I present to you the final chapter!

I have to admit, I'm taking several massive risks with this particular chapter, but I hope it pays off.

Enjoy!

For the briefest of moments, the only thing I could sense was a pure white light completely blinding my vision. At first, I thought I had gone blind from another explosion, but then I realized that couldn't be possible. If I was blind, then how could I see light at all?

In the next moment, I felt a powerful energy that seemed to rise from within the confines of my soul. I still don't really know how to explain it, but for some reason, this power felt like it was finally being liberated, as if it had been confined for decades. I guess it makes sense now, but at the time, it was absolutely overwhelming. I could feel this newfound motivation springing into my mind. It almost felt otherworldly, but it was also familiar in a weird way. It gave me the knowledge of what I had to do, and I agreed with it wholeheartedly. I had to stop all this madness, all the killing and mindless slaughter. I had to make it end by whatever means necessary.

At once, I released all of the pent-up energy within me.

I great wind soared out from my hands and I could feel it encircling me like a shell. I could then hear the sounds of destruction mixed with terrified screams. Wood splintering, concrete shattering, and debris and rubble collapsing to the ground. Everything was crashing down around me, but I didn't care.

I could feel my body being lifted into the air. The sounds of battle slowly diminished in intensity, only to be replaced by the rushing wind produced by my powers.

Finally, my vision returned, and I could see everything around me with perfect clarity. The now partially destroyed apartment building was below me. I could see bodies strewn about and various fires producing thick clouds of smoke dotted all across the landscape. Ba Sing Se's army was also there. The soldiers were staring up at me in awe. There were also a lot of civilians and several surviving Kyoshi Warriors inside the ruins of the building watching me as well. Everyone who was still alive was entranced by the sight of me.

I could hear a distant voice calling my name, but I ignored it. Instead, I formed large balls of fire in both of my hands, and I prepared myself to unleash it at the clashing forces below me. All reason had left my mind. I only wanted to stop everyone from fighting each other, to end the senseless bloodshed.

"Izumi! Stop this!"

The voice called my name again, and this time, I finally recognized it. For the first time, I also became aware of a heavy weight clinging onto my right leg. I looked down to see a man grasping onto me and holding on for dear life. There was fear in his eyes, but there was also compassion and understanding, much more than I think I really deserved. It took far too long for me to finally recognize his face.

It was Sokka.

The strange man I had only just recently met. The man, who only a few days ago, was completely disinterested in my plight. The man who at first annoyed me with his constant sarcastic remarks and an inability to take things seriously. But then I also remembered that he was the man who dropped his entire life to save me. He was the man who had stuck by me through all the great tragedies and close encounters with death we had experienced together. And now, he was risking his life to save everyone from a fate of complete annihilation. A fate that I was so ready to administer to every last person left in the refugee camp.

"You don't have to do this!" I could hear him shouting. "Think about what I said last night! Don't give in to the hopelessness!"

I could feel the energy inside me slowly dissipating away, and I could start to feel my own thoughts returning to me.

"Remember what your mother said!"

My mind instantly flashed back to a few days ago, in the hours after Suki had been killed and my mother and I had placed her body in our makeshift funeral pyre. My mother had hugged me tightly with tears streaming down her eyes. She had then whispered into my ear.

No matter what, be the light that you want to see in the world.

Suddenly, all of the energy I had left faded away, and I could feel myself lowering back to the ground. I felt an intense exhaustion wash over me, and just a meter away from the ground I blacked out.

When I came too, I saw the blurry from of Sokka kneeling over me. His mouth was moving but I didn't hear any words. Slowly, my mind regained focus and my senses returned to me.

"-ou okay? Izumi?"

"S… Sokka?" I breathed.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you injured?"

"No… I don't think so," I could barely answer him. My body felt so weak at first, but I could feel my strength coming back. "Wh… where's Noriko?"

Sokka hesitated for the briefest of seconds before speaking. "She's dead."

"Did... did I.."

"No," Sokka cut me off before I could finish. "I got her."

Even knowing that the woman hadn't died by my hand, I still felt sense of satisfaction at the knowledge that she was gone. It would never have been possible to reason with her.

I pushed myself to sit up, and I took a good look at the scene around me. We were back inside the apartment building, or at least, what was left of it. Most of the walls had collapsed and there was a thick layer of ash covering the floor. I looked up the see the interior layers of the building. Multiple stories of wood construction, now partially on fire, towered above me. But inside the rubble and peering back at me, I saw people.

There was a mixture of people of all sorts dressed in Fire Nation, Water Tribe, and Earth Kingdom clothing. Men, women, and children. Warriors, soldiers, and refugees. They had all stopped what they were doing just to take in the sight of me. I didn't know what to do but stare back at them.

I then saw the form of Noriko's body lying just a few meters away. It was partially covered in dust and debris, but some of the Kyoshi face paint had been washed away and I could easily recognize her face. Here eyes were slightly open, but completely lifeless. I froze at the sight of her, unable to move a single muscle.

"Come on," I heard Sokka's voice. "Let's get out of here."

I allowed him to pick me up to my feet. I took a moment for my legs to adjust, and we staggered our way to the exit of the building. Sokka placed a comforting arm around my shoulder and supported my weight the whole way.

I heard some of the people talking amongst themselves and commenting about what they had just witnessed. I could hear others beginning to cry, but they sounded like... tears of happiness.

"She's the Avatar!" I heard someone from the crowd say.

"She bent air and fire at the same time!"

"How is this possible?"

All of their voices began to blend together in a mixture of confusion, shock, and a hint of newfound hope. At least, I think that's what everyone was feeling. I was in a state of shock myself after everything that had happened.

As we passed through the ruined hallways of the building, a mass of people formed around us. Even more people began to cry, and I could see smiles of joy mixed into the crowd. All of them reached out to touch me as we walked by. It was as if they wanted proof that I was actually there. That I was real and not a figment of their imaginations created by the horrors brought on from this world.

I could feel the tears forming in my own eyes at everyone's reactions to seeing me. It was like they were all experiencing hope for the very first time. I wanted desperately to help these people, but I knew I couldn't. I could barely even stand on my own two feet at that moment.

We made our way down to another hallway and we came face to face with a few surviving Kyoshi Warriors. We froze in our tracks and stared back at them. My breath stopped short, and I could feel my eyes growing wide in fear at the sight of them standing before us. For a long moment, neither of us moved an inch. Even Sokka seemed unsure of what to do.

Then, one of the warriors approached us and stopped right in front of me.

"Go," she said to us. "Be safe."

She reached out and touched me on the shoulder before gesturing for the other women to follow her. Each one of the warriors placed a hand on me before they ran passed, and I glanced back behind us to see them disappear around the corner.

I released the breath I had been holding onto, and without another word, we continued on until we reached the front lobby.

There were bodies everywhere, and most of them torn to pieces by the war that had suddenly stopped in place. There was a group of soldiers standing amongst the bodies and they were all facing us.

I could hear Sokka let out a worried sigh before he continued to guide me through them. All of the soldiers lowered their weapons. Some of them even kneeled down when they saw me walking by.

All of them just stared at us.

I saw one very young soldier with red teary eyes standing with them. He looked like he was not too much older than I was. I locked eyes with the boy as we moved by and he nodded his head as if to tell himself that everything would be okay now.

I've been thinking about him lately and wondering if he is still alive. I really hope so.

We finally stepped outside to see even more soldiers looking at us in pure wonder. For some reason, I could no longer bring myself to look them in the eyes as we continued to walk passed them and moved down the street. I guess all this attention being placed on us made me nervous, especially considering the circumstances. All of these soldiers wouldn't have hesitated to kill the two of us mere minutes ago, but once they saw what I am, their hostility had ground to a halt

One of the tanks even opened up so that the occupants inside could get a glimpse of me. It was the most surreal thing I have ever experienced in my life.

Suddenly, an explosion rocks street. I flinched at the sound and Sokka immediately covered me with his body.

I turned around just in time to see a trail of smoke leading from a second story window of the building we had just left. At the base of that trail was a woman dressed in green clad armor. I instantly realized that one of the Kyoshi Warriors had opened fire, taking advantage of the distracted soldiers.

At once, all of the Earth Kingdom forces turned around and began firing into the building once more. The deafening sounds of battle resumed. Rocks sailed through the air, soldiers shouted and gave orders, and the people inside the building screamed in terror.

"Move!" Sokka yelled.

I listened to his advice without question.

We ran away down the street as fast as we could, moving past charred bodies and several burning carriages. Eventually, we rounded the corner and Sokka slowed down to a limp. Slowly, we staggered up to the same wooden shed from earlier.

"Spirits," I heard Sokka mumble to himself.

I stopped and turned to see him standing over the body of Jin. Her form had gone limp and her green Earth Kingdom dress had been turned red from the blood.

I heard myself gasping at the sight before I could stop myself.

I hadn't known the woman for very long, but I was just beginning to warm up to her upbeat and crass attitude about life. Knowing she had been taken from this world so violently is something that still haunts me.

I watched Sokka kneel down to Jin's body and use his hand to close her eyes shut. For a long moment, he sat over her and silently mourned. The two had shared a lot in common.

It was such a heartbreaking thing to witness.

Finally, he stood back to his feet.

"Let's go get that boat," he said before turning back to face the shed.

As we approached the structure, I noticed another recognizable body lying just in front of the gate.

"Kumi?" I said out loud without thinking.

She suddenly stirred to life and her eyes fluttered open.

"I… Izumi?" she said weakly while wiping the blood away from her face.

"We're back," I said to her. "Sokka rescued me."

Kumi chuckled lightly. "I'm sure he did."

"Are you okay?" Sokka knelt down to her.

"I've… actually been through worse," she said. "I… I took the keys to the gate."

She reached into her coat and pulled the key from her pocket before holding it out for us to see.

I heard Sokka sigh in relief.

"Wow, you did good kid. Also, that scar on your face is gonna look pretty bad ass when it heals."

"Great… that's just what I wanted to hear."

Sokka smiled and swiped the keys from her grasp. Both of us then took each of her hands and pulled the girl to her feet. Kumi struggled to stay upright but the two of us were able to steady her.

Using the keys, we entered the shed and descended into the sewers below. Luckily, the walk wasn't too long. Within a few minutes, we were able to stumble upon the boat illuminated by sunlight from a grate positioned directly above it.

The boat itself was much smaller than I had expected and constructed of what looked to be rotten wood. There were also two mismatched oars lying inside of it. Even despite this, it was the sweetest sight I had ever laid my eyes on.

After all this time, we were finally going to leave the city, once and for all.

We approached the boat and Sokka quickly boarded it to test its durability. Surprisingly, the thing actually kept afloat. He flashed a relieved smile at us.

"Alright Izumi," he held out his hand to me. "Your turn."

As I stepped into the boat, it rocked back and forth in the water and I almost lost my balance. Thankfully, Sokka caught me before I could fall in. At that moment, I resolved myself to learn how to swim as soon as we got out of that mess.

I sat down in the boat and turned to see Kumi untying the rope from the dock. Sokka held out his hand to her.

"No," Kumi said. "The boat's not big enough for all of us. You guys go."

"What?" Sokka replied. "Kumi get in the boat."

Kumi shook her head as she tossed the rope aside.

"Kumi, this town is gonna get blown off the map!" he pleaded with her to take his hand. "Get in the boat now!"

"I can't, I'm sorry," she replied. Using what little strength she must have had left, the girl pushed the boat away from the dock.

"Kumi, no…" I said.

My heart sank at the thought of leaving her behind. Kumi had risked everything for both Sokka and I. She turned her back on her Kyoshi sisters, fought against a bunch of awful people, and faced hardships head on with us. She did it all at the risk of her own life.

"Goodbye Izumi," she waved to me. "Don't you forget about me out there."

All I could do was wave back at the girl hopelessly. If I had spoken, there's no doubt I would have bursted into tears right then and there. I don't know how Sokka ever kept himself composed through all the adversity.

All I know is that I will never forget Kumi for as long as I live.

Slowly, the young Kyoshi Warrior's form shrank into the distance as we drifted further down the tunnel. Sokka sat himself down into the boat across from me, and after shaking his head, he grabbed one of the oars and began using it to push us forward. After several minutes, we finally reached the mouth of the tunnel and emerged onto the thick, foggy surface of Lake Laogai. I could hear the battle continuing in the distance but I couldn't bring myself to turn around. Sokka grabbed the other oar and began rowing us further away from the shore.

For a long time, the two of us sat in silence as we continued to float further and further away from the camp. The only sound I could here was the battle raging far behind us and the water lapping up against the side of our small rowboat. Finally, Sokka broke the silence.

"I need a vacation."

The comment almost brought a smile to my face, but my anxious thoughts were still swirling around in my head.

"Are we going to make it through the outer wall in time?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he said. "We'll be fine."

"But… they said they wouldn't wait."

"Trust me, they'll be there."

I nod my head in acceptance before asking him something else. Something that had been nagging at me for the past hour at least.

"Back when I was... in the Avatar State... how did you know what my mother said to me?"

"Oh, she really did say something to you?" Sokka's eyes lit up in surprise. "I just said something that I thought might calm you down. Clearly it worked."

For a moment, I just sat there dumbfounded at what he had just said.

"You mean you just... guessed?"

"Sometimes, it never hurts to throw a complete gamble into the plans. It mixes things up a bit."

I chuckled at these words while being unsure if it was actually good advice or not. I'm currently leaning towards the latter.

I mean, what was his plan going to be if my mother never actually said anything to me?

I was about to question him on this until I heard a deep rumbling sound passing over us. Both of us looked up in panic.

Through the thick fog, I could just barely make out the forms of several large vehicles passing over us.

"Airships…" I heard Sokka whisper.

I observed in silent dread as they continued passed us and moved on to the refugee camp we had just escaped from. I turned around and watched them fade back into the fog.

After several minutes, nearly a dozen loud explosions reverberated from within the camp. Even from our distance, I could see the orange glow of fireballs erupting through the fog and creating silhouettes of the destroyed buildings.

"Wow," I said.

Sokka didn't say anything at all.

Another long moment of silence went by. The uncertainty of what the future held for us was beginning to turn me into a nervous wreck, but I did my best to not show it. Somehow, I suspect Sokka knew exactly how scared I was the whole time. I'm glad he never called me out on that.

Suddenly, I saw a large structure emerging from the fog right in front of us. The sight of it brought a flood of much needed relief to my mind.

"Look!" I pointed up to it. "Sokka, it's the outer wall!"

He turned around and sighed in relief. He then used the oars to steer us towards the tunnel at the base of the large stone wall that the water fed into. One thing I noticed was that the water looked significantly choppier at the tunnel's entrance, which didn't help my tense state of mind at that point.

After several minutes of anxious anticipation, our boat was funneled into the rough waters and through the opening. To my surprise, it picked up a significant amount of speed and I gripped onto the sides of the boat in fear.

"Hold on!" Sokka yelled.

It was the longest moment of my life. A dark and distant part of my mind thought of how ridiculous it would have been for us to come all this way only to drown in the tunnel of the outer wall. Thankfully, the moment passed as quickly as it had come.

Our boat finally emerged on the other side of the wall and we slowed down to a much more reasonable pace. It took me a few seconds to catch my breath.

"Oh man, that was scary," I breathed.

Sokka chuckled. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I answered him. "You?"

"...Yeah," he said.

I didn't realize it at the time, but looking back, I realize that he had hesitated at my question.

Sokka then relaxed his posture and sat back in the boat.

"What a day," he sighed.

"Yeah…"

I glanced down to my feet only to see something that instantly shot panic into my mind. A pool of blood had formed in the bottom of the boat. For some reason, I immediately assumed it was mine.

"I'm bleeding," I gasped. "Spirits, I'm bleeding everywhere!"

"No, it's me," Sokka replied.

"What?" I shot my gaze back up to meet his in shock.

I realized that as he was leaning back in his seat, he was grasping onto an obvious wound on the right side of his stomach. My heart sank dramatically at the sight.

How could I have not noticed he was injured?

"But how?"

"Noriko got me too," Sokka said plainly.

"Wh… what?" I felt a sob escape from my throat. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because… your life is far more important," Sokka said. I noticed that he was short of breath. "I couldn't save Aang, but I will save you."

"No…" I could feel my eyes beginning to tear up.

All these people had willingly sacrificed their lives on my behalf. It had been so many at that point, it made me feel an intense guilt that I still feel to this day. I did not want to add Sokka to end of that long list.

Sokka suddenly reached forward and took my hand. He then looked me in the eyes with an intensity I had never seen from him before.

"Don't give in," he said firmly. "Don't ever give in…"

"I… I won't," I said back to him. "I promise you."

Sokka smiled. He released my hand and laid back in his seat.

"I'll hold you to that."

For some reason that I still can't quite place, my mind drifted back to the conversation we had with Shen only a few days ago. It was the night we were sitting around on his couches and my mother had tasted that cactus juice concoction. Shen had spoken something that I find still resonates with me today.

"Destiny really is a funny thing," I said, unable to hold back my tears at this point.

"Huh?" Sokka said wearily. I noticed that his breaths were becoming shorter and shorter, but I did my best to not acknowledge it, for his sake.

"I'm really glad to have met you Sokka," I said. "Suki was right. You really are amazing."

A smile appeared on Sokka's face and his expression changed to one of contentment. I smiled back at him through tears while a mixture of happiness and sorrow mixed around inside of me.

In the next moment, I watched Sokka slowly close his eyes as if he was drifting off to sleep. After that, his body went limp and he sank into his seat. The sudden change in his demeanor was terribly haunting, and I was still in a state of denial of what I had witnessed before my very eyes.

"Sokka?" I asked, begging for him to say something, anything to prove he was still okay.

He didn't answer.

"Sokka?!" I pleaded with him to wake up, but he didn't budge an inch. I then noticed that he was no longer breathing.

"Sokka… please don't leave me here," I began to sob quietly in the boat.

He was gone.

I couldn't believe it, and to be honest, I still don't.

Everyone who had ever cared about my life up to that point was now dead, and the truth of this hurt me more than anything else that had ever happened to me. I didn't know if I was capable of continuing on.

It was, without a doubt, the hardest moment of my life.

But then I remembered the words Sokka had spoken to me only minutes ago.

I can't give in. I have to keep going.

I sighed and took a deep breath before wiping the tears from my eyes. I then willed myself to calm down and think. Sokka always had a plan. He always knew exactly what to do when something bad happened, and I thought that if I tried hard enough, I could come up with my own plan too.

But thankfully, I didn't have to make any plans just yet.

My eyes caught sight of a light emerging from the fog in front of me. I squinted my eyes to see that it was getting larger and larger. A flash of fear entered my mind, but then I instantly pushed it aside.

I was ready to face whatever was in front of me.

Slowly, the form of a large boat came into view. Even in the low visibility, I could see it's blue paint job and the distinctive pai sho tile inscribed on its bow.

"The White Lotus!" I shouted with sudden excitement. "You were right Sokka! You were right."

I sat in the rowboat and waited for the ship to pull up alongside me.

It was on that day that I was rescued. The very second I was hoisted on board, I realized that no one had truly died in vain. Every last one of those people who had helped me get here are heroes.

Their names were Suki, Shen, Kumi, Jin, my mother Amaya, and of course, Sokka. They were all people who had put aside their own lives for the slim hope that the world could be saved from our own wrongdoings. They were all far greater heroes than I could ever possibly hope to be, and I will work every day to ensure that their hopes in me were all well founded.

I hope I don't disappoint them.

Two months later…

"So that's it huh?"

"Yes…"

There was a long and deep sigh from the woman who had just finished reading the scroll. She rubbed the bridge of her nose in exasperation and placed the parchment down onto the table.

"So, all this time, my brother was inside the city walls?"

"I guess so, yeah."

Katara leaned forward in her chair and gazed into Izumi's eyes. The girl couldn't help but feel that this woman, who claimed to be Sokka's sister, didn't fully trust her account of what had happened inside of Ba Sing Se. Then again, so many crazy things had happened that it was almost unbelievable. Izumi would have had trouble believing it herself if she hadn't actually witnessed it all firsthand.

Finally, Katara relented and relaxed her posture.

"Okay then," she said. "It sounds like you've been through a lot."

Izumi didn't say anything, but Katara knew the answer all too well. This girl had been through far too much struggle just to stay alive. Any normal person would have had a compete mental meltdown after experiencing only half of the craziness this girl had over the course of that fateful week. The long and arduous journey to Gaoling couldn't have been easy either. Even Katara admitted that she had difficulty traveling in this day and age on account of the numerous bandits on the loose.

It was a wonder that Izumi was keeping herself together so well.

"I haven't seen Sokka, nor Suki for that matter, in over ten years," Katara continued. "Even back then, they were some of the bravest people I had ever known. Sounds to me like they never lost their edge."

"Well, Sokka's jokes never actually improved, at least, based on what I could tell."

Katara smirked at that comment.

"Well, he had his own charm," her smile quickly faded. "I'm definitely going to miss him."

"Me too."

The two sat together in silence for a long while. Izumi wasn't sure what to say next, and Katara was caught up in her own thoughts on how to best proceed.

"So, someone told me that you wanted to learn how swim," Katara said.

A smile lit up on Izumi's face.

It was a sight that Katara was seeing for the first time in a long while. She saw a new hope for the future. A hope that might finally bring balance to the world once and for all.

"Well," Katara stood up from her chair and extended her hand to Izumi. "Let me teach you everything I know about water bending."

Izumi took her hand, the smile never leaving her face.

"I thought you would never ask."

With that, Katara hoisted the girl up from her chair and they left the room for the training dojo.

For the first time in the ten years since Avatar Aang had passed on, the future was looking bright.

Avatar Izumi remembered the words of wisdom from her mother about being a light for the rest of the world to follow, and she felt the resolve swelling up within her.

It was time to go plant that seed.

Well, that was a long journey to completion. When I originally started to write this story, I never imagined that it would actually take eight years to finish!

But here we are. My story is completed and I can finally move on to bigger and better things.

I really appreciate everyone who took the time to read this fic. This goes double for those who waited patiently for me to finish.

Well, until next time!

This is CrazyExtreme signing off!