelled at her.

"What are you doing!"

"What I should've done a long time ago. I'm leaving."

"Azula ordered-"

"Azula isn't in charge anymore!" Ty Lee snapped. "Your precious princess has been defeated, I won't go down with her over a stupid war that I never wanted anything to do with in the first place!"

"Then why did you join her?"

"I had no choice, she almost killed me! Now I have a choice and I choose peace."

"She's still our friend!"

"She's your friend now." Ty Lee walked down the ramp and over to Katara. Kana had already run over there to her and hugged her, then ended up catching her when she passed out.

Zuko and Sokka ran over to her as soon as the ice wall was released. Kana held her while Sokka ran inside her home for a blanket. Zuko knelt down beside them. She looked up at Zuko and recognized him instantly, the eyes gave him away.

"You.." she almost whispered.

"She'll be okay, La took a lot out of her. She just needs to rest now."

She glared at Zuko before returning her eyes back to Katara. That's when she noticed the necklace. "Where is her mother's necklace?"

Zuko looked up at her, then walked over to his still unconcious sister. He looked through her pockets and finally found it and pulled it out. "It's right here. She lost it in the mountains on the way here and we had a feeling Azula picked it up."

"What's this?" She touched the red and blue stone.

"I made that for her a few days ago. Apparently it was her birthday, but she didn't remember until earlier today."

"You? Made this? Do you know what this is?"

"I do."

"But you're the prince of the Fire Nation. Why-"

"I was banished some time ago. I no longer belong to the Fire Nation, but I will again. When the Avatar, Aang, defeats my father, I will rule with Katara at my side and we'll bring the nations to peace."

She studied the necklace, tracing it with her fingers as he had seen Katara do before.
"It's a beautiful piece."

"I hope so, it almost cost me my life!" he laughed a little. "I wanted to apologize for everything. I'm sorry for being the way I was when I came here the first time. I was just so set on being accepted by my father that I wouldn't let anything stop me from capturing the Avatar. I was mean to a lot of people, then I met her and she was as mean to me as I was to her. She was the only person who ever stood up to me even when she was tied to a tree and couldn't use her bending." Kana looked at him confused, but didn't ask. She figured Katara would tell her everything that happened when she woke up. "I liked and respected that about her. It was only about a couple weeks ago that I joined her group. She talked me into it.. and my uncle being attacked helped convince me."

She was just watching him when Sokka came running back with the blanket. "Sorry it took so long. They rebuilt everything, I couldn't find your place!" He put it over her and Zuko picked her up.

"Let's get her inside."

When they turned around, Ty Lee was standing there watching. "I didn't want to fight you guys. Azula pretty much threatened my life, I had no choice. Now that she's.. well, defeated, I was wondering if maybe I could come with you guys, or at least help somehow." She batted her eyes at Sokka and he blushed. She had liked him since she fought him on a river right after she joined Azula's group. They thought she was weird for that.

Sokka was still blushing. "Yeah, sure!"

Zuko gave him a look, but brushed it off and walked past them. "You can start by helping us take care of her until she wakes up."

Ty Lee and Sokka followed behind him. Sokka yelled at Aang, "Aang, come on!"

Aang was busy trying to do something with Azula. He made a hole in the ice big enough for her to fit in, then lifted the ice underneath her, sliding her in. The he closed the hole tightly around her so she couldn't move when she woke up. "That'll hold her for now," he said to himself, then he yelled at his friends, "Coming!" He was walking past the ship and he noticed they were slowly starting to come down, probably to get Azula. "No! You will turn around and you will go home now. This war is about to end, I'd suggest you find a place to hide. I'm sure Zuko will be harsh on traitors once he gains control of the Fire Nation." He built up a bunch of air and pushed them out of the city and back into the ocean and watched them leave. Mai was still on board, glaring at him as they sailed away.

He walked back with Kana, walking into the now crowded house. She walked through the people right to where Zuko was sitting beside Katara, holding her hand. "What happened to her?"

"We discovered just a couple days ago that Katara is connected somehow to the ocean spirit. Whenever she gets angry or upset, he comes to her aid. She just learned yesterday how to control it. She thinks about bad things and the spirit comes. She talks to him now. I guess she let it fully posess her this time because the normal Katara wouldn't have been able to take my sister out that fast."

"Your sister?"

"Unfortunately. I never did like her though."

Sokka looked at Pakku, who had now joined them. "How long have you been down here?"

"I left the day we won the battle in the North Pole and I haven't left just yet. I'm not sure if I want to," he nodded towards Kana.

Zuko looked back as Katara squeezed his hand. "Where am I? Gran Gran?" She tried to sit up, but got light-headed and Zuko laid her back down. Kana sat down next to her and hugged her.

"You're back home now, Katara."

"Where's Azula?"

Aang spoke up behind everyone, "I buried her back in the ice. She's unconcious right now."

Katara's eyes got wide. "I beat her?"

"Yeah," Zuko proudly said, "It didn't take you any time at all. You knocked her unconcious with a really hard ball of ice when she turned her head towards Pakku."

"Wow, I only remember telling her I had help and I blacked out. I think I subconciously told the spirit to take over because I don't remember telling him to. Either way, she's beat. Now we can focus on getting Aang trained the rest of the way so he can finish the fight." She yawned and her eyes started closing again, but she fought it.

"Go to sleep now, you've had a long day," Zuko said softly. He pulled her mother's necklace out of his pocket, put it in her hand, and closed it. "I promised you I'd get it back."

She smiled up at him. She whispered, "I love you," before she passed out again.

He smiled and kissed her on the head. "I love you, too," he whispered.

"If Sokka approves, I guess I approve as well. After all, since Hakoda isn't here to choose her husband, it's her brother's responsibility," Kana said, placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "But you'd better take care of her."

He stood up and smiled at her. "If you like, when we take back the Fire Nation back you can come live with us. I mean, you're family. Chances are, my uncle will live with us too." He laughed a little thinking about it.

"I would like that."

"Good, now everyone clear out. Katara needs sleep and Aang still needs training. Uncle Iroh, take Aang out near Azula so you can train him and keep an eye on her at the same time. I still need to train too, but I don't want to leave her just yet."

Iroh and Aang left while Sokka and Ty Lee followed right behind. "Judging by the way my Sokka is acting, I'd say he has a crush on that girl."

Zuko watched them walking out. "You know, I think she flirted first. She's like me in that department. My father and her friend both made us chase the Avatar and we both ended up falling for the Water Tribe kids he was traveling with." He laughed again. "Now I'm glad I chased him. I never would've met her." He looked back down at her and smiled.

"So, you want to explain how she got tied to a tree?"

"Which time?"

"There was more than one?"

"Well, how about I let her tell you when she wakes up, that way you'll feel better about hearing it."

"Okay. Go ahead and go train. I'll stay here with her. Keep an eye on Sokka for me, will you?"

"Sure," he smiled as he walked out.

Outside, Aang was practicing the lightening bolt. It blew up in his face when Zuko walked out there and he had to laugh. "See? It's not as easy as it looked."

He tried it again and got it that time. "I'm a quick learner, remember? Now I think I've got just about everything mastered! This should be no problem." He threw up a flame wall and extinguished is when he remembered they were on ice. He mended it back together when he saw it melting. "Awesome! I wish there was some earth around so I can bend all four of them now."

"We'll stay here for a couple days and let Katara and Sokka catch up with their Gran Gran before we head out for our final battle. I think everyone could use a break." Zuko said as he sat down on the ice next to them.

Iroh chuckled. "That's for sure. I'd like to keep my feet on the ground for a day or two."

"What's going to happen to me?" Ty Lee asked him.

Zuko looked at her. She was sitting next to Sokka, of course. "You're helping, so I'll let you go. Plus, you have a crush on my future brother so we're okay. You break his heart, I break yourneck. I think that's about how you said it, isn't it Sokka?"

Sokka and Ty Lee looked at each other and blushed.. again. "Yeah, something like that."

"You guys are no fun." He got up and walked over to his sister, still passed out and frozenin the ice. "Here's fun." They all watched him as he melted the ice around Azula and let her float off into the ocean. They just stared at him. He looked back. "What? I didn't know what else to do with her. The ice wasn't going to hold her, air won't hold her, there's no earth here to work with, that was all I could think to do! And I was bored."

Sokka laughed. "The only thing she can do with her firebending is melt the ice chunk she's on or the ones around her if she gets free. She's stuck out there! It's perfect!"

"Okay, I'm going back to check on Katara. I know it's only been a couple minutes, but she might be awake."

Aang wanted to follow, but Iroh held him back. "You need to practice while you can. The more you practice now, the less you have to practice the rest of the time we're here."

Aang sighed as he watched Zuko go back into the house. He was right, she was awake. She had been talking to Kana about their adventures and she seemed so excited to tell her about everything that happened while she's been gone. She covered the pirates, the earthbenders, the North Pole incident with Kana's ex-fiance Pakku, all her encounters with Zuko, she didn't leave anything out. She just kept going and didn't even notice Zuko come in. He watched her for a minute, then turned around and walked back outside and sat down outside the door.

He hadn't really had time to himself to think about anything. He was trying to imagine what their lives would be like when he and Katara took over the Fire Nation. Would Aang stick around? What about Sokka? How would his father's troops react to his fall? He was sure there would be a rebellion, but he was almost afraid to imagine how big it would be. He knew that once they took over, he would have to increase guards because of all the rebellion that he knew would happen. He was almost afraid to think what would happen if he and Katara ever decided to have a baby.

"Are you okay?"

Zuko jumped around to see Katara standing in the door. He stood up and hugged her.

"Okay, I'll ask again. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I was just letting my mind wander." He hugged her tighter. "I love you."

He was done thinking about the upcoming battle for the world. All he wanted to focus on was Katara. His life. His love. His soon-to-be wife.

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You know you loved this one. I know the battle was a bit short, but I'm not really good at battle details. I'm trying though! The next chapter will be up soon and you will laugh. Penguin sledding!R&R!

Jenn, waterbending master of the south