Katara

We land right before she's crowned. Zuko, making me smile a little despite the serious situation, jumps off of Appa dramatically to challenge his sister. I climb down in the background.

"You're not becoming Fire Lord today. I am." Zuko announces.

"You're Hilarious." Azula laughs.
"And you're going down." I tell her, Stepping beside Zuko. The Fire Sage behind her goes to put the crown in.

"Wait." She holds up her hand. "You want to be Fire Lord so bad? The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai!"

"You're on." Zuko agrees, shocking me.
"What are you doing? She's playing you! She knows she can't take us both so she's trying to separate us!"

"I know. But I can take her alone."
"What if you can't?"

"I can. There's something off about her. I can't explain it, but she's slipping." He tells me, then looks in my eyes. "This way, I don't have to chance you getting hurt." He says, and I feel a rush of pride surge through me. I'm a capable warrior in my own right, he shouldn't be worrying about me. I swallow it though. He just wants me to be safe. And I can already feel this isn't an argument I'll win. "Let me do this, Katara." He says, cupping my cheek with his hand. "Please."

"Okay." I nod. "When you win, we'll have that moment." He smiles.
"Now there's no way I'm going to lose." He tells me, then turns back to Azula.

"The courtyard." He tells her and walks towards the palace. She grins, and I notice her hair is chopped unevenly.

"Of Course. Where else?" She says in her grating way.

We all get to the courtyard, and I stand off to the side waiting for them to start. They both stand and face each other.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way, Brother!" Azula sneers.
"No you're not." Zuko replies evenly.

Azula makes the first move, starting with a blue fire blast so huge it shouldn't be possible. It is though, just once every hundred years. Zuko cuts through it with his own fire, and it's on. Each bending so masterfully, despite the danger I can't help but notice how beautiful it is to watch. Almost mesmerizing. Would be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen if the man I love wasn't on one deathly end of it.

If possible, my heart beats even faster in my chest. Why does it take me watching him stare down death for me to admit to myself how deep my feelings go. It's not love for a friend like Aang or Suki or Toph. It's not love for Family like Sokka or Dad or Gran-Gran. As I see him fight fire with fire in front of me, I realize He's the only one I want to be with every day for the rest of my life, no matter the challenges, in the good times and the bad. I am his and I want him to be mine, more than anything. My soul is tied to his. And I'm not sure losing him is something I can recover from.

Spirits, Help him finish this! I plead with them in my head. Agni grant him Victory! I keep watching, as Azula skates on her flames until Zuko knocks her off with an airbending inspired move he learned from Aang. It knocks Azula to the ground and sends her rolling.

"No Lightning today? What, afraid I'll redirect it?" Zuko taunts

What?! Is he crazy?! But I follow his thinking. They're almost at a stalemate. This might be the only way to end it.

"Oh, I'll show you lightning!" She yells, and starts her work up with it as Zuko gets in his stance to redirect it. But at the last second, something changes. It happens so fast, I almost miss it. She changes her direction from Zuko…to me. And faster than I can react, Zuko jumps in front and takes the bolt, redirecting it without being grounded, and then falls to the ground convulsing.
"Zuko!" I yell and try to run to him, but Azula cuts me off with her fire and insane laughing.
"I'd really rather our family physician look after little ZuZu if you don't mind!" She yells, and throws lightning at me that I'm barely able to stop with a water wall. I run behind a column as she taunts Zuko, then keeps coming after me. She's too strong. Maybe, maybe I could take her on any other day, but not when she has the power of a thousand suns behind her.

I try to knock her off the roof but she's already out of the way, and then she puts me on the run. I outskate her fire on ice as fast as I can, but I can't get away from her. Finally, I run out of ice and trip, stumbling onto a grate. With…hidden water underneath. And on the door I see a chain. A plan forms in my head, Something I never could have come up with if I wasn't captive on Zuko's ship all those months ago. Where he taught me breath of fire.

I grab the chain and hide and Azula comes around the corner. I fake an attack behind her, forcing her to roll on top of the grate. And a second before she can kill me, I raise the water around us both and freeze it. Using my breath, I melt the water around me, and I move freely while Azula is trapped in the ice. When she's secure and tied to the floor, I throw the water down. We both cough and sputter for breath, but the second I double check to see if the chain's secure, I run for Zuko.

Thank the spirits, he's still alive when I get there. I don't have spirit water, but I gather what I can from around us. I get a brief memory of me healing him the last time he took a lightning bolt for me. But I'm better this time. No need for Chi reserves.

I gather the water and place my hands on his chest, where the burn is concentrated the most. The wound is from the inside out. When he redirected it, it passed through his heart instead of his stomach, and it burned him from the inside out. And I'm not sure if my water will be enough.

"Spirit's Please!" I cry. "Moon and Ocean, Tui and La! Don't Let me lose him." I beg. "Help me heal him!" By the end I'm screaming, sending the water all throughout his body and bringing it back to the central chest. Tears start sliding down my cheeks into the wound, but the more the better. Yagoda taught me in my very first lesson with her that our tears have natural healing properties in themselves that no one can explain. So I cry into the wound. And after an impossibly long moment, Zuko's body relaxes and his eyes blink open.

"Ouch." He groans. "That hurt like Phoenix Shit."

"Zuko!" I cry and wrap my arms around his neck. He winces, but returns the embrace before I can let go,.
"Thank you, Katara." He whispers in my ear.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one who should be thanking you." I reply. He pulls back. I can see the pain in his eyes as he struggles to keep himself up. "Lets get you to a room where -" I start.
"Oh no, I'm not waiting another second for that moment." He cuts me off, then grunting, he moves one hand into my hair and slides the other around my waist, pulling me on top of him as he lays down into a kiss so deep I forget the world is burning around us. When I finally pull back, I'm panting for breath.
"Worth the wait?"
"Every second." He smiles, and for a second everything is beautiful as the comet finishes passing overhead.

...