Author Notes:

This is Katara and Zuko's goodbye to each other, and this is my goodbye to this little fic.

To those of you who wanted a kiss: I'm sorry. I did too. I love Zuko and Katara together. But I wanted this series to reflect their friendship more than their romance and also to be canon compliant. Apologies Zutarians!

Luckily, I do have romance to offer. In fact, I have two Zutara romance fics. If you're interested, Another Word for Alchemy is my continuation of the Zutara story. It's set five years in the future from the end of this series. If you need more immediate gratification, then check out Kiss Me to Safe, my alternative Zutarian finale fic. Lots of kissing in both.

To those of you who followed, favorited and reviewed this series: thank you very very much. I hate asking people to read and review. I'm old school. I think a writer should write because she loves to write and has a story to tell, not because she expects anyone to read her story. But still…I love it when people read and review. So thanks again. ;)

Disclaimer: ATLA is of course not mine. I'm just borrowing.

Now for the goodbye…

Season 3, Sozin's Comet - Avatar Aang

Several weeks after Fire Lord Ozai's defeat, the kids get ready to say goodbye and move on.

In a different world, Katara doesn't feel queasy whenever she sees Zuko kiss Mai. He is free to kiss anyone he wants. It's not like she ever wanted him to kiss her. She just doesn't understand this relationship. The Zuko she knows wouldn't be with a girl who can't even stay awake through dinner. The Zuko who kisses Mai nudges his girlfriend and snickers when her head pops back up.

"Sorry," Mai says in her slow, drawling voice while she blinks her eyes lazily. "I guess the barbaric practice of ice dodging just doesn't capture my attention."

Sokka looks affronted while Mai leans against Zuko, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Do you want me to start from the beginning again?" Sokka asks.

"No," Mai says. She closes her eyes and nuzzles into Zuko. He laughs and wraps his arm around her. Aang laughs too. Katara looks down and stirs her soup.

"Do you guys really have to leave tomorrow?" Zuko asks. His gaze is on her, his eyes pulling hers up. She stirs more, resisting.

"We've been in the Fire Nation most of the summer," Suki says. "We can't stay forever."

Suki means she wants to go home. To Kyoshi Island. Sokka is going with her, but just for a little while. Then in the fall, he's returning to the Fire Nation to enroll in an elite military training academy. Master Piandao highly recommended it and General Iroh seconded the choice. Katara's father is proud. Sokka hides his own pride, but talks about the material he's going to use to make his next sword. The academy is close to the Caldera.

Zuko turns to Sokka. "Your room is already set up," he says. Zuko pretty much demanded that Sokka spend his weekends off at the Fire Palace. "The servants have orders to keep it stocked with jerky and fire flakes at all times."

"Oh man, my classmates are gonna be so jealous when they find out I practice swordsmanship with the Fire Lord," Sokka says brightly. He and Zuko have already started practicing in the courtyard in the mornings.

"Don't get any dumb ideas," Zuko says. "I can still kick your ass."

"But not as easy as before."

"Not as easy," Zuko admits.

In a different world, Katara isn't jealous of the time Sokka and Zuko will have together while she and Aang go off and do whatever Avatars do in a time of peace.

"Still think Katara's scarier than me?" Sokka asks Zuko.

Katara looks up suddenly. Sokka and Aang are both laughing - it must be an inside joke. Zuko catches her eye and smiles warmly at her. It's his smile for her. She knows it by the layers of emotion veiled behind his eyes. When he smiles like that, warmth oozes inside her and spreads thick under her skin. This is the Zuko she knows.

"Much," Zuko says. His voice is layered like his eyes. He holds her gaze until she blinks away.

"Duh," Mai says, opening her eyes and smiling genuinely at Katara. Mai doesn't normally grace anybody but Zuko with a smile. Katara has noticed that she is also an exception to the rule. It should make her want to like Mai, but for some reason she can't get past Zuko kissing her. "Katara's a bad ass bitch."

"Don't call her that!" Sokka says.

"That's the highest complement I give," Mai says. The Zuko who kisses Mai squeezes Mai's shoulder and kisses the top of her head.

The Zuko that Katara knows quirks his eyebrow up at her. They have secrets. She's seen him at his worst. He's seen her at her worst. But they have also seen each other at their best. He knows her inside and out, and he's reminding her.

Katara's queasy stomach tenses and she thinks she is going to be sick. She tries to smile back amicably. "Thanks," she says. She excuses herself early from dinner not long after. Her soup is mostly uneaten.

In a different world, Zuko doesn't want to smack Aang for not following Katara. The childish monk just watches his girlfriend go. She's like a strange thought he observed during a meditation. Notice it. Identify your feelings toward it. Let it float away. Though Katara doesn't exactly float away from dinner. She nearly runs.

Sokka looks at Aang. "What's up with her?" he asks.

Aang looks mystified and shrugs. Sokka turns his glance to Zuko and for some reason Zuko's palms start to sweat.

"She doesn't want to leave," Toph says. Zuko's heart tightens in his chest. Toph has an uncanny ability to know things. "She probably doesn't know what she'll do with herself when she doesn't have to pretend to be everyone's mom anymore."

Zuko frowns. Katara never, ever mothered him. Not once. She treated him like an enemy. She treated him like a jerk. She treated him like a friend. She never, ever treated him like a child.

"She can still mother me," Aang says.

It's a joke, but it's not very funny. Mai elbows Zuko and gives him a look. She thinks Katara's relationship with Aang is disgusting.

"Well, whatever it is, she seemed upset," Zuko says. "Someone should go find her." He looks pointedly at Aang. Aang smiles innocently back. Zuko thinks he could hold up a sign that says: "go find out what your awesome girlfriend is upset about, you idiot" and Aang would just smile and nod and keep slurping soup. Zuko grunts and starts to stand up. He ignores the sharp look Mai shoots him. He's about to say he's going to find Katara when Sokka abruptly stands up and beats him to it.

Sokka is the only guy friend Zuko has. Well, of course there's Aang, but Aang seems more like a kid brother than a pal. Zuko could see himself telling someone that he and Sokka were war buddies. But Sokka's giving Zuko a strange look too. "No," he says, more to Zuko than anyone else. "She's my sister. I'll go find her."

Sokka leaves. Dinner doesn't last much longer. Zuko takes Mai back to his old room. He's still sleeping there while the Fire Lord's chambers (his chambers now) are renovated. Mai will stay late again tonight. The servants will whisper, but the gossip always stays within palace walls.

In a different world, Zuko doesn't think about Katara when Mai flops onto his bed. But in this world, Mai brings Katara up herself.

"I don't understand what she sees in that kid," she says to Zuko. "She's smart, gorgeous, tough-as-nails, and a million times more mature than he is. Why bother with a twelve-year-old?"

"I thought he was thirteen," Zuko says. He's taking his hair out of his top knot.

"Who cares? She'll be fifteen in a couple months," Mai says. She rolls over onto her stomach and widens her eyes at him. "Zuko, she'll be old enough to get married in two years and he'll barely have whiskers to shave."

Zuko cringes, but it's not just because he's imagining Katara and Aang getting married in two years. It's because he's mentally calculating how old he will be then. It's because his girlfriend is stretched out casually on his bed, and he's thinking about how two years from now, Katara will be old enough to marry him. "Aang and Katara will make more sense later," he says. He wishes he could burn the thought of marrying Katara from his mind.

"How?" Mai says. "The Avatar is a goodie goodie. Katara's much more interesting. She's darker than the Avatar, you know?"

Zuko knows. But he's suddenly feeling defensive of Katara anyway. "Katara's not dark," Zuko says, and he's trying not to scowl. He attempts to bite his tongue but doesn't quite manage to catch it in time. "She's good, Mai. She's one of the best people I know."

Mai sits up. She's giving him that sharp look she gave him at dinner. "Maybe she is perfect for the Avatar, then," she says evenly, narrowing her eyes.

Zuko turns from her because he doesn't know what his face might give away if he doesn't.

"Not a drop of moral ambiguity between them, huh?" Mai continues. Her tone has becoming frightening. Zuko doesn't respond. He hears Mai get up and feels her come behind him. She sweeps her hands over his chest and breathes into his ear. "Personally, I like a little moral ambiguity, don't you?" she asks.

Zuko can't answer because of where Mai's hands have slipped. He lets Mai take over, and what she does drowns out the doubt beating in his heart.

In a world in which brothers and sisters mean something to each other, Sokka stands outside his sister's room and knocks on the door. When she doesn't answer, he puts his ear to the door and listens. The door is too thick for this kind of brotherly spying, so he sighs and opens it without her permission.

Katara is lying on her bed, staring up at the canopy. He knows she sees him, but she doesn't say hello. He walks in and sits down on a chair next to the bed. Mostly, Sokka prides himself on being the funny member of their group. Now it's only him and Katara, though, and he's pretty sure funny isn't the way to go with this. He sits in silence with her until tears start coming down her face and she rolls onto her side away from him.

He leans over and rubs his little sister's back. He doesn't know exactly why she's upset, but he has a few good guesses.

"You could still go back to the South Pole with Dad," he says after a while. "If you're homesick."

She sniffles. His first theory is wrong. He thought as much.

"You could go to the North Pole and work on your bending," he tries again.

"Pakku's in the South Pole," she says. "And Aang needs me."

His second theory is wrong too. "I know," he says. He's thinking of a way to test his third theory. "But Aang could go with you there. It might make you feel better to have some guys to beat up, and there are plenty of jerks in the North Pole."

Tears again. He's getting warmer.

"Who knows, there might even be someone up there who deserves the not-as-big-of-a-jerk-as-you-could-have-been award."

She whimpers out pathetically: "That's Zuko's medal."

"Yeah," Sokka laughs lightly, "I guess it is."

Katara isn't laughing, though. She's curled up into a little ball like she's in agony, confirming his third theory. He's not sure how she'll react, but he decides to ask her about it. Maybe it will make her feel better to get it off her chest.

"Katara," he says, when there's a lull in the crying, "I know you care a lot about Aang, but do you maybe have feelings for Zuko too?"

She gasps and splutters. "No!" she spurts out. "I don't think of him that way. He has a girlfriend!"

Sokka's more clever than he appears. He raises his eyebrows. "Okay, but if he didn't have a girlfriend?"

"He does have a girlfriend."

"What if he didn't?"

Katara doesn't answer. Sokka smiles grimly. If he were doing anything but talking to his sister about her feelings, he'd probably have jumped up and yelled "nailed it!" Instead, he tries to give her time to sort it out.

"He's the Fire Lord," she says after a while. "Even if he didn't have a girlfriend, he couldn't date someone from the Southern Water Tribe."

Sokka tries not to laugh. "Katara," he says. "He's the Fire Lord. He can date whoever the hell he wants."

"He's Zuko. He's the kind of person who chases the Avatar halfway around the world because he's trying to restore his honor," Katara argues. "An honorable Fire Lord doesn't date a Water Tribe peasant."

"He's Zuko," Sokka counters. "He's the kind of person who leaves home to join the Avatar and asks a Water Tribe princess to help him defeat his own sister. Honestly, Katara, if he wanted you to be his girlfriend, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let stupid politics get in the way."

Katara looks at him like she's been stricken and then starts to sob again. Sokka is stunned for a minute before he realizes what he just implied. He's really done it now. He climbs onto the bed and puts his arm around his sister so she can cry into his shoulder. "That wasn't what I meant," he says, trying to calm her down. "Except about you being a princess. That I meant."

"It doesn't matter," she sobs. "He doesn't want me to be his girlfriend. He doesn't even think of me that way. I'm just the girl he fights with. I scare him."

From the way the tears are soaking through his tunic, Sokka thinks this might be more than just a little crush. Some part of him is thrilled. Everyone has been talking about Aang and Katara behind their backs, but Sokka's secretly weirded out by the idea. Aang's like a brother to him and Katara. The idea of them dating gives him the oogies. Zuko's more like a comrade or an ally. When he thinks of Katara with Zuko, he's totally cool with it.

Anyway, Sokka has a theory about Zuko, too. He's caught the guy staring at his sister one too many times. "Believe me, Katara," Sokka says. "Zuko's the type that wants to be terrified by his girlfriend. Why else would he be dating one of Azula's best friends?"

Katara makes a little sound of partial agreement. It's an improvement over the sobs.

"Look," Sokka says. "I think you should give Zuko time. We've all been through a lot recently, and this probably isn't the time for new relationships anyway."

"I know," Katara sighs. "I keep telling myself it's dumb to feel so hurt. There are plenty of other guys out there."

Sokka squeezes her shoulders. "Ahh…don't give up on jerkface."

Katara finally laughs. "You really don't want me to date Aang, do you?" she asks.

Sokka shudders. "Please don't," he says. "That would be so weird."

She just laughs again.

Sokka leaves her room much later feeling like he's done his brotherly duty. On his way back to his own room, he sees Zuko walking down the hall.

"Going somewhere?" Sokka says.

Zuko turns a little red. "Just walked Mai to the door," he says, referring to the front door of the palace like it's the front door of his house. Which, of course, it is. But what is he doing here? Zuko's chambers are in an entirely different wing. The only reason he'd come back this way is if he wanted to find one of his guests. Sokka doesn't need to be a mind-reader to know who. He crosses his arms and stands blocking Zuko from moving any farther down the hallway.

"Let me guess," Sokka says. "You're here for a late-night healing session with my sister."

Zuko blushes scarlet red. "I just wanted to talk to her," he stammers. He nods toward the door to Katara's room. He must have seen Sokka leave. "She seemed upset at dinner. I was worried."

Sokka gives Zuko a hard stare. Zuko gives him a hopeful look, like maybe Sokka will tell him something about Katara that will make this easier on everyone. Sokka is torn. If he lets Zuko talk to Katara, things could be said that shouldn't be said right now. If he doesn't let Zuko talk to her, there are things that should be said that might never be.

"You have a girlfriend, Zuko," Sokka says after a while, looking his buddy straight in the eyes.

Zuko looks taken aback. "I didn't think…I wasn't going…I didn't want…" he sputters. He gives up under Sokka's hard stare and looks away. But then he squares his shoulders and looks straight back. "Look, Katara doesn't think of me like that," he says. "She has Aang. And I would die before I'd do something that would make her or Aang not trust me. But even so, I care about her and I want to make sure she's okay."

It's as good as a confession in Sokka's book, but Zuko's a moron. His sister is a moron too. They're both morons. Sokka steps closer to Zuko and leans in. Best buddy or not - moron or not - he's about to warn Zuko that he'd damn well better not hurt his sister or he will sic the entire tribe on Zuko's ass - and then the door to Katara's room opens.

Zuko and Sokka freeze. It looks almost like Sokka's about to kiss Zuko, and everyone, including Katara, takes a step back. "Um, am I interrupting something?" Katara says, giggling nervously. Sokka scowls but Zuko just smiles. Morons. Both of them.

"Hey," Zuko says. "I was just coming to find you." He steps closer to Sokka's sister.

Sokka huffs, but Zuko and Katara have entered their own little world. They're doing that thing they they do when they're in it where they look at each other and tune everyone else out.

Katara smiles up at Zuko smiling down at her and it's all Sokka can do not to roll his eyes at these two fools. "You found me," she says, with only a trace of wistfulness in her voice.

"Eh…I suppose no one needs me anymore, huh?" Sokka says, and when they don't even answer he slips away to find Suki.

In a world in which friendship means something to Katara and Zuko, Zuko asks Katara if she wants to take a walk.

"Since it's your last night here," he says.

Katara's smile warms even more. It makes Zuko's breath catch in his throat and he thinks it's a very good thing that she's leaving tomorrow. Otherwise, how would he be able to stand looking at her like this? How would he resist getting too close?

"That would be nice, Zuko," Katara says.

They walk through the palace. Zuko knows every hallway, but he gets them lost trying to find a hidden courtyard he knows she'll like. He's too distracted. She's too pensive to realize.

"A gold piece for your thoughts," Zuko says.

She looks at him and laughs suddenly. "A gold piece?" she says. "It's supposed to be a copper piece!"

"No it's not," Zuko says. "I've always heard gold."

"That's probably because you grew up in a palace surrounded by gold," Katara teases. "You barely understand its value."

"Oh," Zuko says, and he almost reminds her that he, too, has seen his share of hard times, but then he realizes how limited those times were and it seems petty to compare his brief brush with poverty to the destitution some people live with their whole lives. Anyway, he doesn't want to offer her a copper piece for her thoughts. Her thoughts are more valuable to him than that.

He digs in his pockets and pulls out a gold piece. "You're probably right," he says. "But still. Gold piece for your thoughts?"

She rolls her eyes and snatches the coin from him. "Honestly," she says. "I'm just down about leaving tomorrow. I'm going to miss you. A lot."

That catch thing happens in his throat again. He knows why she can't stay. But he didn't realize she would miss him. At least not enough to be this sad about it.

"I'm sad you're leaving too," he says. And then he thinks maybe he made it sound like he's sad everyone is leaving, and he wants her to understand it's more specific to her. "I mean, I'm going to miss everyone. But you especially. You more than anyone."

He trails off, now thinking he said too much. He hears the tiny puff of air that marks surprise. She stops in the hallway. He stops with her. Gravity seems to pull them closer until her shoulder brushes his arm. He looks over and there are tears. She looks up and smiles miserably.

"You're going to think all I do is cry when we're alone," she laughs, wiping her own tears.

"Yeah, well, I've done my fair share of crying with you over the last few months," he says, and then they both laugh because they're being stupid together.

"I don't want my last memory of you to be a sad one," she says.

"Who says this is your last memory of me?" he says. "It's not like you're never going to see me again."

"Yeah, but things change," she says.

"What things?" he says. "I'm pretty sure that if you come back in six months, you're still going to be able to beat me in a fight."

"I know," she says. "But that's a long time. Things change."

She's right. He knows it. In six months, she and the Avatar will have spent six months together. He'll have spent six months with Mai. Maybe when he sees Katara again, he won't feel a tight ache in his heart. Maybe when she sees him again, Aang will be taller than her.

"What do you want your last memory to be?" he asks.

She takes his hand and looks him in the eye. For one brief golden second, something flashes between them that takes him off guard. But then it's gone and she looks away like she's thinking about his question. They start walking again. That courtyard is somewhere nearby.

"What do you think we'd have done together for fun if we became friends when we weren't in the middle of a war?" she asks.

"Um…" he says. Because he has no idea. Would they even have met if there had been no war?

"Come on!" she prompts.

"We'd walk around and talk, I guess," he says.

"That's girly," she complains.

"You're a girl. And what do you think we're doing now?" He stops her at the door he's been looking for this whole time. "Ah ha," he says. "This is the courtyard I wanted you to see."

They go in and she doesn't say anything for a long time. It's the prettiest courtyard in the whole palace. That's because his mother planted everything in here herself by hand.

Katara stares at the vines of blue butter blossoms that hang down from the trellis they pass under as they walk in toward a small pond.

"They only bloom under the full moon," Zuko explains quietly.

"I know," she says.

In a different world, Zuko kisses Katara right now. He kisses her under the trellis with the blue butter blossoms floating around them and the moon not quite high in the sky and she sinks into his arms and into his soul and he tells her that he's never met anyone with a heart like hers.

In this world, she has Aang and he has Mai and there are oceans that will divide them tomorrow.

"There is a place for waterbenders here," she whispers. "If I had known…"

But she doesn't finish the thought. They sit together on a bench by the pond until they can't see the moon anymore and they have to jostle each other back awake when they nod off. Before the sun comes up, they quietly walk back to their separate rooms. It is a sad memory, but it is peaceful too, and it isn't the last memory. The last memory is scheduled for decades later. It, too, involves the blue butter blossoms.

In a different world, Katara isn't leaving today. But in this world, Toph, Suki and Sokka are already up on the saddle and Aang is waving from Appa's head.

Zuko is standing with Mai. He's already said goodbye to her. They've already exchanged a quick hug. The same hug he exchanged with everyone. The same goodbye he said to everyone.

Katara's head is empty and her heart is stuffed full with emotions she doesn't understand and she is about to pull herself up on Appa when someone grabs her arm and drags her roughly back.

This is what is supposed to happen in a different world, but it's happening in this world instead. Zuko isn't standing with Mai, looking appropriately sad and appropriately hopeful at the same time. Katara isn't on the saddle, wiping tears away and waving goodbye and trying not to lose it. In this world, Zuko is right here with her, crushing her to his chest, and she's got the edges of his robes in her hands and she's clutching him to her, too, while his arms wrap tight around her and they both cry openly.

"You will never know what it meant to me that you forgave me," he says, his cheek pressed hard against her temple. "Or that you ever learned to trust me. Or that you cared enough about me to fight by side."

"I cared about you more than to fight by your side," she says. "And if you hadn't been an idiot, I'd have trusted you sooner."

He smiles. "I know," he says. "But sometimes I'm a little slow."

She smiles too. "It's okay," she says. "We got there in the end."

In this world, they have to let go. In this world, they have to move on. But they hang on tight anyway, even though everyone is watching. Even though Aang will look at her funny after. Even though Mai has her fingers on something sharp hidden in her sleeve.

"This isn't goodbye," Katara says.

"No, it's not," Zuko says.

"Friends don't ever really say goodbye," she explains.

"And we are friends, right?" he asks. "Real friends?"

She hugs tighter. He does the same. She can feel his breath on her temple. She can feel his heart beat against hers. "What's the opposite of arch-enemies, Zuko?" Katara asks.

"I don't know," he says. "Best friends?"

"That's what we are," she says. "Best friends."

"Okay," he says.

"Okay," she says.

And then they let go. And that is what they are.

Best friends.

At least for a while.

The end.

Or rather, the beginning.