"Katara... I-I was telling the truth!" Zuko lied.
"Ha! No you weren't! You looked equally hurt and yelled at Azula like she did something horrible to me." Katara scoffed.
"Katara... She did, she did the worst thing you can imagine." Zuko sighed.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Katara said.
Zuko proceeded to explain to her everything that had happened, from her discovering the avatar, to him hunting them, to them kissing, and to Azula using her 'gift' on Katara.
"No... It's not true... It can't be!" Katara yelled tears streaming down her face.
"Katara, I'm sorry but it's true." Zuko sighed.
"I-I believe you." Katara looked at Zuko.
"You do?" He asked.
"Yes, you see I've been having these dreams lately. About everything you have mentioned, and sometimes I can't sleep at night and i find myself wanting to stare at the moon. I wish I could return to normal and be a water bender again." Katara cried.
"I know, but you aren't. Sokka, Mai and I are trying to figure out a way for you to be you again. I must say though, I think you're even more beautiful as a fire bender, red certainly is your color." Zuko told Katara as he took her in his arms.
"Thank you, I just, can't imagine the pain and torture I must have gone through, when Azula made me a fire bender. I've read it in the palace library, about this gift. It said that when a victim goes through the process of becoming a new person, their soul is literally ripped in half and replaced by a new soul." Katara shuddered.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Zuko told her.
"It's alright I don't remember any of it. So wait Sokka is my brother? And you and I are-are-are in l-l-love?" Katara asked.
"Yeah I guess we are, and yeah Sokka's your brother."
"Wait, there is a problem, if I become a water bender again, you and I can't get married and I couldn't be the fire lady, because I'm from the water nation."
"That is a good point." Zuko pointed out.
"Do you think that there is a way for me to get my water bending back and still keep my fire bending?" Katara asked.
"No, It's impossible, Azula tried that once on... someone.... they died." Zuko stated sadly.
"Who?" Katara pried.
"My... older brother." Zuko choked.
"You had an older brother?" Katara asked.
"Yes, I was very close to him. You see my mother was from the fire nation but was a water bender, water bending is in my blood. My father wanted to keep the blood line pure so he asked Azula to change him into a fire bender, which she did successfully. Then my father thought that if Yan, my brother, could be fire and water he would be able to take down the avatar, so he asked my sister to turn his memories back to water bending and his water bending ability but to mix it with his new soul. It ended horribly. Yan went mad. He would wake up screaming. His body was imbalanced. One night he went so crazy that he made a fire and ice dagger and tried to kill himself. I stopped him and brought back into the palace. A few hours later I heard a horrifying scream and it all of a sudden stopped short. I ran into Yan's room and he was dead." Tears fell down Zuko's cheeks.
"Oh, Zuko, I'm so sorry." Katara hugged him.
"I know, but please don't tell anyone, I couldn't bare it if anyone else knew." Zuko begged.
"I won't I promise." Katara smiled at him. Katara yawned and lied down on her bed. She curled into a ball and pulled Zuko down, she molded her self into him and they fell asleep. That night Yan came to Zuko, it was the only time he could go to Zuko it was a new moon and the spirit world would send one person to go talk to someone they needed to desperately it was finally Yan's turn. He traveled through the fire nation and crept into Mai's house, he found Zuko and shook him.
"Zuko wake up!" He whispered.
"Huh, who's there?" Zuko awoke.
"Zuko it's me your brother Yan." Yan told Zuko. Zuko's eyes widened, he stood there dumbfounded for a moment to frightened to say anything. Then his whole body found warmth he gave his brother a huge hug.
"Oh Yan, I have missed you my brother!" Zuko sobbed.
"I know as have I missed you. I only have a short amount of time and I need to speak with Mai as well, please listen, I know you told young Katara here about me, I am alright with this, but you need to know something. Changing someone back to the way they were before the 'gift' was used on them is far more painful. Katara will scream the way I used to. You see when Azula tried to mix the new me, with the old me, my body was constantly trying to gain a balance. It tried to change me to fire then water and it was painful because no matter how hard it tried, nothing would change. Eventually I couldn't take the pain anymore and ended it. Katara will go through this pain, for one day her body will change and she will be in so much pain for those 24 hours. You need to stay by her and make sure she doesn't do anything rash. Zuko I love you but I must go speak with Mai now." Yan hugged his brother Zuko and ran to find Mai. Zuko whispered when Yan left,
"I won't fail you again brother." And he lied back down with Katara.
Yan found Mai asleep in her bed. She was on her back with her hands folded across her heart. "Mai! Mai please wake up!" Yan shook her. Mai slowly opened her eyes. She yawned and leaned up. When she saw Yan her eyes widened.
"Yan? Is that you?" She asked.
"Yes Mai it is me, Yan." Mai embraced her former friend with a tight hug.
"Oh Yan I have missed you imencely!" Mai sobbed.
"I have missed you as well, young Mai. I only have a short amount of time so I need you to stop crying for a moment and listen to me. Can you do that?" Yan looked at Mai. Mai shook her head 'yes' and wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"Ok, Mai, this is not going to be easy for me to say, but I need to say it. Mai, you were the best friend I ever had and I grew to love you more than a friend. I loved you like a husband loves his wife but ten times more. When ever I saw you I thought how lucky I was for you to even love me like a friend." Mai was stunned she thought back to all of the years she flirted and tried to get Yan to like her, when the whole time, he had. She thought to how after Yan died, she went after Zuko because of the strong resemblance. She had loved Yan for many years and finally grew to love Zuko just as much pretending he was Yan.
"Yan, I love you too. I wish we could've been together. I loved you the whole time, and the reason you have seen me being so dreary is because when you died, it killed me inside. I didn't even get to say a true good bye." Mai cried.
"Mai that's why I've come back to say a real good bye to you." With that Yan's lips came crashing down onto Mai's. His hands found their way to her waist and she kissed back with just as much passion, knowing the was their first and final kiss together. The kiss became deeper and suddenly Yan heard the voice in his head saying, "time to go" Yan pulled away and looked at Mai sadly.
"It's time isn't it?" Mai asked quietly.
"Yes, I'm sorry, but I must go. Mai, you must promise me 2 things. 1. Do NOT kill yourself to be with me. There is a separate part of the spirit world for people who do that and number 2. Please try to have emotion and to move on. I don't want you living the rest of your life waiting to die. I will always love you and when your time comes, we will be together again. I love and that will never change, good bye for now." Yan kissed Mai's forehead and disappeared. Mai layed back down on her bed and cried for the rest of the night. In the morning Mai and Zuko shared there incounters with Yan, only to each other. The journey ahead was not easy but it had to be done, Mai and Zuko told each other that they would not fail Yan, Katara, Zuko, or the Avatar and do there part in ending this war, permanently.