The stench of sweat and blood was overwhelming, but Katara leaned forward, surveying the long gash along Sokka's arm. She moved the water so that it twirled around the wound, glowing brightly until the flesh mended itself. She frowned and looked back down at her brother. He was panting and his breaths were shallow, but his heartbeat was strong. She began to focus on the blood in his veins, concentrating on the direction they traveled in, trying to find what else was amiss.

"You have a broken rib," she declared, sitting back up on her knees and bending her water back into the water pouch slung around her hip.

Sokka grunted against the pain. "Are you sure you can't like, bend the water down my throat and fix it from the inside?" He had tried to make his tone light, tried to make a joke, but Katara could barely find the willpower within herself to heal her brother, much less laugh. She glanced over her shoulder at Aang. He was crouched beside Toph and dirt and muck smudged his bare shoulder and arm. Katara glanced down at her own clothes, caked with grime and filthy from the explosion.

"Do you think he survived?" Aang asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Katara didn't answer. She squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught of memories and tried to force her hands not to shake.

"I don't know," she finally said, turning her head away and standing up so that she wouldn't have to look at anyone.

The palace was eerily quiet as they streamed in from the outside.

"He's not here," Aang said, frustration coloring his voice. "Ozai isn't here!"

"You sure about that?" a sleek voice called from the corner of the grand entryway. Katara and Aang immediately had element attacks flying in her direction, but Azula evaded them easily, that permanent smirk of hers on her face. They chased her down the hall and she led them deeper and deeper into the palace. Katara sent icicles, Aang powerful gusts of wind, and Toph chunks of the marble palace floor right at her. But the Fire Nation Princess could run, and sometimes she completely disappeared from their view, her maniacal laughter the only thing they had to follow.

"We only have five minutes left until the end of the eclipse!" Sokka shouted as they ran straight through the large holes that Toph and bent into the walls.

"There's a big room ahead, with two people inside of it!" the earthbender called, her feet and hands working seamlessly together to create a path for them.

Katara slowed, her hand reaching out and grasping Aang's elbow. "Wait a second, this could be—"

But they had already reached the wide double doors that lead into the throne room. Azula stood before them, as if she had been waiting for them to catch up before she opened up one of the doors and slipped inside, grinning like a cat.

Aang turned to face them and took a deep breath. "I'm going to confront her." There was determination in his voice. "Even if Ozai isn't here, if I can manage to take down Azula then this invasion won't be for nothing."

Katara and Sokka began to step forward, but the Avatar held up a hand to stop them. "I need to do this alone. I don't want anyone else getting hurt." His eyes lingered on Katara as he said this. She opened her mouth to protest when the double doors to the throne room banged open and a wild eyed Zuko kicked the door shut behind him.

"Run," he said.

"Run!" he screamed when no one moved. He charged at them and roughly shoved Katara and Aang forward, ignoring Toph's threats and Sokka's sword at his throat. "You have to go, you have to get out of here!"

Aang shook his head. "We're not leaving until—"

"THERE IS A BOMB INSIDE THAT ROOM! THEY'RE GOING TO BLOW UP THE PALACE!"

The ground seemed to move beneath them, shaking and splintering as the group and turned and began to sprint in the opposite direction. The foundation underneath their feet began to crack and break apart.

"An explosion just went off underground!" Toph shouted, reaching out and grabbing Sokka's hand as they ran.

Zuko, still running behind them, started to point out a path. "Turn to the right! There's an exit that will take you out the side! It's too dangerous to leave out the—"

The world exploded.

Katara's hand reached out and found her brother's and Aang floated high above them, his tattoos starting to glow as he went into the Avatar State, his reflex in emergencies, it seemed. A blinding blue light stretched around them in a circle, easing their falls and guiding them towards safety.

Zuko, who had been running too far back to be included in the Avatar's circle, managed to twist himself around in mid air. He grimly faced the wave of fire that was swirling towards him.

Katara let herself take in the fallen palace that lay in a wreckage at her feet. Sokka had broken a rib when they tumbled outside, the palace collapsing behind them. Toph had hit her head and had been knocked unconscious, but her breathing was steady, so Katara only healed the bump that had been on the back of the earthbender's head.

She looked back at her brother and her friends once more before she turned and began to work her way through the debris, her eyes searching for something that she was afraid to see. She reached out with her bending, her senses feeling an erratic heartbeat some ways to her right. Bracing herself, she began to work her way towards that direction.

She heard him before she saw him. His breaths were ragged, and every individual breath was a struggle. When he finally came into view she bit back a gasp as her hand flew to cover her mouth. The lower half of his body was crushed under what looked to be a piece of a column, and his left leg jutted out from under it in a sickeningly unnatural way. She approached him slowly, not wanting to startle him and strain him further. But his eyes swiveled in her direction and he sluggishly moved his head so that he could look at her. It was almost cruel how untouched his face was. His clothes were tattered and burned in some areas, his torso and arms covered with cuts and contusions. But his face remained smooth, aside from his scar.

Katara crouched down next to him, her hands already bending water from her pouch. She furrowed her brow in concentration as the water twisted around him. She moved her water gloved hands across his chest and used her vague sense of blood bending to try and identify the problem. The damage extended deep into his body and as much as Katara pushed and bended the water around him, his injuries were internal and beyond her understanding. His golden eyes watched her face and his hand reached up to cover hers. The water immediately began to flow down his arm, healing the small surface injuries it found there before Katara even realized what was going on. Finally she looked him in the eye and he shook his head slightly before giving her a tight smile. He knew.

"Don't worry about it," he croaked. "Go tend to…your friends." He was still having trouble taking in breaths.

Katara shook her head and tried to steady her own breathing. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment was cry in front of him. Here was the boy who had saved them, and she couldn't do anything to return the favor. She felt the heavy sense of failure wash over her. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair—

He squeezed her hand and gulped audibly. She watched him struggle for another breath and felt frustration and helplessness gnaw at her insides.

"I'm sorry," he said, voice ragged. "So sorry."

She leaned back and watched the regret play out across his face. He was focusing on something over her shoulder. Frowning, she turned to look at what had caught his attention before she realized he wasn't focusing on anything in general he was just focusing period, attempting to stay awake.

"I'm sorry," he said again, his thumb prodding at the back of her hand. He tried to take in a deep breath but instead began to cough. Blood spluttered out between his lips. Katara used the back of her sleeve to wipe the blood away from his mouth. She began to move her hand away from his face, but her fingers lingered on his scar. It was cool and smooth under her fingertips just like the last time she had touched it, back in Ba Sing Se. Memories of betrayal, hurt and anger washed over her in waves. She looked away from the scar to her left hand still resting in his grip. She hung her head as all those bitter feelings started to ebb away. Ba Sing Se had been weeks ago and sometimes people needed more time than others to sort out their problems, to figure out where they stood in the world. Zuko had been of those people. But as she took in his current state, Katara dearly wished he hadn't been.

Turning her head so that she was looking him straight in the eye, Katara grasped his hand tightly and squeezed once, hard. His body seemed to relax under her fingers as he understood her gesture of forgiveness, the ghost of a smile stretched across his lips. They sat like that for a moment.

"Azula is dead," he muttered, breaking the silence. "I managed to tie her to the throne she had always wanted to sit on. She should have blown up along with everything else." He grimaced.

"It's okay if it's unsettling. She was your sister."

A chuckle came from the back of his throat. "She was also crazy. And evil. Besides, making sure she went down today is my one contribution to the Avatar's mission for world peace. "

"It's a pretty big contribution," Katara said softly.

He opened his mouth to answer when a coughing fit raked through his body. Blood came up from between his lips again and without hesitating Katara wiped it away. Once again she found her fingers lingering around his scar.

"Remember when you said…that you would…heal it?" His heartbeat was starting to grow faint and Katara forced herself not to panic. The look on her face gave her away however and Zuko's eyes widened in comprehension. He poked her hand with his thumb again, grabbing her attention. "You said you could…heal it. Something about…Spirit Water from an…oasis. You had…special water…remember? You could try…now."

"I used all of that water on Aang," she said, tears beginning to prick at the corner of her eyes as he struggled more and more with each breath.

He nudged her with his thumb again. "So what? You could still…try."

He was distracting her. On purpose.

She choked back a sob and nodded quickly, gloving her hands in water. "No promises," she said as the she pressed her hands down onto the scarred side of his face. The water began to glow as she threw all of her concentration into the healing process. Zuko had been right back in Ba Sing Se, it was an old wound and therefore difficult. But the water flowed at her command and she told it to smooth out the rough skin on his face, to widen his eye, to re-grow the missing eyelashes and eyebrow, to mend the mangled ear. She commanded the water to do this until she felt like she could burst. With one final push she tore away, gasping for breath as the water sloshed down into her lap. Her head spun for a moment before settling down.

"You did it…didn't you?"

All that was left of his scar was a slight discoloration, pink around the eye where it should have been white, but Katara nodded anyway. "Yeah, I did."

He pulled his hand away from hers so that it cupped the formally burned cheek and his eyes widened in astonishment. "Amazing." He jerked and coughed again and even more blood came out this time.

She gave him a small smile after swiping away the blood. Before she could pull her hand away he grabbed it and clutched it to his cheek. She felt something moist trail along her fingers. They were tears and they leaked out of both of his eyes as he sighed in satisfaction. "Amazing," he breathed.

She bit her lip and began to cry, his heartbeat was so faint she could barely feel it. Desperation hit her and she leaned forward and cupped his face in her hands. "Zuko you can't go, you can't go, we all have to thank you properly and you have to be Fire Lord and we have to defeat your father and—"

His hand that was still holding hers against his cheek tightened. "You know…you're probably…the greatest waterbender…in existence." He forced her fingers to drag across his cheek, to feel the smoothness of the skin over his cheekbones, no longer marred by a burn he hadn't deserved. "You didn't even…need…Spirit Water."

She shook her head fiercely as she pulled him closer. "Katara," he began, and there was a slight gurgle in the back of his throat. "You'll…be…fine. I...trust you…to…finish—"

His heartbeat wasn't even there and on an impulse Katara leaned forward and kissed his forward as Zuko took in one more shaky breath.

And then he was gone.

Iroh traced a finger along the small and compact teapot, light blue and hand painted by the Water Tribe girl that traveled with the Avatar. It was an unconventional place to keep what was left of his nephew's ashes, but something just fit. It sat on the shelf next to the urn that held the ashes of Lu Ten.

He remembered the airbending Avatar placing the teapot in his hands, all the while telling him exactly what had happened on The Day of Black Sun. He told him about how if it hadn't been for Zuko…

He let his hand rest on the shelf beside the teapot, tears strolling silently down his wrinkled face. "I am so proud of you my nephew, my son."

A/N: This is my first attempt at Avatar fanfiction, so review and let me know what you think! Thanks!