A/N Alright, I know most of yous are going to hate me for this….but as does every little good thing, this story must draw to a close sometime.

Don't worry though, the end chapter will probably be at chapter….maybe 42 or 45 at the most. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar!

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Rush of light flooding her vision, she tightly closed them until the whistling in her ears stopped and she felt a hot, gentle breeze across her face. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a beautiful garden with roses of various colors and ponds filled with lily pads and croaking frogs.

She lifted her arm to shade herself from the intense heat and gasped when she was wearing fire nation clothes. Katara looked down and saw her outfit. It was a red dress, slitted up to her hips on the sides with a pair of darker red pants under, a gold sash across her waist to finish.

Blocking the sun, she noticed something familiar about this place.

It was the palace!

Could it be that she was home free? Out of the cursed spirit world?

A rough voice behind her denied this theory.

"Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

Katara gulped and turned around, to find Zhao scowling at her.

"Why is there a problem?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips, trying to act like she owned the place.

Zhao growled and brought up a fist to hit her. "How dare you question me?"

Katara looked up and closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. It never came.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw a boy in front of her, blocking the fist.

"General Zhao, were trying to hit this girl?" The boy asked, Katara knowing his voice was somewhat similar to Zuko's.

Zhao huffed and pulled away, glaring at the boy and then leaving.

Katara let out a sigh of relief. The boy faced her and asked, "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

She quickly nodded no and looked into the golden eyes the boy had.

"What's your name?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"Katara." She said, taking his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Prince Zuko."

Katara stood there bewildered at the image of 14 year old Zuko. He looked so happy, so non-angst-y, so to speak.

She thought he was going to shake her hand, but instead he brought it up to his lips and gently kissed it, making Katara blush at the action. So, Zuko was a regular sweetheart in the past too.

One question Katara had though, was…..why in the world was this the second test? What kind of dangers were there here?

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With a thud, Zuko landed on the ground, only to be covered with snow.

Why couldn't the spirits let him down a bit gentler?

He shook his head and let the white snowflakes fall from his jet black hair. While brushing himself off, he realized that he wasn't in his fire nation clothes anymore, only to have that red outfit replaced with a mixture of different kinds of hues of blue. He wore a parka, similar to what Sokka wore, a pair of dark blue pants, with black shoes.

After brushing himself off, he looked out at the wondrous white landscape, a village not to far into the distance. He walked towards it and it reminded him of something.

The South Pole, he was back there.

The village was certainly a bit bigger than it was when he arrived with his crew to search for the Avatar. It certainly had a lot more people too. He watched where he stepped, as for there were small children darting in between people's legs and under them, playing tag with one another.

He kept on walking, thinking why in the heck the spirits dumped him here.

Then he remembered that Katara grew up in the South Pole. Well that was fast….

He walked around, trying to find the blue-eyed girl, with hair loopies on her head.

Zuko walked on until he saw a boy similar to Sokka shouting at a group of boys.

He walked closer and heard them shouting at one another.

"What are you going to do Sokka? Face it, even though your dad left you in charge, you can't possibly defend your family. Heck, you can't even defend your stupid baby sister." They taunted, laughing.

"I can too! You just watch! And don't you dare call my sister stupid!"

That's when Zuko noticed a girl smaller than the rest of the boys, hiding behind her brother. Then he saw a familiarity, she had wide blue eyes, and short brown hair.

That had to be Katara.

He moved closer and saw the boys push Sokka down, laughing. "Gee Sokka, you'll never be able to be a better warrior than us! You can't even throw a spear far enough!" The boys cackled as Katara rushed over her brother's side.

"Stop hurting him!" She shouted, helping her brother up.

The boys scoffed, "You're lucky you're a girl, or else I would've pushed you down too."

Katara got up and tackled the leader of the boys down to the ground, scratching at his clothes and face.

"Hey! Get off!" He struggled to get the enraged girl off of his stomach.

Sokka pulled Katara off, glaring at her. "Katara! What do you think you were doing? You could've gotten hurt!"

The leader of the boys laughed and got up, "Yeah, Katara," The boy said mockingly, "You could've gotten hurt." The boys behind him snickered.

Katara's bottom lip trembled slightly and her right hand went up to her neck.

"Look for this?" The boy held up a bright blue necklace, catching the light of the hazy sun.

"Give it!" Katara dived for it, but the boy quickly retracted it back.

"Give it." The boys mocked, laughing, Sokka shouting at them.

After many taunts and dives, Katara once again, met cold snow on her face.

The boys laughed. "You're pathetic…."

Katara faced the white snow and started to cry, tears making the soft snow into ice.

Zuko ran up to her and ignored the strange glances he got from Sokka and the rest.

"Are you ok?"

Katara tearfully looked up and nodded.

Zuko turned his gaze over to the idiotic boys, who were a bit afraid of him.

"Give back her necklace now." He stated.

The boys, afraid of what Zuko would do, dropped it in his outstretched hand and ran away, fast.

"Here you go." Zuko showed the gleaming stone at Katara, who was wiping away tears.

"Th….thank you, m….mister…"

Zuko laughed silently at how she called him "mister". It had a certain odd ring to it.

He gently held the ends of the silky blue fabric and tied it back onto her neck.

Katara sniffed once and wiped away the rest of her tears, Zuko helping her get up.

"Katara!" Sokka rushed up towards her and grabbed her shoulder, "you know what mom said about talking to strangers." He said sternly.

Katara was right, Sokka was over-protective in her childhood too. At this, he smiled a bit.

"It's ok Sokka, he got my necklace back for me, I'm pretty sure mommy would understand." Katara grabbed Zuko's wrist and dragged him to their house, Sokka shouting at her to slow down and how their mom would be extremely mad.

Before Zuko could protest, there they were, in front of a middle-sized ice house….thing-y….yeah….

Again, before he could speak, Katara dashed inside the house, dragging him along behind.

"Mommy! I want you to meet someone!" Katara cried out into the warm house.

"Katara, honey, who did you bring along this time?" Her mother stepped out and stared the man next to her 4 year old daughter.

Sokka bursted in, gasping for breath and sputtering out, "Mom…..tried…to….stop…but…too fast….no….mad…"

Their mother ignored him and asked, "So Katara, who is this?"

"Mommy, this is…." She stopped and brought a hand up to her chin, looking like she was deep in thought.

"Zuko…." He finished.

Her mother smiled and welcomed them in. "Welcome Zuko, so where are you from?"

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Katara was wiping her forehead once more, wondering why in the heck it was so hot now than it was in the present.

"Why is it so hot?" She gasped, wiping her forehead once more.

"I'm guessing you aren't a firebender." Zuko replied, turning around to face her.

Katara nodded no and let out a deep breath.

"Want to go see the turtle ducks? It's cool there." He offered, holding out his hand.

"Sure." She took his hand and he led her to the pond, it was definitely cooler there.

"Where are you from?" He asked, sitting down on the soft grass.

"Well….I…." She stammered.

"You don't have to tell if you don't want to." He quickly said.

She looked at the pond and crawled over to it, dipping her index finger into the cool waters. Quickly, a baby turtle duck came up to her hand and Katara gently took it in her hands.

Amazed, Zuko crawled over beside her, "Wow, how do you do that?"

"You have to be gentle with them….you can't just grab them, but just let them come to you." She gently stroked the tiny turtle duck, quacking in joy.

Then, she took his hand and gently guided it to the turtle duck, then letting his hands touch the soft feathers of it. Katara smiled and gave the turtle duck for him to hold.

"I've never been able to hold them like this, only feed them." He replied, smiling at the turtle duck.

Katara smiled at the young prince and sighed.

He was so happy in his early life….wonder what happened to make him so emotional and angry all the time?

Then, Zuko suddenly perked up and set down the turtle duck he has been holding.

"I need to go! The war meeting's today!" He jumped up and rushed towards the building.

"Sorry!" He shouted back, waving.

Katara waved back and continued to ponder on what caused the change in Zuko.

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A/N Alright, it was getting a little too long. So anyways, hope some of you guys review back!

R&R!