Punch a fish in the Face: (Odd name) I always wanted an answer to why only some people became benders. It really bummed me out when they didn't really explain why EVERYONE wasn't a bender. This is the way that I explained it for myself.

Sara Soda: Thank you! (Blush) IDK about being a genius, but, um, thanks.

Treena: Um, that is the shortest review I have ever gotten. -,-'

Cocoa: LOL, I took liberties in that version of the third chapter!

Amaya Night: Read the revamped third chapter! It explains!

ShakeMyHead: I changed it. It was really just something to put until I came up with something better. Check out the revamped third chapter.

White wolf: I did.

Dragon: Thanks.

ArrayePL: Teehee. I make him strong. It's a hobby. ;}

HINATA-WAKE: Here is the last chapter!

IMPORTANT! This in the last chapter, and I changed the third one (DRASTICALLY) so you need to read the revamped third before reading this one. Thanks, Bandon.

Bandon-Makes-A-Final-Start

Blinking his eyes open, Zuko had the vague feeling that this wasn't the first time he had woken up staring through a head ache at the ceiling. After several dazed seconds he sat up, noticing for the first time that the cushion underneath him wasn't his bed, but a person. Jumping up, Zuko gave a slight cry of alarm, waking the person on whom he had been resting.

When the face of his mother came into focus, Zuko backed up several feet, taking her in as though she were a ghost.

"Zuko!" Aang said, standing from the table where he and the others were eating, "You're finally awake!"

If Zuko hadn't been staring into the face of his dead mother, he might have noticed the relief in the boy's voice, the happiness in his eyes. But Zuko was staring at his mother; his DEAD mother.

"What the fuck is going on?" He asked, a slight edge of panic in his voice.

Ursa frowned, standing up, "You are not to use that language, young man!" She said sternly, though her eyes feasted on her son.

Zuko opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, "You're dead." He said at last, sorrow making his voice tight. He touched his chest, and torso, "Am I dead?" The confusion on his face would have been funny, if not for the actual fear in the young man's voice.

Ursa smiled softly, "No, Baby, you're not dead. And neither am I." Ursa reached out, caressing her son's cheek. "I'm here, my little boy. Mommy's here."

Zuko closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of his mother's love, a contented smile on his face. For almost a minute they stood like that, both relishing the contact that had been so long denied them. It was with reluctance that Ursa finally withdrew her hand, backing away slowly.

Zuko frowned, but stayed where he was, body becoming stiff again.

"We must go, baby," Ursa said softly, casting a withering glare at the GAang. "I have refuge set for us in the warrens. We must be quick if we are to arrive on time."

Everyone in the GAang looked away, having to bite their lips to protest; how could they ask Zuko to stay with them after what they had done?

Zuko walked to his mother, embracing her tightly, "When this war is over," He whispered to her, but the others still heard, "I will find you again. We will be a family, Mother, I promise you." Letting her go, he took a step closer to the GAang, "But I must right the wrongs of my past."

Ursa's face went through a myriad of emotions, but it settled on loss, "You are angry with me, Zuko?" She asked sadly, hugging herself, "Mad that I have not come for you in the years since your banishment?"

Zuko took her hand in his, holding it to his chest, "It's not anger that keeps me here. If I leave, who will train the Avatar? Who will help destroy father?" Sighing, Zuko shook his head, "I would gladly leave this place, this loneliness. I wish to go with you, be with you, but I can't." Opening his eyes again, Zuko looked tormented, "Who would I be if I left things as they are?"

Ursa shook her head earnestly, "You cannot stay here, Zuko. I have seen the way that you are kept isolated. I have been told of the scraps that they give you for sustenance." She touched Zuko's thinned face, "You scavenge for fruits and vegetables, but without bread and meat your body is withering." Closing her eyes again, Ursa breathed deeply, "This place will kill you, Zuko."

Katara cringed as she took in the truth. She had never thought of Zuko as a human being. Not when she gave him the farthest room to sleep in, or when she cut him down. Taking in the hallow eyes and prominent cheeks, she couldn't help her face contorting in revulsion.

Stepping away from the others, but not towards Zuko, she drew a shaking breath before speaking, "You should leave, Zuko."

"Katara, we need-!" Aang began to say, but she cut him off.

"You should leave, because we haven't treated you like we want you to stay." Looking away, Katara bit her lip, "No," She corrected, "I haven't treated you like I should've"

Zuko looked at her aghast, "Is this an apology?" He asked uncertainly.

Katara shook her head, "There isn't a way to apologize for what I've done to you, Zuko."

Ursa finally interjected, "Do you even know why you did it?" She asked, voice half bitter, half resigned.

Katara nodded, closing her eyes, "Because I was scared." She whispered, hugging herself before facing Zuko. "You're everything that I've always hated, and now you live next door." With a laugh that sounded more like a sob, Katara gave Zuko a pleading look before a tear slid down her face. "I would look at you, and the only thing I would see was pale skin and amber eyes. I would look at you, and see the beast that destroyed my life."

"And, in trying to protect yourself from me," Zuko said softly, understanding in his voice, "You slowly became the monster that you feared, isn't that right?"

Katara nodded, tears falling in earnest now, "I saw myself doing things that disgusted me, but I didn't stop it. I just let it keep building until you felt that you couldn't even come to me when you were seriously injured."

Wiping her face harshly, she smiled through her tears, "You should leave, Zuko." She repeated, "You, of anyone deserve a happy ending."

Zuko gave her a small smile, "And I would be happy, for a time." Shaking his head, he kissed his mother's forehead, bending slightly to cover height issues, "But when I thought of what it cost, how could I stand myself?" Pulling out a necklace consisting of various charms, he sighed, "I have people to go back to, after the war. Friends who I had to leave behind. What would I be if not a monster, if I left them to die?"

Katara stared at him with wide eyes before suddenly laughing. Everyone looked at her as though she were crazy, and maybe she was, but she just continued to laugh until the tears in her eyes began to fall again and she had to clutch her sides in pain.

As the laughter died down, she straightened herself. Instead of a smile on her face, as one would expect, she was grimacing. "You're so good, Zuko." She said at last, "You're everything I wish I could be, but cloaked in everything that I hate."

Zuko frowned, "You're fine the way you are, Katara."

Katara shook her head, "No, I'm not." Sighing, she hid her face in her hands, "I know that what you're doing is the right thing. I know that to stay here and train Aang is what you should do, is the right thing to do. But I know that it's not the choice that I would make. I would sacrifice everything if my mother asked me to go with her."

"No you wouldn't." Aang said softly, but Katara shook her head.

"I would. I know that I would." Looking at Zuko again, she smiled a beautiful smile at him, "I know that I would, because I'm not as good a person as you are."

Zuko rubbed his neck uncomfortably, moth open and closing as he struggled to find something to say. Finally, he shrugged, "You've been through a lot in your life."

Katara smiled again, shaking her head, "But nothing like what you've been through. I lost my mother, yes, but you've lost everything. I don't know how you do it; how you're still so strong."

Zuko grimaced, "I'm not strong," Sighing, he took off his shirt, revealing the bruised, beaten flesh, "I'm so weak that I couldn't even bring myself to go to a healer with this damaged body of mine. Too weak to face the scorn or, worse, the pity." Shaking his head, he put a hand on his scarred torso, "I could have left this cause long ago, I could have gone and lived the life that my Uncle wanted me to. Strength is putting the past behind me, and that is something that I still can't do."

"But you've stopped hunting us, you've let it go!" Katara said, trying to make him see her point.

"I'll never let it go. I will never forgive those who have caused this," He gestured to his ruined face and body, "The only thing I've done is learn to look through my personal pain at that of the world."

"And that's more than I can say for myself." Katara said, "I can't see anything but my own suffering. You stand there like nothing's wrong, but I'm falling to pieces. I can't close my eyes at night for the nightmares, I can't face the day without panic attacks. I hide them as best I can, but they're still there."

Zuko nodded, "And they won't ever go away." He said softly, "I don't sleep at night because I know that the faces of everyone I hate, I fear, are floating just behind my consciousness. I have to keep my body so ridged because if I don't I shake uncontrollably. I can't look at chains without feeling them on me, whips without pain lashing through my back. It doesn't go away." Zuko closed his eyes, allowing his body to relax fully, raising his hand to show everyone the fine tremor running through him, "But you learn to live around it, given time." Zuko opened his eyes and smiled a sad, small smile, "Just because my life has sucked," Zuko said blandly, "Doesn't mean yours sucks any less."

"But you've had it so hard." Katara said, "Your life defies what a normal person could stand, while mine is a common occurrence."

Zuko shrugged, "Like I said; Just because my life was horrible doesn't make yours any less tragic. I have lived through things that would kill someone less stubborn, and you have smiled through things that made me a wreck."

Katara shook her head, "I can still smile because my life isn't that bad."

"My life is awful," Zuko said, slightly exasperated, "but it is not the worst. I have met kids half my age sold in to prostitution by their own parents, seen whole families turning to theft and crime to keep fed. I have it worse that you do; they have it worse than I do, but does that make either of our suffering less than it is?" Zuko shook his head, "There is always someone out there with a worse life than you. I know that people say that having a hard life isn't anything to whine about because someone else if worse off, but there they're wrong." Zuko made a motion with his hands, at a loss on how to explain, "You're life is tragic, and so is mine. Maybe mine is more extreme, the scars more pronounced, but we are still the same, we are both still allowed to grieve for our losses and rage against those who have wounded us."

Katara stood shock still for several moments, thinking about what Zuko had said. "You are wise," She finally said, taking her time, "Too wise to be so young." Pausing, she gave a small smile, "But I think that it's what's best for you. You are who you are, I guess, and all that matters now is that we're here."

Zuko smiled, "All the things that have happened won't go away, but looking past them is the only way to survive."

Ursa looked between her son and the young Water Tribeswoman, wondering when her little boy had become a man. Wondering, also, if he could ever be her little boy again.

Giving a shaking sigh, Ursa knew that, whatever her son may choose, she would be with him again.

They visited for hours longer, her and her son, and when she left, she knew that he had the strength, both or heart and of character, to see this war through to whatever end.

- Two Months Later

Picking up a discarded spearhead he looked at the bloody red sky, then to the burned and cracked ground.

Picking his way between debris that had once been homes, he knew that only one war was over; others would follow. People seeking revenge in the guise of justice would flood his nation like a tidal wave in a raging sea.

Lives would be lost, some left in no better a condition, but that was what he had always known. The only way for his people to survive unscathed was for the other side to win, and that couldn't be allowed.

"Zuko?" The young Avatar called from his bison, "The conference is about to start."

Zuko looked at his friend- yes, friend- and smiled, "Coming, Aang." He said, walking past a demolished temple to the huge creature he had become so accustom to.

"How do you think this is going to go?" Aang asked, still nervous about speaking in public.

"It'll be fine," Zuko assured. Looking down at the people gathered near a large make-shift stage, he sighed, leaning back in the saddle, "Hey, Aang." He said suddenly causing the other boy to look at him, "Do you remember," He asked, "That time I saved you form Zhao, and you dragged me into the forest?"

Aang nodded, slightly confused to why Zuko would bring that up now.

"Do you remember asking me if we could have been friends, in another life?"

Aang nodded again, thinking of the stiff, sour boy that his friend had once been.

As they came to land, Zuko took a deep breath, preparing himself for the speech that he had to give, "I think I like us being friends now better."

Aang smiled as the other boy jumped off, taking his place next to Toph and Sokka on the stage.

"I like it better, too." The Avatar said softly, smiling as he looked at the remains of Sozin's comet in the sky.

They had all had to give speeches, each member of the GAang. Aang had been first, telling the representatives of the nations that forgiveness was the only way to be at peace. Katara had spouted something about 'hope and justice.' Sokka and Toph had told everyone to basically leave them alone, and now it was Zuko's turn.

He walked to the podium, feeling the hate and anger directed at him.

Breathing in deeply, he gave a small smile to the crowd, "Hello," He said, "I guess that you all know who I am." Bellows and jeers greeted him, but he simply nodded, "But only in name."

As the crowd silenced, people looking between themselves in confusion, Zuko continued, "You know me as Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation. As the son of Ozai, the grandson of Azulon, and the Great grandson of Sozin." Taking a deep breath, he let go of his inhibitions, "But you don't know me as the twelve year old whose father tried to kill him, or the thirteen year old who gave up his basic civil rights to save people he had never met." Pausing, he let his words sink in, "You may know me as a young man with a sadistic drive to capture and kill the Avatar, but that's only part of the truth." Pausing again, he looked at his friends, who were smiling encouragingly at him, "At thirteen I was banished from my home for saving the lives of men I had never met. For caring for people that were, in accordance with status, below my notice."

Whispering broke out, but Zuko silenced them with a raised hand, "I was forced from the only home I had ever known as a marked refugee. Left with nothing but a single, fragile hope, I scoured the earth for traces of the Avatar. For more than two years, I searched for a person who had been thought dead for a hundred years." Zuko stared down those officials closest to him, "It was only by chance that I eventually found the Avatar in the South Pole Water Tribe." Whispers and some raised voices broke out again, but Zuko waited them out, "I cannot tell you that I didn't see this as my chance to go home; that I wasn't willing to forsake everything else to be able to hold my head high again."

Zuko nodded his head toward Aang, "In the past three years, I've gone from being the Prince of the Fire Nation to being a nameless, poverty stricken refugee. I've helped replace roof tiles and I've help end lives." He spread his arms out wide, leaving himself open, "I give you leave to condemn me. Cast your judgment upon a boy who did nothing but try to survive."

Zuko looked out at the crowd, waiting patiently as those below him shuffled their feet and looked away in shame.

With a nod, Zuko dropped his arms, "I hold no regrets; the life I have led has brought me to this place. It is here, in this time, that I will find the hope," Zuko glanced at Katara, and then to Aang, "And the peace to carry on."

Opening his arms wide again, he raised his voice, though the tone was calm, "I won't pretend that we will forget those who hurt us. I can't even ask that you try." Pausing again, he took a deep breath, motioning to the people who had gathered outside the conference, "We have suffered, there is no denying. First we endured the despair of loss, then that twisted, agonizing hope."

Bringing his hands to rest at his side, Zuko smiled, "And that is where we find ourselves today; with a people so burdened bringing themselves to do something that has only led to more harm. I defy you, on this borderline between agony and optimism, to not only hope for the better, as many have done for the last hundred years, but to actively make it so. Be the change that you have longed for, be the people that you have always wished that everyone else was." Staring out at the crowd, noticing the shine of strength in their eyes, he inwardly beamed, "Will you join me, as this new age is ushered in?"

The cheering was deafening, the applause thunderous. But above it all a lone comet, almost disappeared over the horizon, twinkled and shone with what could only be described as pride.

As the party started Zuko had snuck off, finding a quiet stretch of land to stare at. It had taken his mother less than a minute to find her son, to join him in their long lost nation.

They stood together, mother and child, staring up at the sky.

It was a field of victory that he stood on, but he didn't see it as such. As the others rejoiced, he stared at the falling sun, the red streaked comet, and felt, for the first time, at home.

Bandon-Makes-An-End

Thank you for all of those who commented, and everyone who fav'd and alerted this. Thank you so much.

This Chapter is three thousand, four hundred, and seven words long. Thank You.