Unexpected, an A:tlA fanfic by Tsunami Storm
Chapter 14: Avatar Aang
Atop the airship fleet, Sokka and Toph ran toward the stern of one of the three remaining airships. Suddenly struck by another brilliant idea, Sokka turned to his companion. "Toph, metalbend the rudder so it's jammed in a turning position. The ship will spiral and slam into the others." He asked, and Toph agreed with a confident "Got it!", moving Sokka out of the way, spitting into her hands and rubbing them together. She gripped and bent the rudder with a grunt of effort, causing the Imperial Firebenders inside the ship to crash into one of the walls, and the ship slammed into the others exactly as Sokka had planned. He turned proudly to his extremely talented friend. "Have I ever mentioned how sweet it is that you invented metalbending?" He praised. Toph looked pleased. "You could stand to mention it more." She teased back.
A Firebender suddenly came out of a nearby hatch and fired at Sokka and Toph. Dragging Toph along, Sokka jumped off the ship, planting his sword in the side of the vessel to stop their descent, looking quite like Azula had when she'd attacked them at the Western Air Temple. He managed to slow them down, but they still fell off and landed roughly on a platform below. Sokka broke his leg in the process, and his sword embedded itself in the metal just in front of him. Toph however fell off the platform, and Sokka barely managed to grab her hand at the last second. Somewhat surprisingly, the warrior's leg bones had impacted into each other exactly as Zuko's leg had been broken when he fell from Azula's airship. It seemed so long ago now. Like another lifetime altogether.
"My leg!" Sokka cried out in pain, then to his companion: "Hang on Toph!"
"Aye, aye, Captain!" Toph called back, hanging on desperately and trying not to let her voice shake from fear.
Two Firebenders emerged on the platforms on either side of the duo, posing a threat from both sides. As one of the soldiers was about to release his element at the pair, Sokka sliced his trusty boomerang at the man, knocking him out and leaving him dangling off the platform by his lifeline chain that he'd clipped to his belt. The boy kicked his sword into his hand with his good leg and threw it at the remaining soldier's platform. The blade sliced right through the metal like a hot knife through butter and was sent spinning down to the forest below.
"Bye, Space Sword." Sokka mourned sadly as his one-of-a-kind weapon disappeared, never to be seen again. At that moment, more Imperial Firebenders ran outside on the balcony, ready to finish the stowaways. "I don't think Boomerang's coming back, Toph." Sokka called sadly as a few tears coursed down from the sightless Earthbender's eyes. "It looks like this is the end."
However, the Firebenders suddenly dispersed, running back to the safety of the higher levels of the vessel as another airship crashed into the craft's side. Sokka let Toph fall onto it before rolling off the platform and jumping down himself, hurting his leg again in the process as both ends of the fracture impacted into themselves more than they had been. He fell over in pain as Toph asked frantically, "How did that happen? Did Boomerang come back?"
Sokka looked up and beamed joyously as he answered, "No! Suki did!" He cried as his gaze locked onto his girlfriend, riding on the last functioning airship with a triumphant smile.
A few miles inland during Aang and Ozai's battle, the Fire Lord was still throwing fire blasts at Aang. He threw a few more fireballs at Aang, then rose up to fly toward the shell in order to shoot an enormous, continuous blast of fire at Aang. Ozai stepped back to charge another intense attack, causing Aang's rock shield to be crushed and the Avatar to protect himself with an air shield. However, the boy was pushed back by the sheer force of the attack, crashing into a rock pillar. A jagged portion of the pillar behind him poked straight into the teenager's old lightning scar from the Siege of Ba Sing Se, and Aang threw his head back in surprise as his spirit was flung back into the past to when he'd been struck down by Azula. Images flashed through the young Avatar's mind as he recalled Roku's explanation of how the Avatar State worked. Kyoshi also stood next to her reincarnation, her eyes glowing a bright white as more images of past Avatars flew by, all of their eyes aglow with the inhuman light. Aang briefly found himself standing before the enormous Avatar Spirit that he'd seen during his meditation exercises with Guru Pathik, the spirit standing tall and strong again after falling to Azula's strike so many weeks ago. Back in the mortal world, Ozai approached Aang, who was buried under a pile of rubble.
"Come on out, little boy." Ozai taunted. "You're about to be-"
He never finished his thought as Aang jumped out, now in the Avatar State, and grabbed Ozai by his goatee. Ozai- enraged- tried to Firebend at the Avatar, but Aang merely knocked his hand away. He created a blast of air that sent Ozai flying backward, who then crashed into a rock pillar. As the dust from the impact cleared, he looked up at Aang in the sky, who was surrounded by a sphere of spinning air. Aang proceeded to roar like an angry tigerdillo and created fire from his mouth, fists and feet. This show of absolute power created a massive gust of air, causing Ozai to shield himself as he struggled to groan. Pillars of earth disintegrated around him and moved toward Aang as other pieces of rock rose up from the ground to surround the boy. The Avatar tightened his fists with such strength that it was a surprise that they did not bleed. In response, the floating rocks compressed themselves into more concentrated forms, the atoms of which were so close together that absolutely nothing could pass between them. Forming a ring, they too surrounded the young Avatar as the ring of fire had done. A wave of water also rose toward Aang as he bent all four elements simultaneously into rings and spheres of each, as Ozai could do nothing but watch as the indescribable power of the Avatar increased to a terrifying level.
Aang charged at Ozai then, ramming him and then blowing him off his elemental sphere with a gust of wind. Ozai flew away from the untouchable teenager, pursued relentlessly by the most powerful being in the known world at the moment, who used his Earthbending to shoot bullet-like pebbles at the retreating Fire Lord.
Back in the Fire Nation capital, in the center of the courtyard, a few small spots of flames slowly burned, quickly consuming what little fuel they had. And in the middle of them lay a badly injured Zuko. With a weakened groan, he tried to push himself to his feet, but he was too hurt from the lightning strike and collapsed to the ground again. "Zuko!" Katara called frantically as she rushed to try and help him, but Azula launched a fire blast in front of her before the young Healer could reach him. The crazed princess laughed maniacally and shot another bolt of lightning at the Waterbender, which Katara swiftly dodged. Zuko again attempted to get back up, but he was too weakened and could do nothing but watch and stretch out a feeble, shaking hand as Azula shot yet another lightning bolt at Katara, who dodged again. Katara turned to watch her opponent as the young woman landed on a nearby rooftop and began charging another electrical attack.
"I'd really rather our family physician look after little 'Zuzu' if you don't mind." Azula taunted threateningly as she shot both lightning and fire at the young Waterbending master from the roof of a building. Katara managed to dodge them all and hid behind a nearby column, sparing a quick, worried glance for her fallen comrade. When she saw that her words weren't working on her current adversary, Azula turned her cruel taunts toward her gravely wounded brother. "Zuzu, you don't look so good!" She sneered with a wicked laugh.
She shot at Katara again, but the young Healer managed to dodge yet again and moved behind another pillar. Looking around, she spotted some water in a trough nearby and bent it onto the roof where her opponent had been perched, but Azula had already vacated. The princess appeared from behind her on fire jets and Katara was forced to flee. Using a nearby water channel, she resourcefully created ice to slide on as Azula chased after her and fired blast after blast of flames which vaporized her ice slides instantaneously. Unleashing a large burst of fire, Azula aimed to vaporize her enemy as she had the ice, but Katara managed to get away. Nearing the end of her ice path, Katara tripped on a grate and fell to her hands and knees, noticing an underground river that flowed through the palace courtyard. This was her chance. Maybe her only chance. Looking up, she grabbed some chains that were hanging from a wall sconce and quickly looped them around her shoulders as Azula emerged from behind one of the pillars.
"There you are, filthy peasant!" Azula spat venomously, glaring at the enemy with rage burning in her golden eyes. After a brief stare down, Katara employed multiple water whips to force Azula onto the grate. Azula was seconds away from shooting lightning at Katara's face at point-blank range when the Waterbender froze them both with the water under the grate. Azula looked around her in shock that this insignificant peasant could actually be this strong as Katara breathed out and used her power to melt the ice around her, chaining Azula's hands together and pulling them downward to tie them to the grate. With the Fire princess safely secured, she swiftly melted the ice and returned the water to the underground stream from whence it came, gasping for refreshing, slightly warmer-than-usual air as Azula did the same- albeit with significantly more coughing on the royal Firebender's part- as she had not seen Katara's attack coming and had accidentally breathed in some of the water. After catching her breath, Katara swiftly tightened the chains to make sure the unhinged royal couldn't get free and rushed over to her friend's side, collapsing to her knees and immediately coating her hands in healing water as she swiftly rolled Zuko onto his back, both to expose the wound and to help him breathe a little easier.
Zuko was breathing more and more shallowly with each passing second as Katara carefully coated his torso in healing water and concentrated, causing the water to glow a bright blue. As she worked to reverse the massive amounts of damage caused by Azula's comet-enhanced lightning, she continued to speak softly to her friend, to keep him conscious. There was a very good chance that he wouldn't make it if he fell asleep now.
"Come on, Zuko." Katara breathed tearfully. "You gotta stay with me."
Zuko grimaced and gasped softly in pain, the electricity still circling through his body playing havoc with his breathing and heart palpitations. "I- I don't- know if- I can." He whispered weakly.
"You can!" Katara shot back, scared, causing her friend to wince at the volume. "You're the strongest person I know. You've got to stay conscious, Zuko. Come on. Just keep your eyes on me." She breathed more gently so she wasn't screaming in his face. Shouting wouldn't make him heal faster, or help anything right now. All it would do is give him a headache on top of everything else.
"Katara- I-" He gasped breathlessly as tremors continued to rock his prone form. His golden eyes were half-lidded from the pain, but still- they looked young. Too young. And scared. He was only seventeen! No teenager should have to go through something like this at such a tender age. "I don't- think I'm- gonna make it."
"You have to, Zuko!" Katara nearly shrieked, but kept her voice as low as possible as tears coursed from her sapphire orbs. "The Fire Nation can't lose its first hope for a decent Fire Lord in centuries! You have to stay with us! I-" She broke off, choosing her words carefully. "I've lost too many friends to this war. Bato's two daughters, my mom, Yue, Jet- I can't lose you too!"
Zuko grimaced. The last thing he'd wanted to do was hurt her, but it couldn't be helped. His injuries were just too severe. Katara could do some incredible things, but not even she could reverse death. Not without water from the Spirit Oasis, anyway. He was dying, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
"T-tell- Mai- I- I- l-lo-" Zuko gasped with his last breath, but he couldn't quite get the words out as the light slowly dimmed from his eyes.
"Zuko?" Katara breathed, but the only sound that she could hear was the faint crackling of the remaining spots of flames, burning slowly through their fuel and eventually consuming everything flammable in the vicinity, burning themselves out with nothing more to feed on. "Zuko! No!" She gasped as she quickly put two fingers to the side of the young man's neck to check for a pulse.
And waited.
And listened.
There was no sound at all, no movement.
Zuko's heart had stopped.
Aang chased Ozai through the maze of rocky pillars, using Earthbending to move two pillars in front of the Fire Lord, who recoiled and flew away. Aang sent a wave of water at Ozai, causing him to crash to the ground. As Ozai recovered and looked up, Aang burst through the pillar that he landed near. Ozai retreated backward and shot a stream of fire at Aang, who ducked as Ozai propelled himself away with a fire jet from his feet. Aang rose and resumed following the fleeing Fire Lord.
After some more quick skirmishes, the Fire Lord found himself once again at the angry Avatar's mercy as the boy trapped his hands and feet to the ground with some quick Earthbending. Helpless, Ozai watched fearfully as Aang hovered over him, his voice echoing with the fury of all his predecessors. "Fire Lord Ozai, you and your forefathers have devastated the balance of this world, and now you shall pay the ultimate price!" He announced, under the control of all his past lives as he combined all four elements together for his final attack. At the last second, however, he managed to regain control, coming out of the Avatar State and letting his attack die out, floating to the ground as Ozai was merely doused with warm water and a few pebbles from the boy's ultimate combined attack, his hands and feet now free now that Aang wasn't controlling the rocks holding him anymore. "No. I'm not gonna end it like this."
Ozai smirked triumphantly. "Even with all the power in the world, you are still weak!" He rasped evilly as he moved to attack the Avatar. However, Aang sensed the movement with the seismic sense he'd learned from Toph. He stamped down and lifted a foot up, dragging a pillar of earth along with him, deflecting Ozai's attack and binding his fist inside the rock. He circled Ozai and proceeded to bind his other hand when the man attempted to attack again. Once again employing centuries of Earthbending Avatars' skills, he raised a pillar of rock from under the spot on which Ozai stood, forcing the trapped Fire Lord to kneel. Ozai attempted one final breath attack, but Aang used some quick Airbending to stop and approach him as he put one hand on Ozai's forehead and the other over his heart as the Fire Lord could only watch in horror. Aang closed his eyes and recalled back to when he'd met the lion turtle.
"In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements- but the energy within ourselves."
Aang's head arched back and blue energy shone out of his eyes and mouth and shot into the sky. Ozai looked terrified as his eyes and mouth began to shine out red energy. Aang's body became consumed by blue energy as Ozai followed suit with the red. It was a very surreal sight as the sky above and earth beneath was divided exactly in half by the diametrically opposed energies.
"To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable- or you will be corrupted and destroyed." The Avatar recalled the lion turtle's wisdom. As the ancient being spoke, Ozai's energy began slowly overtaking Aang's body, consuming the blue and replacing it with red energy. Within seconds, the red energy had taken over almost completely with just one eye left.
The young man awoke with a gasp, sitting upright so fast that it made his head spin. Dizzily, he put a hand to the side of his head to balance his equilibrium, calming slightly when his fingers touched the familiar, shaggy mop that was his hair for the past few months after returning home to the Fire Nation after the fall of Ba Sing Se. Bringing his hand to the front of his face, Zuko rubbed his left eye groggily as he rose to his knees, slightly confused when he didn't feel any sort of resistance or roughness from his burn scar that had marred his once-handsome face from the time he was thirteen. Rising fluidly to his feet, the young man dropped his hand to his side and surveyed his surroundings-
Wait a minute! What happened to his scar?! Zuko gasped in surprise and sprinted over to a nearby pool of pure, still water, inhaling sharply again as he studied his unfamiliar visage in the mirror-like surface.
"Surprising, isn't it?" A new voice queried from somewhere behind him, and the prince gasped for a third time as he whirled around on his heel to face his surprise companion.
But what he saw made him take a step back in shock, and maybe just a bit of fear. The man standing before him was a walking enigma. After all, Lu Ten had been dead for almost six years now.
"It's alright." The late son of Iroh smiled, walking up to his favorite cousin and clapping a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to be afraid of anything here. There's no bending in the Spirit World. And anything that happened to your physical body gets erased once you make your way here. Hence your missing scar."
"The- S-spirit World?" Zuko whispered, not trusting his own voice to produce much more than terrified squeaks. Then the truth dawned on him. "Oh. That means- I'm-"
"Yeah. Sorry, kiddo." Lu Ten smiled sadly, putting his fists in the pockets of his robes. Interestingly, he was not wearing the Fire Nation armor in which he'd died, but rather the white ceremonial robes that were used by the royal family for special occasions, whether for a marriage or a coronation, or a funeral. "It's never easy when we find kids who died too soon over on this side. But-" His sad smile suddenly turned just a little mischievous. "-that's kinda your fault for being a hero." He teased gently, earning himself a fist to the upper arm from his favorite cousin.
"Li?" Yet another new voice asked quietly from somewhere behind the two cousins, though Zuko faintly recognized this voice. "Jet?" The prince queried, equally surprised.
"Yeah. It's been a while." The former Freedom Fighter smiled, holding out a hand in a gesture of welcome. "Sorry about- what happened the last time I saw you." The young spirit apologized sheepishly, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand as Zuko shook the proffered one in a friendly handshake.
"It wasn't your fault. You were right. Kinda." Zuko smiled. "We were Fire Nation. But we were on the run from our own people, just like most of the refugees in Ba Sing Se. It was wrong what the Dai Li did, though. You didn't deserve that."
"Yeah, well, can't change the past." Jet shrugged, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants. "All we can do is look forward and try to move on with our lives." He smirked. "Figuratively in my case." He chuckled at his morbid joke, and Zuko cracked a smile. "Hey, say 'Hi' to the Gaang for me, will ya? When you go back?" He requested, and Zuko took a step backward.
"What are you talking about? I can't-" Zuko began, nonplussed. "I'm dead! I can't go back, are you crazy?"
"Whoops. Ruined the surprise." Jet smirked as he shrugged and leaned over to look toward a spot somewhere behind the young prince. "Sorry Roku."
Zuko's eyes widened to the size of quarters as he gasped again. "Roku?" He breathed in disbelief as he turned on his heel once again to face his maternal great-grandfather.
"Your friend speaks the truth, my grandson." Aang's previous incarnation smiled solemnly. "Unlike so many of us on this side, you have a unique choice before you: you can go back. You can be the greatest Fire Lord this world has ever known, and the ruler the Fire Nation so desperately needs after over a century of war and strife. What Iroh said was true: 'Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world'."
Suddenly the young prince began to emit a light blue aura as his form slowly turned transparent. He gasped in shock and looked at his deceased relatives with a scared expression, but calmed when he noticed the gentle smiles on all of their faces. "You're goin' home, kiddo." Lu Ten grinned as Zuko continued to fade back to the World of the Living. "Hey, tell my Dad I said 'Hi', all right?" He requested with an even wider smile as Zuko nodded silently, still stunned to silence as he shimmered out of the visible spectrum in the Spirit World.
"See ya, little cousin." The former prince smiled sadly. "Come back in eighty years or so."
The blue energy began to disappear, but at the last second it blasted out of Aang's eyes, overwhelming the red energy in the process and proceeding to take over Ozai's own body, resulting in an intense beam of blue energy erupting into the sky. The beam slowly dissipated and Ozai slumped to the ground as Aang released him. Ozai attempted to rise and attack, but fell back exhausted and no longer able to bend his destructive element.
"What- what did you do to me?" Ozai gasped, out of breath.
"I took away your Firebending." Aang explained calmly, not winded in the slightest after the awesome display of power and previously lost art of Energybending. "You can't use it to hurt or threaten anyone else ever again."
Stepping forward, Aang looked toward the sea as fire continued to spread on the land below. He breathed deeply and briefly entered the Avatar State, causing his eyes to glow a bright white for a split second and then fade to his normal dark gray- showing his complete mastery of the ability. Aang bent the water from the ocean below to extinguish the fires. After ensuring that the flames would not spread to any more trees in the devastated forest, Aang lowered the water back to its normal level as Momo returned to his favorite master's shoulder. Sozin's Comet departed from the atmosphere for another century as Sokka, Toph and Suki left the airship that they had carefully docked at the edge of the rock pillar on which their friend stood. Sokka supported both his arms around his two companions due to his broken leg.
"You did it!" Sokka crowed. "You should've seen yourself, it was amazing!" He gushed as he described Aang's recent battle with epic sounding sound effects. "You were all like- Pshoo! Pow! Crash! Airbending slice! And the Fire Lord was all like-" His effects petered out to more pathetic sounding groans as he pretended to be Ozai struggling to battle and failing spectacularly.
Suki cautiously pointed to the exhausted Ozai as she carefully took a few steps for a closer look. "So did you- you know- finish the job?" She asked nervously.
Ozai frowned defiantly as he rose slowly from the pillar of rock he'd been leaning on. "I'm still alive." He snarled as Suki made an embarrassed face and retracted her finger, backing away from him.
"I learned there was another way to defeat him and restore balance. I took his bending away." Aang explained with a rather nonchalant shrug, as if this was a thing that happened on a regular basis.
Toph looked surprised. "Wow! Who taught you that?"
Aang shrugged again. "A giant lion turtle."
The young Earthbender smirked, shaking her head in partial disbelief. "You have the craziest adventures when you disappear."
Sokka couldn't resist gloating a little now that the threat to the world for the past century had finally been neutralized. "Well, look at you, Buster. Now that your Firebending's gone, I guess we should call you- the Loser Lord!" He teased, but stepped back a bit in fear when Ozai sat back up and pointed a threatening finger at him. "I am the Phoenix King!" He protested weakly, but then flopped back on the ground as his strength left him, semi-conscious and drooling as his tongue lolled uselessly out of his mouth.
Toph put in her own two cents as she continued mockingly, "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to offend you, 'Phoenix King-of-Getting-His-Butt-Whooped'."
Several hours later, after Sozin's Comet had left for another hundred years and returned the sky to the darkness of night- rows upon rows of people stood on the palace grounds- most wearing red hooded cloaks and carrying long, red, rectangular flags. The Gaang, now reunited, stood slightly to the right of an elaborate coffin of ornately carved wood that was painted white and gold. Everyone gathered in the plaza had tears in their eyes as a somewhat familiar Fire Sage leader robed in red stood in front of the casket, and four other Sages in white robes stood behind it at the four corners.
"Zuko. Prince to our Nation for barely seventeen years. You were the light of hope for this world, extinguished far too soon." Shyu breathed as he kept his head bowed respectfully. Behind him, Zuko's body looked as if it were merely peacefully asleep, his torn and ragged everyday robes replaced with more appropriate attire for a ceremonial occasion, the white robes traditionally used for occasions such as this: a funeral. "You were the great-grandson of Avatar Roku, now passed. Preceded by your cousin Lu Ten, now passed." Shyu mourned as a tear dropped from his eye when he remembered the driven and confident young prince who he'd encountered at the Fire Temple just a few months ago, when Avatar Roku had destroyed the temple and protected- not just his current incarnation and group of friends- but his own great-grandson as well. The other four Sages lit their fists with their element and prepared to set the funeral pyre ablaze as Shyu held up the fire crown over the crowds of people. "We lay you to rest. As was your dying wish, you are now succeeded by your uncle. General Iroh, you may give any final words to him at this time." The Fire Sage leader invited, and the aging master turned about without rising to his feet to face the coffin that entombed the boy he'd considered a second son.
Somewhere in the midst of the crowd, the sound of a lute being delicately strummed sounded, and Iroh added his gentle baritone voice to the music at the proper time.
"Leaves from the vine,
Falling so slow,
Like fragile, tiny shells,
Drifting in the foam.
Little- soldier boy,
Come marching home.
Brave, soldier boy,
Comes- marching- home."
After the emotional song ended, not a single eye was dry in the courtyard as the Great Fire Sage announced, "By decree of Fire Prince Zuko, I now crown you Fire Lord Ir-" Shyu was moments away from placing the crown in a sobbing Iroh's topknot, and the Sages were just about to light the pyre when something extraordinary happened. Zuko gasped loudly and sat bolt upright, both eyes wide open and chest heaving as if he'd just completed a marathon rather than coming back to life. He looked around in surprise and more than a little confusion as everyone present inhaled gasps of shock and surprise of their own, completely nonplussed at the miracle that had just occurred before their eyes.
Iroh whirled around and stood to his feet in such a fluid motion that one would think the old master Firebender had actually been an Airbender the whole time, running to the edge of the unlit pyre and grasping the wooden side of the casket so tightly that the wood started to crack under the pressure. "Z-Zuko?!" He dared to breathe incredulously as his equally-surprised, newly-resurrected nephew turned to him with wide, golden eyes. His expression slowly softened into a warm smile as the rest of the Gaang gathered around the would-be bonfire, all shocked into silence and Sokka mouthing soundlessly like a beached fish.
"Lu Ten says 'Hi'." Zuko smiled, a twinkle of mischief in his eye as he smiled at his real father-figure, the man who had raised him as an actual son instead of the poor excuse for a parent that Ozai had been. Iroh gasped softly as a few more tears budded in his eyes and ran down his face into his beard, then he suddenly lunged forward and embraced his favorite nephew in a tear-filled hug- when Zuko climbed down from the funeral pyre and returned the hug as far as he was able, his chest injury still bothering him a bit as his rib cage constricted. But he found he didn't care at the moment. It would heal in time. His close friend Katara would make sure of that. The only thing that mattered now was that he was alive, back in the world in which he belonged, and surrounded by the people who truly loved him for who he was.
"I'm home."
The next morning, in his own room in the Fire Nation royal palace, Zuko was having trouble putting on his Fire Lord robes due to his injury.
"You need some help with that?" A sly voice offered from somewhere behind the new Fire Lord. Zuko gasped and turned around slowly so as not to aggravate his wound, and there was Mai, leaning up against the doorpost and smirking proudly at her true love.
"Mai! You're okay!" Zuko exclaimed as he spread his arms wide to embrace the young woman he loved with all his heart. "Oh, I'm so relieved. I was so worried about you during the Comet. Where did you-" He began, but Mai cut him off by putting a soft finger to his lips. "A girl's gotta have some secrets. I might tell you after the coronation. Let's just say it doesn't hurt when the new Fire Lord is your boyfriend." She grinned mischievously.
"So does this mean you don't hate me anymore? For breaking your heart after the Eclipse?" Zuko grinned sheepishly.
Mai blushed. "I think it means- I actually kind of like you." She admitted, wrapping her slender arms around Zuko's broad shoulders and kissed him passionately with all the love and affection that was almost bursting from her heart. When they broke apart, Mai's tone and expression changed to a serious and stern one. "But don't you ever- scare me like that- again!" Zuko grinned nervously before they hugged again.
In the plaza of the royal palace, people from all over the world congregated for the coronation of the new Fire Lord, among which were several familiar faces. The Duke hugged Toph and she reciprocated as Pipsqueak and members of the Foggy Swamp Tribe watched. Sokka and Katara moved through the crowds and searched for a certain important member of their family. Sokka located the man first as he exclaimed, "Dad!" running to Chief Hakoda and embracing him as Katara echoed his exclamation seconds after and mirrored her brother.
"I heard what you two did." Hakoda breathed proudly as he put both hands on his children's shoulders. "I am the proudest father in the world." He turned to Katara and added, "And your mother would be proud too." He said softly as Katara shed a few tears of joy while touching her necklace. Some paces away, a group of Kyoshi Warriors approached the small family. "There's my favorite warriors!" Sokka announced as he spread his arms wide to welcome his girlfriend and her troupe. "I have to admit, I kind of missed the face paint. So how does it feel to be back in uniform again?" He asked happily as the warriors fanned out in position to flank their leader.
"It feels great!" a new yet unmistakable voice announced, appearing from behind Suki and thrusting both arms into the air in excitement.
A guarded Sokka gasped and swiftly pulled his girlfriend behind his back as he pointed a threatening crutch at Ty Lee. "Careful, Suki! Ty Lee's pretending to be a Kyoshi Warrior again!" He cried.
"It's okay." Suki countered, putting a gentle hand on her excitable boyfriend's shoulder. "She's one of us now." Sokka turned to Ty Lee before turning back to Suki, mouth agape in a stunned expression for both girls.
"Yeah, the girls and I really bonded in prison." Ty Lee elaborated. "And after a few Chi blocking lessons, they said I could join their group! We're going to be best friends forever!" She hugged two other warriors and they all smiled with wide grins.
Inside the royal palace, Aang- now wearing the robes and necklace of an Airbending master- opened his eyes from his meditation as Zuko approached, clad in the Fire Lord attire. However, instead of the dark red fabric that tradition dictated he should wear, Zuko was instead clothed in robes of varying shades of white, with golden fabric adorning the edges of the royal attire. White was a neutral color, and also symbolized peace. It was high time for some new traditions. Turning to his best friend, Zuko mused aloud, "I can't believe a year ago my purpose in life was hunting you down. And now-" He broke off, unable to find the right words to adequately describe his complete turnabout.
"And now we're friends." The Avatar imparted sagely with a soft smile, extremely proud of his friend and the wise ruler he'd become.
"Yeah. We are friends." Zuko agreed, still unable to believe it at times.
"I can't believe a year ago I was still frozen in a block of ice. The world's so different now." Aang shrugged as he stood to his feet, but Zuko put a comradely hand on the boy's shoulder. "And it's gonna be even more different- we'll rebuild it together." Zuko offered, embracing his friend warmly as they both stepped through the curtain to walk outside to the plaza.
People from every corner of the world were gathered in the courtyard, members of the Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, and even the Foggy Swamp tribe all stood in neat rows and columns- divided but whole. Different tribes, but all people, united for one purpose: the end of the Hundred-Year War and the crowning of a new Fire Lord. Zuko walked past a large gong as one of the Fire Sages struck it with a mallet, causing the crowds to erupt in cheers. After a minute, Zuko raised his hand to quiet the masses.
"Please." He began humbly, looking down and then gesturing behind him. "The real hero- is the Avatar." He deflected as Aang walked up to stand next to his friend and new ruler of the Fire Nation. The crowd burst into cheers again as Aang locked eyes with his girlfriend, who smiled back proudly at the young man who had saved them all.
"Today, this war is finally over!" Zuko announced to tumultuous applause, causing some of the members of the larger Team Avatar to cheer loudly and add their own affirmations of approval. Haru, Tyro, the Mechanist and Teo all looked at Zuko with proud, beaming smiles. After a century of strife, peace was more than welcome. "I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation, and I will." Zuko vowed. "The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided." Aang turned to see Zuko smile at him, then both turned back to the crowd. "But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of love and peace."
After his speech, Zuko knelt down and bowed his head in humility as Fire Sage Shyu approached with the headpiece. Raising it above his ruler's head, he put the golden ornament into Zuko's topknot. "All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" He called as everyone cheered again and Zuko rose fluidly to his feet. He walked toward the cheering crowd and gestured for Aang to follow him. Aang approached and they looked briefly at each other before looking out at the crowd. This small gesture symbolized his goal to work with the Avatar- the bridge between worlds- in order to restore balance to a war-torn and ravaged world that cried for peace and healing.
A few weeks later in Ba Sing Se, children now used the stacked Fire Nation tanks from the siege as a game, using Earthbending to launch a ball over the tower to score points. In the upper ring of the city, in the kingdom's most popular tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, Appa looked into the establishment from one of the balconies. Iroh had reserved the whole shop for the afternoon to accommodate an exclusive party for his most important guests: Team Avatar and his beloved nephew, now Fire Lord of an entire nation. However, the young ruler looked quite humble as he served tea to all his friends, his hair down and framing his gentle face nicely in a shaggy mop as he placed a cup on the table next to his dear uncle, who was skillfully playing the tsungi horn. Aang was laying on the floor, lazily entertaining Momo with an airball, and Sokka was hard at work at one of the tables, brush in hand and painting a picture.
"Zuko, stop moving!" Sokka complained, causing the Fire Lord to freeze in his tracks and look up. "I'm trying to capture the moment!" He announced as everyone gathered behind him to look at his masterpiece. "I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together." He smiled, putting some finishing touches on his artistry and displaying it for the group.
"That's very thoughtful of you, Sokka." Katara smiled, but her pride in her brother quickly turned to a frown of annoyance. "Wait, why did you give me Momo's ears?" She asked, critiquing her brother's 'unique' art style.
"Those are your hair loopies!" Sokka defended his work, slightly offended that his sister did not approve of his vision.
On his other side, Zuko wasn't too impressed with the warrior's depiction of him either. "At least you don't look like a boar-q-pine! My hair is not that spiky!" He huffed.
"I look like a man." Mai commented quietly, standing by Zuko's side and supporting her fiancé as they all ganged up on poor Sokka.
Even Suki joined in the critiquing, though she was supposed to support her boyfriend in any situation. "And why did you paint me Firebending?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought it looked more exciting that way!" Sokka defended feebly as Momo jumped onto the table and chittered. "Oh, you think you can do a better job, Momo?" The lemur chittered again as Aang walked outside to the veranda with a gentle smirk at his friends' antics.
Back among the group, Iroh too pointed out his disagreement with his depiction. "Hey, my belly's not that big anymore. I've really trimmed down!"
"Well I think you all look perfect!" The blind Earthbender joked, causing everyone present to share a good laugh. It felt good to laugh again, after months of not having any occasion and even when it was dangerous to do so.
Aang walked past Appa, petting him briefly before moving to watch the sun set. Katara approached from behind with a smile on her face and turned to her boyfriend, now official after so many months of uncertainty. Aang turned to look at her and smiled back. Katara smiled and blushed at the thought of what she was preparing to do, what she'd been preparing to do for weeks. She placed a gentle hand on the Avatar's shoulder and they embraced. After a mini eternity, Katara and Aang slowly broke apart and opened their eyes, turning to watch the sunset. However, neither could hide their feelings any longer as they both turned to face one another again, both with gentle, proud smiles on their faces. Without warning, Katara leaned forward and shared a deep kiss with Aang, who returned it passionately as they wrapped their arms around each other. The sun continued its descent below the horizon and Ba Sing Se continued its evening bustle in the background as the sky slowly transitioned from the light blue and white clouds of day to the oranges, pinks and purple clouds of eventime. The clouds shifted themselves into specific formations, spelling out the characters that marked the end of the Gaang's adventure.
On the opposite side of the world, in the ancient civilization of the Sun Warriors, a shaft of light shone through a grate into the chamber of the Sun Stone and the Dancing Dragon statues. The Sun Stone on the center pedestal began to wobble as a small crack snaked its way across the surface, and a hole appeared in the 'stone' as a slitted eye appeared, blinking once and narrowing before disappearing back into its egg.
The End
Hey, the show left us on a cliffhangertoo with Ursa's uncertainfate, so you can't blame mefor doing it!
Well, this marks the end of one of myvery first stories on FF, finally finished after about ten years. It's been a wild ride, and Iwant to thank each and every one of you, both for being patient with myextremely lazybutt and for inspiring meto make this story better and better with each gold nugget of ConCrit. You're all amazing!
That Sun Stone 'egg' that the Sun Warriorsprotect? Ijust imagine that it hatched into Zuko's dragonin Legend of Korra. Ididn't really like where they took the end of that series, but it's still a pretty good show. However, the first series will always be myfavorite.
God Bless!
Tsunami Storm