Aang needed some time alone. He had known the Fire Lord was evil, but this? How could Ozai sleep at night knowing that the next day he would wake up and wipe out an entire population of living, breathing people?

Then again, the Fire Nation didn't have any problem with eliminating one nation of their fellow beings and that was a hundred years before they started conquering the rest of the world.

Would Earthbenders become as scarce as Airbenders? What if Toph had to live every day knowing that she was the last of her kind? He pushed the thought away. The Fire Nation—no, the Fire Lord—had to be stopped, and as the Avatar, it was his duty to make sure that happened. If anger helped him complete his duty, then it was justified, anyway.

What kind of balance am I bringing to the world if I let thousands of people die to spare the life of one insane tyrant? Is that how to honor the memory of the Air Nomads: by letting a century-old war continue because I'm too weak to end it? Zuko, Sokka, Katara; all my friends have suffered because of Ozai—he's a monster that the world's better off without.

He knew, as surely as he knew the confrontation would take place, that it would be all or nothing with the Fire Lord: the Fire Lord would not hesitate to take his life as soon as he could. On the other hand, if he somehow managed to defeat Ozai, he would be powerless. Completely in Aang's control. He could not kill a helpless man.

The monks had told him millions of times that all life was sacred to the spirits. That no-one truly had the right to decide whether another creature lived or died. In his heart and mind, he knew they were right, but the world demanded he take a life for the 'greater good,' and he understood their hatred—he had felt it himself so often.

But going into battle and slaughtering the world's enemies isn't what the Avatar is for. Whatever bringing balance means, it can't mean something so wrong, right?

He knew he couldn't – wouldn't – kill the Fire Lord. But what was he supposed to do? He had all four elements at his fingertips, and yet he couldn't find a single way to win this war without taking a life. His friends wouldn't understand; they'd try to convince him that he had to do it; that there wasn't any other way, but they were wrong and they were right and why had the Universe left him, a twelve year old kid, to make all the decisions without giving him any answers?

"I can't do this! I try so hard, but I'm not what the world needs right now!" Tears stung his cheeks as he pressed his face to the wall. For a moment, he wished he could run away from it all, and let someone else handle the Fire Lord's destiny.

But there was no-one else and Aang knew, so deeply it hurt, that he had let the world down once. Above all, he could not let it happen again. Aang wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and took several deep breaths.

He didn't know how he would defeat the Fire Lord yet, but he did know one thing. The Avatar was back.

A/N: Thanks for reading!