BF: I come baring good news! Well, good news for me, that is.

This is the final chapter.

It's only good news for me because it means I can have a super long break now and can think about the sequel. Yes, there will be a sequel, so for those of you who were sad about the story's end, don't worry.

I'm also accepting all ideas for the sequel. If there's something you absolutely MUST see happen... LET ME KNOW! I'd love to put in some more humor and other things for you guys, 'cuz this story is for you guys. For each and every person who reads this story.

I feel kinda bad about the way I'm going to end the story... feel free to yell at me for it.

WARNING: there is quite a bit of violence in this chapter. If you get queasy easily, you'll want to skip the parts where you see this!!!!! in between them. I do this because I read a fic before where it mentioned her doing something with a fan that just made me grip my legs and almost hurl. I don't want this to happen to you guys, so, for the queasy ones, skip the bad parts!

FINAL CHAPTER

Losing When Winning

Katara's eyes gleamed with thousands of emotions as she secured her wear. Hope. Hope that things won't always be like this. She tightened the runite chain body for extra security; the snug fit of the metal was comforting yet disturbing.

Sadness. Sadness that people didn't want to except peace. Katara fastened her thick leg and arm guards, wincing as the constant pounding of the war drums thundered in her ears.

Anger. Anger that the other nations were resorting to such treachery. They were the ones who wanted the war to be over, but now they were making things worse! She slid her cotton tee-shirt over the chain body, then buckled a weapon belt around her waist. Knives were hidden every place she could reach them easily, and several vials with needles at the end held poison that would kill in seconds were tucked in her pockets. The poison was specially designed so that it couldn't harm her: it'd make her three times stronger.

A gorgeous silver long sword was pulled down from the wall by her sturdy hands, seeming to radiate heat in happiness as she tested her new weapon, swinging around. It was sheathed and left to hold to her belt while she placed sword holders, much like the ones Zuko used, on her back. She couldn't use broad swords, but any other sword was natural to her. Not to mention the razor sharp fans that she had tucked away.

Zula ran into the room, anger and the heat of battle dancing across her face and in her eyes. "Katara, we need to go. You all set?" Katara nodded and hurried out of the room with Zula, anxious to make her new home safe once again. Safe for her people. Safe for her family... especially her now two year old son, Radon.

Shouts of rage and pain mixed and whipped through the air, confusion and chaos thick in the atmosphere. Battle orders were given out; armies sprinted left and right.

The mattalic sound of swords clashing, the booming and accompanying earth shaking of fired catapults, the smell of burned skin, and the fires every which way reminded Katara that the battle had long been started. Zula disappeared into the fray, knowing Katara could take care of herself.

Katara ran deeper into the village, relieved that quite a few soldiers had the job of rescuing the villagers. A figure, clothed and masked entirely in grey, ran at her with a sword. Katara easily dodged their messy attack and plunged her own withdrawn sword through their gut before they had time to stop running.

Now two attackers came at once. She jumped into the air, gracefully flipping and landing several yards away. With a snap of her wrist she opened one of her fans, slashing the underarms of the nearest enemy. The girl yelped in pain and dropped her weapon, hands rushing up to nurse the wound. Katara took that moment to lunge her sword through the girl's heart.

The next was apon her, but the queen was ready. Ignoring the sword still stuck in the previous girl, Katara kicked this man's weapon from his hand, then aimed another powerful kick to his groin. The man had stupidly not been protected there, and fell with a hoarse cry. Katara yanked her sword from the now dead woman and gave the whimpering man the same treatment.

Many more attackers fell to her blade, and several tried out numbering her; Katara just wouldn't be beaten. She had a husband and a little boy to return home to. She was the queen of two nations, and she couldn't protect either one of them if she were dead. This thought somehow was enough to give Katara the raging strength she needed to take down enemy after enemy. Soon enough enemies were fleeing from her... but many couldn't escape.

Katara noticed Zuko taking out enemies in the corner of her eye, but was careful not to get distracted. Just because the numbers were dying down didn't mean that the battle was over. There was still a fight to be won.

It didn't take long. Zuko hurried to Katara about twenty minutes later, embracing her tightly. There were no more enemies left out in the battle field. Their own people had only suffered two casualties, to Katara's great relief. It was surprising, considering how they had killed a few thousand enemies, and that their own army had nearly three grand.

Then a thought struck Katara, and struck her hard. She remembered how the enemy had even gotten in here: the army had grown, as they joined as servants and villagers. They had been planning the seige all along. The groups would come in with other servants and new citizens, and they acted like perfectly normal people. It had taken them years to make a big enough army to attack... almost three. In so long a period of time, that must have meant that they would have much more than roughly 1,500 men... so where was the rest of the army?

"Zuko, quick! The palace!" Katara started sprinting toward the palace, shouting to the armies around her to do the same. Zuko caught up to her easily.

"What's wrong?"

"Zuko, it doesn't take three years to assemble an army of 1,500 village workers, especially in the large groups that everybody was comming in. Zuko, our new country is huge! There must be more... and they must be servants in the palace!" Katara felt her eyes burning. The palace could already have been over thrown. Actually, the chances of them finding any signs of safety were slim.

"My God..." Zuko's face was ghostly pale, and he shouted to everyone who could hear him. "Search the palace! Some of the servants may be with this army! Be careful not to harm the innocent ones!" Zuko gripped Katara's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. Katara took and deep breath and caught his eye, her own blue orbs shaking with fear.

The fact of danger in the palace was quick to register with the soldiers, and they all rushed into the royal family's home through every entrance, horrible stabs of pain whirling in their guts when they found their Queen's assumptions to be correct: many of the palace servants were enemies.

Katara made fast killings of these enemies, as well. The opposing army had split their numbers up poorly, and the palace army quickly over threw the traitors. It had taken them four hours, which really was quick considering the three thousand other enemies in here. Katara knew perfectly well that some of the villagers must have come in here, because they didn't even have three thousand servants. Not to mention that more than half of the servants were still loyal to their King and Queen.

Katara lay panting against Zuko, the two of them sitting against the lower kitchen's walls. Tears welled in Katara's eyes as she thought about all the people she had had to kill that night. She remembered women from the village who had helped her find dresses for special occations. Remembered merchants who had always offered her free samples and information on the latest things to happen in town. Some of her closest friends had turned out to be head conspirators. Some of the people that she had so deeply trusted had tried to kill her, and her family.

The opposing army had been poorly trained. Many of them were easily distracted, and hadn't known battle techniques. Quite a few had become disoriented when the situation had gone in a way that they hadn't planned for. This was the cause for the few deaths on the loyal side. During the fights in the palace, not a single casualty had been added to the previous two, if you didn't count the non-soldiers. If the loyal servants were counted, then a few hundred had been killed through means of poison and surprise attacks. Some of them had been armed, and had taken down the enemy. All of the traitor servants had been killed.

Once again, something donned on Katara.

"Zuko, where's Kianna?" Katara asked, kissing him with trembling lips. Zuko hadn't suffered any injuries, which made Katara so relieved it almost hurt.

"I'm not sure..." Zuko murmured, kissing his wife back. He was equally grateful for her perfect condition. "Xander!" Zuko summoned the nearest noble. The man was one of Zuko's most trusted, and had been one of the most outraged at the outburst.

"Yes, sir?" He asked, walking up to the exhausted couple.

"Where is my sister, Kianna?" Zuko inquired, rubbing circles on Katara's shaking back.

"Last I saw her, sir, she said she was checking on Prince Radon."

Zuko paled once again. Gulping, he asked, "how long...?"

"A few hours, sir..." Xander swallowed hard, as well. He knew what Zuko was getting at. So did Katara.

"NO!" She screamed, jumping up and running towards the stairs. Zuko was quick to follow, praying to the gods and almost crying. This was just too much...

Tears streamed down the water bender's cheeks as she flew up stairwell after stair well, steadily climbing the height of the palace. Her legs had felt like jello only moments before, but nothing could keep her from this...

Horror and panic were evident between the two of them as they rounded the corridor closest to their suite, seeing enemies still slowly dying on the floor. The couple ignored them, not bothering to finish them off. There was something more important that they had to do...

They didn't even pause upon rushing into the main room of their suite.

Past the sitting room.

Past the dinning room.

Through the bedroom...

And into Radon's.

Katara froze.

She was a statue for a few moments, as the scene before her set in.

The room was a shambles. The crib was over turned, the window shattered, Radon's current sitter laying with Kianna's sword sticking through her on the floor. Kianna lay on the other side of the room, blood drizzling a bit from her mouth and some dried under her nose. She was alive, but unconscious.

Radon.

Radon was the opposite.

Katara screamed. In rage, in pain, in sorrow... in everything. Her world seemed to fall to pieces as she fell to her knees, Zuko quickly wrapping his arms around her and holding her as close and as tight as possible. Tears flowed from his eyes and his shoulders shook heavily as Katara sobbed and screamed and twisted, having gone way past losing control of her body.

"My baby... my little boy... Radon... Ra-a-a-d-don!" She grasped at her husband, the force of her sobs causing pain in her lungs. She gasped for breath, each one shaking violently with her tears. They just wouldn't stop coming. She sat there for an hour, her tears soaking through Zuko's shirt as his own tears drenched her hair.

The Fire Lord wanted desperately to comfort his wife, to help warm her heart, as he knew that hers must have felt even more cold and shattered than his own. He wanted so much to comfort her, but his own pain was getting in the way. Not a single thought of crying being a weakness turned up in his mind. He held on to his wife and cried with her, mourning for his son.

Mourning for their little boy.

The funeral for the servants and soldiers who had died was held almost a week later. It was an elaborate funeral... a whole new graveyard had been built for them. Each and every gravestone was beautifully decorated, and the entire field was planted with beautiful greenery. Each tombstone was surrounded by the owner's favorite flowers. The ceremony was long, and the cloudy sky seemed to express the new country's greif.

Radon's funeral was held three days after that. He didn't have a favorite flower at the time... he had been too young to have many favorites at all. So instead a new, special garden was planted for the boy, and his gravesite was at the back of it, under the shade of a beautiful sakura tree. A pretty pond was near the grave as well, where the blossoms of many flowers floated in the waters. Each family had placed a blossom in the water, then said a prayer for their lost Prince.

Katara and Zuko were the last ones to do so, for they waited for the other mourners to leave. When it was just her and her husband, Katara released a gorgeous white lily into the water. Drops of her tears dripped from her cheeks and into the water as she murmured her prayer. She closed her eyes and paused for a moment, listening to the tree's rustling branches and the ripple of the water. It was peaceful here, just as she'd wanted. She slowly got up, sniffing slightly. She would've been crying harder, but she had actually been crying so much in the past few days that she didn't have as many tears.

Zuko knelt next to where Katara had been. His eyes fell apon Radon's grave, and sorrow danced in their depths. He looked back at the water and placed in it a perfect scarlet rose. He whispered his prayer, tears streaming down his cheeks after being pushed out when he closed his eyes. Several of his own tears dropped to the water, and Katara watched as small ripples danced out around them. Zuko stood and embraced Katara, the two of them crying silently near their suns grave until the sun began to set.

As the world around them grew darker, servants came out and lit candles on sand in paper bags all around the garden, giving the place an enchanting glow. When the rulers turned and began to walk down the path back home, Katara felt her heart lighten a bit. She stopped Zuko while they were still on the small hill, and pointed to the garden below. Zuko's eyes rose from the ground and he looked, a small smile lightening his face. He wrapped an arm around Katara and they rested their heads together, enjoying the view.

The candle bags had been placed along the stone lined path, illuminating the flowers a bit. A few streams here and there added a special touch to the beautiful sight as the moon's silver shine reflected on the glass like waters and made them seem to glow.

"Radon will be happy here." Katara whispered, knowing that she would be visiting her son every day for a long time.

"Yes, he will." Zuko agreed. He placed a sound and loving kiss on the bender's lips, savoring the peace.

The couple joined hands once again, providing that special comfort for each other as they walked the garden paths back home.

Good night, sweet Radon. I pray for you peace and happiness, my wonderful little boy.

For some reason, I think putting "END" right there would've shattered it, so it's at the end of the commentary.

srry... I had been planning to do this for so long, I couldn't turn back now. I do realize that the plot changed from light and happy to what is right now making me cry. Great. My own freakin' writing is making me cry. How pathetic is that?

Yeah, I realize a lot of you probably hate me right now, so I'm gonna change the subject.

I knew that there was such thing as a sakura, but I wasn't sure if there was a sakura tree or not. Whether there is or isn't, there is one in my fic, so, yeah. I thought "Sakura Tree" sounded so much better than "Weeping Willow".

The sequel should come out next month. I promise it will be light and happy. This is going to end well, I promise.

A huge thanks to all of my readers. This is the first story I've ever finished. It's true!

An extra special thanks to those of you who have been reading this since the beginning. If it weren't for you guys and your reviews, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the third chapter. For the names that I have in my head right now: (gomen nasaii if I spell them wrong) darkavatar13 (a HUGE TY to you, you were my very first reviewer!) Nilikeye, Hitenesbabe

(yes, I'm a drama queen, and you guys really have been way supportive of me, so I'm making a big deal out of this, because it's a big deal to me.)

Each and every one of you guys who read this story, especially the reviewers, make me feel all warm and happy inside. I probably wouldn'tve ended up finishing the story had you guys not reviewed...wait, I already said that, didn't I? Oh, well...

I promise the next ending will be happy and make you all go "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Thanks Again!

Arigatou!

Muchas Gracias!

Merci!

Gratzi!

... I don't know any more ways to say it, so... Thank You!

--blueflame17528

END