A/N: Welcome to the epic (probably not) conclusion of my first ever Fanfic: No Turning Back Now. Those of you who don't know already, I rewrote the final scene of the last chapter, so make sure you are up to date with the current thing… As I promised earlier, there will be a sequel to this story, but it will not be out for a while. My plan is to edit this story so I have changes to make when I update this one final time to announce the release of the sequel, which frankly (unless someone has a brilliant idea for me) is looking uneventful and mostly relationship drama. Without further ado, I present to you: Chapter 26!

The fight takes place in the same area that it did in the series, but of course Zuko and Katara aren't going to the Fire Nation. The two separate fights are taking place simultaneously, and I did my best to switch between the two as smoothly as possible.

Disclaimer: I was hoping that by the end of the story Mike and Bryan would have contacted me and offered me the rights to the show, but sadly it didn't happen. I still own nothing.

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Aang's least favorite part of battle had always been the silence that preceded it. He stood next to Zuko, anxiously awaiting the fight he knew was soon to come. He stood tall, ready to fight for the fate of the world, eyes focused on the horizon searching for any sign of incoming enemies. The young Avatar knew how important this day would be, and he knew that it would take all of his effort just to stay alive. The Fire Nation would not be pulling any punches, and there would be no hesitation from his enemies when it came to striking him down. Perhaps the part Aang hated the most however, was the fact that he would not be able to do anything to protect his friends. They would be focusing on taking out an army of super powered firebenders while he was focused on fighting the Firelord with Zuko at his side. He inhaled deeply, knowing that there was no room for error, and no chance to turn and run.

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Sokka, Suki, Katara, and Toph all sat on Appa's back, hidden back between a few rocks, waiting for any sign of the Fire Nation. The silence was unbearable, but no one could think of anything to say.

That is, until Suki noticed something a little off about her friend.

"Katara, what happened to your necklace?" She asked, causing the waterbender's eyes to widen. She immediately looked to her brother, afraid of how he would react to her getting engaged to a 'jerkbender.'

"Umm… Zuko sorta… proposed." She finished her sentence as quickly and quietly as she could, praying that Sokka wouldn't hear. When his eyes narrowed, she decided to continue. "Sokka, it isn't your decision to make, I love him and-"

Sokka lifted a hand to cut her off. "Yeah, he asked me about it a couple days ago. Dad might not like it, but Zuko promised that if he ever hurt you I get to kill him as slowly as I want, so it seemed like a pretty good deal to me." Sokka smiled, knowing how important it was to Katara that Zuko was welcomed into the family. The only thing that really worried Sokka was the fact that Zuko would be the next Firelord, leaving very little time for the warrior to see his baby sister. She hugged him and he rolled his eyes while hugging her back, glad to see his sister so happy.

"Wait, you've known about this for days and you haven't told me?" Suki asked, feigning anger at her boyfriend.

"I figured you wouldn't be able to keep your big mouth shut," he retorted, laughing as Suki acted offended.

"Hey, if you lovebirds could stop being pathetic for a second, you might want to watch out for the gigantic invasion coming at us. I'm not exactly gonna be able to see it coming." Toph said, waving her hand in front of her sightless eyes for emphasis. The others turned back to the front of Appa just in time to see the lead airship coming into view.

Sokka moved to the front and grabbed the reigns as he took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "Here we go. Appa, yip yip." With a groan the bison took to the sky, heading out to face the airship fleet as Sozin's Comet finally found its way into the atmosphere.

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Zuko watched as Appa took off toward the ocean, noticing the silhouette of an airship in the distance. As if on cue, he felt the sudden burst of energy that could only mean one thing: Sozin's Comet had returned.

The firebender inhaled deeply and lit a small fire in his palm, nodding to Aang to let him know the comet was there. As the lead airship made its way closer and closer to the shore, Zuko felt his power growing exponentially as the comet drew even nearer to Earth. Suddenly a large streak of fire shot out from underneath the airship, immediately disintegrating everything it touched. Zuko looked on in amazement as he realized the extent of the comet's power as Aang's eyes widened in horror.

"There is a soft spot on the side of the airship; I think it's part of the engine. Break it and the whole thing should come down." Zuko said to Aang, who nodded and jumped to a nearby rock pillar. Zuko and Aang had chosen to fight on a large cluster of these as the added height would most likely give Aang a major advantage since he had the capability of flying. The monk spun and kicked repeatedly, shooting large discs of earth out of the middle of the pillar at the airship before jumping back to Zuko as the pillar collapsed behind him. The rocks hit their target perfectly, causing three large explosions and sending the ruined ship hurtling towards the earth. "Nice shot."

The two benders noticed a small, bright flame shoot off the bottom of the ship as it descended. As it continued to grow larger and nearer, Zuko realized that it was his father, who was using a controlled blaze of fire to propel himself through the air. He landed on a column across from Zuko and Aang, smiling maniacally with a deadly glare etched on his face. "Well well, what an unpleasant surprise."

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"We need to get inside one of the airships without being noticed." Sokka yelled over his shoulder as the group flew toward the airship fleet.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Toph yelled back, doing her best to project her skepticism over the wind rushing by their faces.

"We'll stay up in the cloud cover until we are behind them, then we can get as close as possible and jump on." Katara and Suki exchanged worried glances before hesitantly accepting that they were too low on options to argue. There was very little cloud cover to hide behind, but the airships weren't exactly designed to look up. Sneaking behind them proved to be easy, and Sokka had very little difficulty guiding Appa close to the back of one of them. Steadying herself at the edge of Appa's saddle, Katara prepared to jump onto the top of the oversized balloon. She rolled as she made contact with airship, and noticed that it was slippery and hard to balance on.

"Be careful when you land!" She yelled as Suki joined her. Toph was the next to come down, but hesitated at the edge of the saddle.

"Oh yeah, I'll just be sure to do that, thanks for the advice!" Toph yelled back sarcastically, clearly unhappy with her current situation. Summoning all the courage the master earthbender possessed, she leapt off of Appa and was promptly caught by her friends and placed softly on her feet. Sokka came down a few seconds later, but face planted after losing his balance on the landing. Despite the situation, Katara wasn't able to suppress her laughter, and Suki did her best to hold back giggles as she helped Sokka to his feet.

"Why didn't you guys catch me?" he whined, rubbing his nose in pain. Katara shook her head and began leading the group closer to the front of the ship, looking for any way of getting inside. Once they reached a point almost all the way to the front, they found a small hatch that Sokka was able to pry open with his space sword. The warrior peeked his head inside, and found himself peering into the control room, with at least seven crew members present. He quickly jumped back, wide eyed and breathing heavily. "Found the control room," he said when Suki looked at him in concern. "That and half a dozen soldiers…" he finished solemnly.

"What's it made out of?" Toph asked as she slowly moved closer to the opening.

"The room?" Sokka asked, receiving a slight nod in response as Toph hunched down next to the hatch. "Mostly metal, but why does that-" Sokka stopped as Toph jumped down into the room. The earthbender landed with a loud crash in the center of the room, and immediately began taking out the crew with her metal bending. Only one man was able to even get off a single blast of fire, which did nothing but heat up the metal suit Toph had bent herself into.

Katara and Suki looked down fearfully as a large blast of fire engulfed the area Toph had just entered. After a split second of silence, they heard a loud scream and the shattering of glass as a man (who appeared to be the captain) was sent flying down into the ocean. They looked on in pity for a moment before joining Toph in the control room, followed quickly by Sokka. "Great work Toph. Take the wheel," he said, nodding at Suki.

"Gee, that's a great idea. Let the blind girl fly the giant airship." Toph replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I was talking to Suki…" Sokka retorted, eyes narrowed at the blind earthbender. Sokka walked to the front and looked out the window at the lead airship, noticing a large stream of fire emanating from the front of it. "There is no way we're catching up to that thing…" Katara joined him at the front of the room as Toph bent her metal suit away from her body. As she was about to speak, the side of the lead ship exploded repeatedly before it began swiftly descending toward the earth.

Katara smiled as she realized what was happening. "Looks like we don't have to."

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"The Avatar and my son, fighting side by side… isn't that cute?" Ozai received a glare from his son in response as Aang struck a defensive pose. "It will be my pleasure to rid the world of its two biggest failures at the same time." Ozai turned to address Aang with an evil smirk on his face. "After years of avoiding my grasp, I finally get the chance to destroy you myself. If you think my pathetic son will do you any good this time around, you are sadly mistaken, Avatar." Ozai practically spat the last word, as if the sounds physically hurt to produce.

"You don't have to do this! We don't even half to fight. You have the power to end this here and now!" Aang replied, praying the Firelord would have some sort of epiphany and change his ways. Aang didn't want to fight and he definitely didn't want to kill anyone, but, if the fate of the world was at stake, he would do whatever he had to.

"You're right…" Ozai started, causing Aang's eyes to widen slightly with hope. "I have all the power in the WORLD!" Ozai yelled, a stream of fire pouring from his mouth as he finished his sentence. The Firelord jumped into action, sending a large ball of fire forward from each hand, curving them to switch targets at the last second. Zuko had been expecting a trick, and created a large wall of fire to dissipate both.

Aang then struck back with a gust of air before dislodging a large rock from the earth and firing it at top speed at the Firelord. Ozai closed his hands together and forced the air around them with fire. He noticed the rock hurtling towards him, and reared back, bringing his fist forward, covered in flames. The rock shattered on contact, and Ozai smirked at the look of shock on the Avatar's face. Moving swiftly forward, the master firebender jumped into the air and used the same move he had on the airship, forcing a large stream of fire forward from his hand as he made his way to the pillar Aang and Zuko were on. Zuko was forced to go completely defensive, and managed to block the fire by redirecting it in a circle around Aang and himself. When the wave of flames finally died down, Ozai was immediately behind it, fist aimed at Aang's face.

Aang's eyes widened and he shot himself backward with a large blast of air, landing softly on the closest pillar to him. He realized that he was now separated from Zuko, and quickly moved to get back to his ally. Ozai launched multiple waves of fire at his son, who simply dodged or blocked the flames until a slight miscalculation caused his foot to get singed. The pain prevented Zuko from landing properly, and fire engulfed his vision as he fought to recover his balance.

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Sokka and Katara watched in awe as flames flew back and forth between Ozai and their friends, but Suki was quick to pull them back to their primary focus. "Guys, how are we gonna stop this fleet? It's kind of one airship against nine." Sokka shook his head to focus his thoughts as fire erupted from the airship they were flying, followed closely by waves from the nine remaining ships.

"That's a lot of fire, isn't it?" Toph asked as she neared one of the windows, her sightless eyes gazing out across the expanse of burning forest and coastline. Something in Sokka's mind clicked and he began throwing different levers and switches. The firebender aboard the airship was thrown by the sudden boost in speed, and Sokka took the wheel as the airship reached its maximum velocity. Steering the airship higher into the air and further away from the rest of the fleet, Sokka locked a few things in place before turning sharply toward the other airships.

"What the hell are you doing?" Katara screamed in fear, watching as their airship swiftly closed the distance between the closest one to it.

"We need to get to the top of this thing, and fast!" Sokka grabbed Toph's hand and led her to the ladder before pushing her up and helping Suki and Katara start up as well. He followed quickly behind them and rushed up the ladder as fast as he could; throwing himself onto the top of the airship as it finally collided with its companion. "Get to Appa, NOW!" Sokka yelled at his friends, grabbing Toph's hand again and making a mad dash toward the back of the airship where Appa was still flying closely behind. Just as Sokka and Toph neared the flying bison, their airship made contact with a third vessel and split in two between where Katara and Suki were still running. Appa was forced to retreat as debris started flying everywhere, and Sokka watched as his sister and girlfriend began to plummet.

The warrior forced himself to focus, and he wrapped his arms around Toph's waist before sprinting to the side of the airship and throwing them both off the side. They landed hard on the top of another airship, but this one was rapidly spinning itself sideways. As Sokka searched for a place for them to go, two firebender's came to the top of the airship and began to fire at them. Sokka dove on top of Toph, forcing them both to start sliding off of the side. Sokka knew that at the rate they were falling there would be nothing underneath them when they fell, and quickly drew his space sword, jamming it into the side of the ship to slow their progress.

The difference in the time it took them to fall was miniscule, but it was just enough for Sokka's lower body to land on the metal balcony on the nearest airship's side. He felt his shoulder being dislocated as Toph's weight pulled it down toward the edge of the railing, but he focused more on the pain of his leg snapping on contact with the metal. He could feel the earthbender's grip slipping, and he knew his own strength was fading fast. "Just hold on Toph!" He yelled, as if the girl had any other choice. Moments later, four firebenders surrounded them, two on each side. Sokka drew and threw his sword before the two on his right could strike, cutting their only footing off of the airship. He then threw his boomerang at the others, causing their blast to miss completely as they dodged.

Out of weapons and almost out of strength, Sokka resigned himself to an untimely death and silently debated whether he would rather burn or fall. "I think this is it Toph, boomerang's not coming back this time!" He yelled down to the girl, whose eyes filled with silent tears. As the firebenders prepared to strike, Sokka caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye, and prayed he was right about what it was. He pushed himself off of the airship and landed softly on Appa's back, just as his previous ride exploded on contact with yet another falling airship.

"You guys looked like you needed some help," Suki said with a smile as Katara helped pop her brother's arm back into its socket.

"That was pretty lucky, thanks." Toph responded as Sokka angrily rubbed his shoulder.

"Yeah, tell that to my leg… AND my sword." Sokka complained. "Besides, it isn't over yet; there are still three more airships to take down." Katara groaned inwardly as she confirmed that three airships were still raining fire down on the Earth Kingdom.

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At the last second Zuko was able to throw himself onto the ground, lying flat as the fire soared a mere two inches above his face. He spun as soon as the blaze cleared him, kicking his legs outward and sending a wave of fire in all directions level with the ground, hoping it would distract his father long enough for Zuko to establish some footing. Ozai wasn't fazed by the attack, and simply jumped the flames as he closed the distance on his banished son. The Firelord lit his hand on fire and threw his entire weight into a punch aimed at Zuko, who was still turning toward him. The prince saw the attack at the last second, but only managed to block the initial impact. The resulting shockwave sent Zuko flying backward into one of the few rocks that was jutting out from the top of the pillar. The firebender was unconscious by the time he hit the ground. Ozai slowly approached his son's limp body with no remorse on his face at all.

"Time to finish what I started three years ago." He said, bringing his foot into the air to send a fiery kick to Zuko's neck.

"NOO!" Aang yelled from behind the Firelord, blasting him with as much air as the young Avatar could muster. Ozai was blown off of the column and forced to blast himself onto the nearest one to avoid falling to the ground.

"Looks like it's just you and me now, Avatar." Ozai smiled at Aang, who faced his opponent after checking to make sure Zuko was still alive.

"Stop this! I don't want to fight you!" Aang yelled out of both fear and anger.

"Of course you don't want to fight me! You're weak, just like the rest of your people. They didn't deserve to live in this world, in my world! It's time you joined them. Prepare to DIE!" Ozai yelled, sending fire in waves at Aang, who nimbly dodged, jumping from pillar to pillar and staying in a retreat mode.

Stay alive. All you have to do is stay alive until this passes, Aang thought as he blocked more and more flames. He was tiring out, and the Firelord showed no signs of wearing down. Aang decided to retreat back toward the ocean, where he had the advantage of another element on his side. Ozai followed, hurling six massive balls of fire at the monk in a speedy succession. Aang flew around them, able to avoid them by what could only be described as a complete miracle. Aang turned and sent a massive wave of water at the Firelord, which was promptly evaporated by a single fiery kick from Ozai.

Aang's hopes fell rapidly as he realized that all three of the other elements were next to useless in this fight, and his primary access to fire was currently unconscious and hundreds of yards away. Aang also figured that by the ocean he had less cover, and fewer columns to dive behind. As Ozai sent two massive streams of fire at him, Aang took off toward the initial fighting spot, only to be followed by the waves of fire and the man controlling them. Aang couldn't fly as well without his glider, so he was more than happy with himself when he was able to make it behind one of the columns as the flames crashed into the other side. Aang covered his head with his arms as fire rushed by on either side of him.

Without Zuko to fight fire with fire, Aang was in trouble… and Ozai knew it.

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"Toph, can you bend this into a turning position?" Katara asked as Toph and Suki stood with her next to the rudder of one of the three remaining airships. The blind girl spat on her hands before grabbing the massive metal steering device and pulling it back until it was angled forty-five degrees away from its starting position. The hatch opened on the far side of the airship, and Katara sprang at the opening. She released all of the water from her flask at the hole, freezing it shut as she did so.

"That won't last long, let's get out of here!" Suki yelled as she turned back toward Appa with Toph's hand. Katara nodded and ran with her as the firebender's blasted through her makeshift blockade. One of the soldiers jumped up and aimed at Katara, only to fly off the side of the ship when it lurched to its left. Suki had already boarded Appa with Toph, but Katara was just about to jump when the airship turned hard to its left.

The waterbender was sent flying off the side as well, and screamed as she began plummeting toward the ground hundreds of feet below. Appa took off with all the speed he possessed after the falling girl, surprising his passengers and forcing them to cling to the saddle for their lives. He got side to side with Katara, but the solid ground was fast approaching, and the sky bison needed to turn upward before he crashed as well. "Grab my hand!" Suki yelled, stretching out as far as she could toward the waterbender. Just as their fingers were interlocking, Appa was forced to pull up causing the girls to lose their grips. Suki's hand clutched at whatever she could, making contact with Katara's necklace and dislodging it from her neck. Appa managed to catch Katara on his way up and descended gradually, landing softly on the ground.

"Thanks Appa," Katara said as she climbed into the saddle with some help from Suki. "I owe you big time." They took back to the skies and began heading toward Aang and Zuko, looking back to make sure that all of the airships were down.

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Zuko's eyes opened slowly, with bright flashes of orange and red shooting across his vision every few seconds. The firebender forced himself awake as he noticed a pair of feet landing on the same pillar as him. A wave of fire engulfed the figure, and by the time the smoke had cleared, Zuko saw Aang holding himself up with his hands, breathing hard as the airbender tried to get up and keep fighting.

"Enough of this!" Ozai yelled from somewhere nearby. Zuko's vision was fuzzy, and his head spun as he tried to get up. "I'm done playing games, Avatar!" Zuko felt like his power was dwindling, and realized that the comet was beginning to exit the atmosphere. "You may have kept me from winning today, but you still lose." Zuko heard the crackling of lightning and shot up as Aang collapsed from exhaustion. The airbender was too tired to keep fighting, and from the looks of it, too injured to move.

Zuko's back erupted in pain as he got to his feet and thoughtlessly made his way in front of Aang. He turned to face his father just as the lightning shot forward, and despite his tired and beat-up state, Zuko managed to smirk as he caught the lightning and began to redirect it. Time slowed to a near stop as thousands of thoughts flew through Aang's mind. Killing is wrong. Zuko pointed back to his father as the lightning passed through his body, narrowly avoiding his heart. There has to be another way to end this. Ozai's eyes widened as he looked at what was sure to be the death of him. No. No…

"NOOO!" Aang screamed, lunging forward and blasting air at Zuko's back. The firebender tumbled forward as the lightning was released. Zuko fell off the pillar he was on as the lightning crashed into Ozai's, sending the Firelord flying forward as well. Zuko crashed into his father as they both plummeted toward the ground. They fought at close range to gain leverage on the other, but the closer they got to the ground the less Zuko was focused on fighting and the more he focused on slowing down. When they were just a couple dozen feet from the ground, Zuko turned to fire at it and hopefully hinder their descent. Ozai took advantage of the opportunity and forced Zuko underneath him, pulling his hands behind his back to prevent Zuko from saving himself. They crashed into the ground at full speed, Zuko barely managing to kick his legs forward to take the majority of the impact.

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Katara watched from Appa's back as Zuko caught Ozai's lightning and began to turn it back against the Firelord. Everything else happened in an instant, and she watched in horror as her fiancé plummeted toward the ground, crashing practically face first from a near three hundred foot fall. "Noooo!" She screamed, tears springing to her eyes as she prayed to every spirit she could think of to keep Zuko alive.

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Zuko had survived a lot of things in his life: losing half of his face, arrows to the head, crashing through buildings, his own ship exploding while he was still inside, and even living with Azula for most of his life. It was no surprise to him that adrenaline was keeping him not only alive, but partially conscious after falling from such a height onto solid rock. It wouldn't last long, he knew, but he was going to take advantage of his last moments. His father got to his feet, beat up and bloodied by the fall, but in far better condition than his son. "I should have killed you when I had the chance. I admit I'm impressed at how stubborn you are; a normal person would have laid down and died already." Zuko smiled up at his father as Ozai prepared to deliver the final blow.

He laughed slightly at the expression of pure fury on the Firelord's bloody face. "..u .o.."

"What?" Ozai screamed at Zuko's best attempt at last words. Fire ignited in the man's hand as Zuko talked louder, projecting his voice as well as his battered body would allow.

"I said: You. Lose." Ozai screamed in rage and brought his hand down to end his son's insolence once and for all.

His hand stopped as it reached the prince's neck, and the fire slowly died down as Ozai's eyes widened in pain. Zuko looked up and saw a large rock jutting up through the ground, into his father's back, and out through the man's stomach. The rock receded, and Ozai's lifeless body collapsed to the side, revealing a teary-eyed Avatar behind him. Aang quickly approached Zuko and did his best to ignore the amount of blood that was covering the firebender's chest. "I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry!" He cried, as Appa landed behind him. Katara was at Zuko's side in less than a second, working immediately to heal whatever she could.

She spent about five minutes straight, not saying a word, working to keep Zuko alive. Tears began pouring down her cheeks as she tried in vain to stop the blood from leaving a massive cut on his chest. She was too tired, had too little energy to continue healing him, and tried her best to stop the bleeding by simply applying pressure. "Katara, stop." She turned to face Zuko, who smiled up at her. "It's ok."

She blinked a couple times as she tried to comprehend what he meant. He couldn't be giving up; Zuko never gave up. "No, it's not. I-I can stop it. I can save you!" She cried, knowing that she had no energy left, and that Zuko couldn't afford to lose any more blood. The firebender reached up and touched her face, smiling as he spoke.

"You already did." His hand fell from her face, and Katara ignored the blood it left behind as Zuko slowly faded out of consciousness.

If she could just stop the bleeding, she knew he could survive.

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"Hey, look at that. You're finally awake, welcome back Sparky."

Zuko blinked a couple times as his vision slowly came into focus. "Bad timing though, Sugar Queen is gonna be pissed. She's been sitting her for three days straight, and we just convinced her to get some sleep a few hours ago." Zuko turned his head to his left, seeing that Toph was sitting alone in one of three chairs. He was in a room, but that was about all he knew. There was a bed, but Zuko couldn't force himself to get up. Everything hurt, especially his chest. "We've all been pretty worried about you, but especially Katara and Aang. I think they were both blaming themselves for some reason."

Zuko was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he was thirsty, insanely thirsty. Toph handed him some water as if she had read his mind. "The doctor said to give you this as soon as you woke up. She figured you'd be thirsty." Zuko drank the entire glass in less than two seconds, but his eyes widened when he tried to swallow. Apparently his throat was damaged, and he was a bit worried about how his voice would sound. "I'll go get your girlfriend and some food. I'll probably send Aang down here too."

Toph left the room and Zuko tried to get up. It hurt too badly for him to actually sit up, but he wanted to make sure he hadn't been paralyzed or anything. He made sure he could move his feet and both arms and sighed in relief when everything checked out. He sat in silence for a while, petrified to test his bending. He wasn't sure what he would do if he couldn't bend anymore. He finally worked up the courage to try it, and managed to create a small flame in his hand. At the same moment, Katara walked into the room and cautiously hugged him as tightly as she could without hurting him.

If Zuko was being honest, it still hurt like hell, but he was too happy to care about the pain he was in. "I was so worried, I'm so glad you're okay." Katara said, tears of joy making their way down her face. She finally broke away and watched as Zuko tried to sit up. "Don't do that, it might upset your injury." Katara said, causing Zuko to shoot her a confused look. "Your chest wouldn't stop bleeding and I was too exhausted to heal it. Sokka figured out the only way to stop the bleeding was to cauterize it…" Zuko's eyes widened as he realized this likely meant there was yet another burn scar for him live with. "Aang hadn't practiced making fire very much, so it was… rough. To say the least."

Zuko groaned causing Katara to laugh slightly. Zuko smiled at her, but his expression morphed into a look of confusion as he noticed that something was missing. Suki and Aang entered the room with food as Katara continued talking. "I was so worried, and I thought you were giving up. Don't ever- what are you looking at?" Katara blushed as she followed Zuko's gaze, wondering why it was just below her face. She realized he was staring at her neck after a few seconds, and her face grew slightly worried. "I lost it during the fight, I'm sorry." Zuko's face dropped and Katara realized he hadn't said anything since he had woken up. "I thought I healed your throat, can't you talk?" she asked, slightly afraid of the answer, or lack thereof.

"That necklace took me a month to make…" Zuko pouted, sounding almost exactly like Sokka when he was hungry. Suki, Aang, and Katara stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. Tears were in their eyes when Suki was finally able to control herself enough to speak.

"You're marrying this idiot. You know that right?" Katara smiled as she looked down at her 'idiot.'

"Yeah well," she started, looking down into Zuko's eyes. "I already said yes. There's no turning back now."

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A/N: To be fair, I had planned out the end before I started this, and that was why I titled the fic as it is. You guys have no idea how badly I wanted to leave the last scene out until the sequel, so I could let you all think Zuko died. I guess I'm too nice for that.

The sequel will be intended to tie up all loose ends, including the end of the war, not just the defeat of Ozai, as well as answer some repeated questions about Mai and Ty Lee, what happened with Azula, etc. This chapter was long enough and now I have some material for the sequel on top of the heavy fluff.

Massive shout out to every single person who reviewed this fic along the way, you have no idea how much it means to get this much positive feedback on my first ever fic. Love you guys, and I hope you liked the finale, and that it lived up to whatever expectations you had! If you liked this, I encourage you to check out Meant to Live, which I'm warning you now, will be much much MUCH slower paced in terms of Zutara relationship than this fic. This was a bit too fast IMO, but I actually do like how this has ended up turning out!

I really hope you guys enjoyed this fanfic; it was fantastic to have such great reception for a first story! It's really cool to know that so many people like this, and I hope I will be able to continue writing and improving in the future!

THE END

Sequel Notice

The sequel is finally up! Check it out via my profile or searching for it, it's called Step By Step.

Also, some shameless self advertising: If you liked this story, check out my other ones! Picking Up The Pieces and Meant to Live are Zutara, so read them if you wish! Thanks,

-Boredone32