Hello! So this was my attempt of writing Zutura after like 1 year or so of not writing a single fanfic! I'm excited and really hope whoever reads it enjoys it as much as I loved writing it.

This story was heavily inspired by my reading so much Hobbit fanfiction (that's where the term 'One' comes from!) (#Thilbo forever baby lol.)

In this fanfic (and possible universe?) the characters are aged up so:

Katara - 21
Zuko - 23
Sokka - 23
Toph - 18
Aang - 16
Suki - 22
Mai - 21
Azula - 21

Anyways enough rambling, let's get on with it!

Prologue:

The light was blinding against the darkening rust sky. A hot flash of white and then a shadow that moved almost as fast blocking it from reaching her. From killing her.

She stood there, stunned, motionless almost as if the lightning had actually struck her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her muscles contracted as she waited for the pain. But it never reached her.

Zuko. Her mind registered through the haze of panic. Her eyes frantically searched for him until she found him. A hunched lump on the ruined courtyard, smoke rising from him as he shook from the bolt.

Zuko had taken lightning for her. Zuko had sacrificed his life for her.

Rage bubbled in the pit of her stomach and she moved blindly as she attacked Azula. If anyone were to ask her how she had managed to outsmart the prodigal firebender she wouldn't be able to answer. She didn't even know herself. She only felt the pull of the water as she went blow for blow against the fire princess. She took and delivered every hit without knowing where either element started and ended. She'd fought in a blind rage, the despair of not knowing whether Zuko, who had taken lightning for her, lived or died. She barely registered herself encasing herself and the princess in ice. She barely registered grabbing for the shackles and feeling the coldness of the metal against his skin as she chained the princess's still burning wrists down. As the water fell around them and left them back out in the open, she didn't even hear the princess's wild wailing or thrashing. She could only think of making it back to Zuko's side. Maybe she could save him still; maybe he had survived.

He couldn't be dead. Zuko couldn't be dead. She ran. She ran away from the fallen dragon that was roaring behind her and moved towards the prince that was lying in a heap. Please, she begged Tui and La, don't let him be dead. Please, she even begged his god Agni, please spare your son.

He lay on his side, his arms weakly clutching his side. Kneeling with tears blurring her vision she could barely make out his shallow breathing. She took his head in her hands and smoothed his hair back as she moved him onto this back.

"Zuko," she whispered hoarsely, "Zuko, please."

Her tears flowed freely then as sobs racked through her body. She almost missed him responding back. Almost. If it hadn't been for the hand that reached up to weakly caress the hair that hung around them like a veil she wouldn't have heard him at all. His fingers laced themselves in her tangled curls and she couldn't help the broken chuckle that escaped her then. He was alive, he was alive and he was trying to comfort her.

"Katara," he breathed with a heaviness that shouldn't have been in his voice. Oh how she hated the way her name sounded on his lips in that moment, so much pain, so much hurt. Another sob escaped her body. Her eyes raked over his face. He was too pale, his eyes were too vacant. She'd never forget how he looked then; how she wished she'd never seen him like this.

"Zuko, oh Zuko, why?" she questioned taking his hand from her hair and holding it across her chest. It felt too cold against her skin. She let out another sob.

"Katara, thank you." His eyes fluttered open as his skin came in contact with hers. His eyes focused on hers for a split second before they went half-lidded again.

She shook her head. "I should be thanking you." She clutched his hand with more firmness as if it were the last thing tethering her to the ground. He gave her a small smile and returned the gesture weakly. His skin was still too cold and she wondered then if all his fire had been taken from him.

"Azula is she …"

"She's not a problem anymore." She turned her head to where she had left the princess. No, Azula was no longer a problem. As if to punctuate her statement, Azula let out another pained wail that reverberated across the courtyard.

Zuko winced at the sound and tremor ran through his body, his other hand came to clutch at his torso. Katara looked to where he grabbed. His shirt was frayed where it opened up to his wound. Oh La, his wound. "Zuko!" she gasped. How had she failed to notice? It was revolting, burned flesh bubbled up to the surface, the skin around it was red and angry. She needed to work fast to heal him, to save him. He was growing weaker in her arms. There was no time to waste.

She moved quickly then trying to draw water out of anywhere that she could as she let go of his hand and trailed down to his abdomen. The smell of burning flesh hit her and struggled not to draw back.

"Wait," Zuko whispered, "Katara," a grimace shadowed his features then, as he took her wrist. "Not yet." He took a broken, shallow breath. His other hand moved to his pocket. He struggled to take out what was inside it before bringing out his hand again. Katara was stilled at his side, her hands on the edge of his wound. She struggled not to move, how could he be thinking of stalling at this instant. He was barely hanging onto his life.

His palm opened to reveal his mother's ring and he held it out to her. Katara cried again then. Was this his way of saying goodbye? "Zuko …"

"Please, have it." He took hold of her hand then and splayed out her fingers. "Let me." He placed it on her fourth finger, smiling weakly as he did so. "My One," he whispered.

His brow furrowed in pain as another tremor passed through him and he closed his eyes once more. This time, they stayed closed as his breathing became more ragged.

No, no, no.

Katara screamed, her hands clutching at his sides. Her eyes found his wound again and she struggled not to faint as she reached out for any water around her. Her own strength was failing and her muscles were exhausted but the fear of losing Zuko lit a fire in her soul that made her push through. She had to save him.

She called upon the water from her tears, the water from their sweat; she called on the water from the grass that was not yet burnt and she trembled as she worked over his open flesh. She felt his blood sing to her and in a moment of weakness she took it into her hands as she wrung out the spark of current out of his blood and tried her best to stitch the flesh back together. As her energy neared its end she unclasped the pendant that hung around her throat and placed it upon into his hand. In her addled mind it seemed only fair that if the ring had been his final parting gift then her pendant would be his final gift from her. And then she collapsed.

From above, a group of Fire Sages watched the exchange and weighed the implications of the outturn of this Agni Kai.

Across the courtyard Azula still thrashed against her chains and cried out her revenge.

Miles away the world was freed from tyranny at the hands of the Avatar.

The war was over.