Okay guys, TOMORROW, I am leaving for vacation in Bolivia. I'm going for at least 8 weeks. But, I am still going to update. Just not as much though. I am bringing my laptop, so I hope to write lots of drabbles. Maybe even start my story I've been planning for a while. (Yes another story. But ooh! This time I have a plot line. And rough draft. And it's so original, I swear.) I'm thinking of starting an All-Shipping Drabble Series or a Freedom Fighter one. I can't decide..any more ideas? Okay, so I will be updating just not as much.

Warning: Slight angst and character death. (Not Zuko or Katara though!)

It had become a tradition. A yearly tradition, for a friend, that he never failed.

Ten years later, and so much had happened. So much. Almost too much.

Standing at the door of a small home in the South Pole, nearly frozen flowers in hand, shooing his guards away, was the Fire Lord himself. Zuko inhaled a sharp cold breath, smoothing the layers of clothes on his pale body. It was time to visit his friend, from all the way across the world, gift in one hand his other in his pocket. He nodded happily at the villagers which he had grown to known, waving at familiar faces and smiling at the same old ladies who kept winking at him each and every year.

"Katara? I know you're in here. Your neighbor told me so."

He brought his knuckles to knock on the door, but the just creaked open on it's own. Stepping inside he peaked around the corner and around the dusty furniture, only to see a curled up piece of blue in the corner.

The Fire Lord grew immensely worried when he knew who the ball of blue was, he heard faint sobs from the back of the room. His warm footsteps echoed lightly on the icy floor, as he stepped closer to the cries.

"...Katara?"

Zuko whispered softly, his voice shakily fluttering across the room. She barely heard but it was enough for her to sit up straight with a slight gasp.

Turning around, she widened her red shot eyes and messily wiped her tears away. With her long brown hair cascading down her shoulder, plastered to her head with sweat and time, the bags under her eyes were beyond noticeable. Zuko gave a tight and worried frown before running over to Katara in the corner.

Falling to his knees on the cold ground, he placed an arm around the waterbender.

"What happened?! What's wrong!?"

Terrified with whatever she was going to say, he held her firmly as she shook her head and wiped the tears that kept falling down. Her voice stuttered and numbly replied,

"Nothing, nothing, just pretend you never saw me like this."

Turning her so she was facing him directly, he held her shoulders tight and looked her in her sore blue eyes. Tears continued to rain down her face, paler than normal, as she sobbed and nearly choked from her crying.

"Zuko..." Her voice was just a small whimper, a tiny plead, and her inner little girl screaming for help.

So she told him all. Everything.

She told him how a ship from the South Pole has sank. How it ran into an iceberg, sinking and drowning to the depths of the sea. How her brother and her father had been on that ship. How she almost went with them, and how she blamed herself for not being there to help.

And she cried.

Each and every tear that fell was a memory, was guilt, and most of all, misery.

But Zuko held her the whole time, locking her in a never ending hug and rocking her in his arms as they sat on the cold and dirty floor for the rest of the night. They never moved, because there was no need for it. Silently he mourned for them, because he knew them. Sokka as a good friend, perhaps even one of his only friends, someone who helped him when he needed it, and Hakoda as a man with respect.

But on the outside, he stayed strong for her. Holding her tight to his chest as he whispered soothing things into her ear, stroking the damp hairs away from her face.

"What do I do? W-what do I do now?"

Her tired eyes blinked down more tears, her hands gripping her necklace as she stared into the face of a man who never left her side.

"I don't know..."

He answered her sorrowfully, leaning against the wall with her back resting against his chest. Turning her head back so he was looking at the back of it, she replied with a broken whisper.

"It's only been three weeks since the accident...and I feel so...alone."

Carefully and slowly, he spoke to her. His words melting her tears away and her heart, as he carefully pulled her into a hug. His arms embraced her, keeping her steady and strong like he always did.

"Then come with me, Katara. And I swear you will never be alone again. I promise you my life on that."

Nodding into his chest, spilling out more tears as she screamed into his chest, she was sobbing tears of hope. He rested his head on hers, breathing her scent in as she nuzzled closer to him. Those words he said to her, forced more tears out, but these were not of grief. They were of love.

"I will never let go, Katara. I will never leave you. I'll always be here, always here with you."

The flowers he had brought were discarded to the side, along with the rest of the world. Forgotten.