Chapter Twenty-One

Katara opened her eyes slowly. Bright light was pouring down on her and she squinted around her in confusion. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the light that she realized was sunshine. She looked down. She was standing on a dock wearing guy's clothes.

What happened? She wondered groggily. Where am I? What- Zuko! Her brain suddenly shouted and everything that had happened came rushing back. Zhao was dead, Zuko was dying. Her necklace. The mark. Had it worked?

Her grandmother's voice floated through her head again. It was a story she told Katara when she had first given her the necklace. Katara, I want you to have this necklace. It is special. Do you know what the mark on it stands for? Time. Legend says that there was a man long ago who came across a dying spirit. He gave his life for the spirit so that it could live and continue to bring order to the world. In exchange for his sacrifice, it gave the gift of time to the people. Anyone who uses this symbol in a place marked by the symbol of time can change time, twist it, even turn it backwards, to change something that has happened and should not have. But only those with pure hearts, pure intentions can do it. And that is why no one has ever done it before; those who seek it all have evil reasons for doing so. So they never find it.

Katara's head swam. She had always loved to hear that story, but she had thought that was all it had been, a story. As she looked around her, however, she slowly began to wonder if there was some truth in it. It was rare, but the spirits sometimes did great things for people who needed it. Could it be possible that she had actually turned back time?

"Look if you're here to be trained as a Fire Nation soldier then line up!" A voice shouted above the rest.

Katara turned with a jolt. Slowly her hand rose to her face and there felt cloth covering a wound on her cheek. She suddenly realized where she was. Before her loomed Zuko's ship. The day I first joined. She thought to herself. If this was all true, then if she just looked to her right she would see Zuko standing there, but she was afraid to, so afraid. If it wasn't true, if by some chance of fate she hadn't went back in time, then he would be dead, and she would never see him again.

She had heard other things to about time. If someone was killed then they could never come back, no matter what happened. But Zuko hadn't been dead yet. Admiral Zhao had, she had seen that happen herself. But Zuko had still been hanging on to life when she had made her desperate attempt to save him. Had it been enough?

Slowly, holding her breath, her heart beating so fast from fear that it hurt, she turned her head to look. For a second she didn't see him and a terrible cold swept over her.

Then, there he was. For what seemed like an eternity she simply stared at him. The scar was back on his face since at this point in time she had not removed it yet, but it didn't matter. She had never seen him look more handsome or alive then he did at that moment. Her hurt skipped a beat and she let out a slight gasp, causing him to glance away from the boy he was examining and look at her. There eyes met and Katara had to resist the urge to cry out with all her might. He's alive! Her mind screamed, He's really alive! She felt as if she would burst into a million pieces and float away right there. But she managed to keep from saying anything; a terrible thought had crossed her mind. There was a very good chance that no one but her remembered anything that had happened. She had been the one to reverse time, and she had a strange feeling that only those who activated the symbol would remember what had happened.

Zuko looked at her for a moment, then turned back to the boy in front of him and gestured him to go on bored the ship, moving on to the next in line.

Katara felt as if her heart was breaking all over again. She turned to leave. Zhao was still dead, even if no one would ever find out exactly what had happened to him. She had no need to board the ship. Zuko had said the boys he trained had ended up working for Zhao and since he was gone they would have no reason to stay after they learned the news. There was still the artifact to deal with though. There was a chance that Zuko might reactivate it, but Katara couldn't think about it right now. She was too exhausted to worry about it. It was bad enough that she would never be with Zuko. She would never again feel his arms around her, or hear his voice whispering in her ear.

She quickly started away from the ship. If she stayed any longer she knew that she would start to cry.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice said behind her. She turned to see Zuko standing there looking at her.

"I-I…" Katara tried to think of what she could say. "I don't think I'm cut out to be a soldier."

He stared at her, looking at her closely. For a second she thought she saw a change come over him but it was gone when she looked back and she decided that she had imagined it. Finally he turned back to the others and she walked away. Once she was safely hidden by the dense foliage of the forest, she fell against a tree, sobbing uncontrollably. She tried to muffle the sound but it was impossible. She was hurt to badly. Her heart ached for the boy she could never have and she swore to herself that she would never love again.

"It's better than dead." She told herself when she had finally cried herself out. She glanced back over her shoulder towards the ship, "At least he will live." She slowly turned back around. She had to go find Sokka and Aang. They would be waking up and reading the note she had left them about sneaking onto the Fire Nation ship in disguise. She'd have to think of an excuse as to why she didn't go.

Yet her feet wouldn't move. She stayed rooted to the spot, unwilling to just walk away. "He doesn't remember you," she snapped angrily at herself, fresh tears flowing silently, "There's nothing you can do." She closed her eyes to try and stop the tears.

Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and was shocked to see Zuko standing there. Her heart skipped a beat.

"We're short on soldiers." He said, looking at her. "We could use another."

She tried to keep her voice steady when she answered. "Sorry. I'm not interested anymore."

"That's too bad. I think we would have gotten along well together, Katara."

She half turned to leave, but suddenly froze as the realization of what he had just said hit her. She stood staring ahead of her, not daring to believe it. Then she felt his hands gently wrap around her waist and pull her back against him.

"Did you think I could ever forget you?" he whispered in her ear. "Not even time can erase my memories of that."

Katara turned slowly to look at him. She was so completely overwhelmed with joy she had no idea how to react. She had thought she had lost him forever and now he was back, he was hers. Slowly she felt herself hugging him, pressing against him, as hard as she possibly could, crying all over again. He pulled her tighter and let his head rest on top of hers. He ran his hand gently across her back. She looked into his eyes and he kissed her for what seemed to last forever. When they finally broke apart he wrapped his arm around her waist and they began to walk through the woods.

"I thought…" Katara's voice trailed off, she was still so overcome with emotion.

"You were touching my hand." Zuko said, pulling her closer as they walked. "I've heard the stories about time from my Uncle. Supposedly only those who try to change it will remember what happened. But you grabbed my hand at the last second and it must have thought that I was trying too. At first I was confused, I didn't remember. But then I saw your face as you were leaving, so much pain in it, and it all came back to me." He kissed her again and wiped her tears away with his thumb.

"I love you Katara." He whispered.

"I love you Zuko." She whispered back, letting her head rest against his shoulder as they continued on in the direction of the camp where Aang and Sokka would be waking up.

"So Zhao is really gone." Katara said. "Sokka and Aang won't remember anything that happened."

"No, I guess not." Zuko said. Suddenly the trees parted and they realized that they had walked into the clearing where the two boys were. They were awake and had apparently just read the note Katara had left.

"Katara! What were you thinking!" Sokka shouted angrily. "I- what in the world is he doing here!" He and Aang stared in surprise at Zuko and Katara.

Zuko looked at Katara. "So what are you going to tell them?" he asked her softly so that the other two couldn't hear.

She thought back to when Sokka had discovered them on the ship and the shock she had felt when she found out Aang had already known about her and Zuko somehow. If there's one thing I've learned from all this, she thought to herself, It's that you shouldn't try to hide things from your friends. They'll understand eventually, even if they don't believe me at first.

She looked up at Zuko and smiled. "The truth."

A/N: Ok I think I might write a short epilogue. What do you guys think? Let me know if you think it should have one and I'll decide based on what the majority says. But since the story is basically over I'd love to hear what you thought of it. I love reviews, especially long ones, even if you didn't like it. It helps me to improve on my writing and they make me happy lol. Thanks you guys, you're what keep the story going.