Long Lost

Redbayly: Well, here it is. The big conclusion.

Katara: We've all had so much fun making this story.

Ursa: And, of course, we hope you enjoyed reading it.

Redbayly: Hold on, I'm saving the goodbyes for the end. We've got one last chapter to get through, remember?

Ursa: Of course.

Redbayly: Well, for the last time, here's the disclaimer.

Everyone: Redbayly does not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

A New Day

It was hard to believe that it was only a couple days ago that the world had almost come to an end, but everything had turned out alright. Zuko was in his room getting ready for his coronation, it was a bit tricky as he was still hurt pretty badly from his fight with Azula and he winced as he tried to put his arm through one of the sleeves of his robe.

"Need a hand?" A voice came from the doorway. Zuko looked up and saw Roku standing there.

"Roku. Where have you been?" Zuko asked his twin. "You just disappeared on us."

"Sorry, bro, but I had a little unfinished business to take care of." As he finished his sentence, a certain raven-haired knife-thrower walked over to stand next to him.

"Mai?" Zuko said in confusion. "They let you out of prison?"

"My uncle pulled some strings." She explained. "And I guess it helps when the new Fire Lord's brother is your boyfriend." She turned and smiled up at Roku as he took her by the hand.

"So," Zuko rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, "you don't hate me anymore, right?"

"Well," she replied in her signature monotone, "I guess if there's a possibility that we might be in-laws someday, it won't do us any good to hate each other."

"So, friends?" He offered his hand.

She rolled her eyes, but still smiled, and accepted the handshake.

"Whatever."

"Now, come on." Roku said as he started to help his brother get the robe on. "You need to get ready. There's a party outside and you're one of the most important guests."

Out in the courtyard, a large gathering of people was waiting for the coronation to begin. Two Water Tribe siblings wound their way through the crowd until they found the person they were looking for.

"Dad!" Sokka and Katara exclaimed.

Hakoda turned at the sound of his children's voices and held them close when they raced over to him. Hakoda told his children how proud he was of them and that their mother would be proud too. Ursa saw the exchange and smiled; she turned to her own daughter, who was standing next to her and looking nervous about being around people she had previously tried to destroy.

Ursa took her daughter's hand as they walked over.

"Hello, Hakoda." Ursa greeted.

"It's good to see you again, Ursa." Hakoda responded with a warm smile.

"This is my daughter." She gestured to Azula who looked away, still uncomfortable about being around former enemies.

"Your mother told me a lot about you." Hakoda said to the girl. "Not all of it was good, but I know that she cares about you."

Azula offered a slight and hesitant smile. Just then, there was the sound of another group approaching them.

"There's my favorite warriors." Sokka said as the group of Kyoshi Warriors stood before them. "I gotta admit I kinda missed the makeup. So how does it feel to be back in uniform?"

"It feels great." Ty-Lee exclaimed as she moved forward from behind the other warriors, dressed up in a uniform like the one she had disguised herself in. A panicked look crossed Sokka's face and he darted in front of Suki and raised his crutch to point threateningly at the chi-blocker.

"Careful, Suki. Ty-Lee's pretending to be a Kyoshi Warrior again."

"It's okay." Suki assured him. "She's one of us now."

Sokka let out exaggerated gasps as he pointed to both girls.

"Yeah." Ty-Lee continued. "The girls and I really bonded in prison. And after a few chi-blocking lessons, they said I could join their group. We're gonna be best friends forever."

Ty-Lee then caught sight of Azula, who had walked over towards them, and gave a nervous squeak of surprise.

"Azula?"

"Ty-Lee. It's…good to see that you've made some new friends."

"Uh, yeah." Ty-Lee looked at the others questioningly.

"I'm…sorry." Azula strained to say. "I-I wasn't a very good friend. I hope you can forgive me."

Ty-Lee smiled and pounced on the other girl in a hug, letting out a joyful squee that her old friend was good now.

Just inside the palace, Aang was waiting beside the doorway that led out to the dais where Zuko would be crowned Fire Lord. The soon-to-be Fire Lord and his twin brother approached.

"I can't believe a year ago my purpose in life was hunting you down." Zuko said to Aang. "And now…"

"Now we're friends." Aang finished.

"Yeah. We are friends."

"I can't believe a year ago I was hiding with Mom in the Earth Kingdom." Roku added. "And now I have my brother and sister back, I have a girlfriend, and the war is finally over."

"Life's funny that way, bro." Zuko responded as he put a hand on his twin's shoulder.

"I can't believe that a year ago I was still frozen in a block of ice." Aang added. "The world's so different now."

"And it's going to be even more different. We'll rebuild it together."

"Today's a new day." Roku added. "And the future has never looked so bright before."

The three had a brief group hug and then proceeded out to the dais. A gong was sounded as they entered. Zuko gave a brief speech as Aang and Roku stood beside him. Zuko then knelt down as the Fire Sage crowned him. Roku knelt just off to the side of his brother symbolizing his status as the second royal prince. At Zuko's insistence, Roku wore the crown of their great-grandfather for whom the younger twin was named.

"All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" The Fire Sage declared.

A few weeks later found the group sitting in a familiar tea shop in Ba Sing Se. General Iroh was playing his sungi-horn as Zuko was serving tea to everyone. Aang was entertaining Momo with a ball of air and Toph was casually leaning her seat back as she rested her feet on the table. Suki and Mai were playing a game of Pai Sho as Roku watched, sitting beside his girlfriend and discreetly whispering strategies to her. Ursa was trying to fix Azula's hair after she saw the damage the girl had caused it in her fit of madness. Sokka was sitting at a desk, trying to paint the scene. Zuko had just gotten over to Katara, handing her a cup of tea as the two exchanged a kiss when Sokka suddenly got annoyed.

"Zuko, stop moving!" Sokka exclaimed. "And, ugh…oogies. No kissing my sister when I'm in the room. I'm trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Sokka." Katara stated as she walked over to her brother. Her expression changed, however, when she saw the painting. "Wait. Why did you give me Momo's ears?"

"Those are your hair-loopies."

Everyone instantly crowded around.

"At least you don't look like a boar-q-pine." Zuko said.

"Our hair is not that spiky." Roku added.

"I look like a man." Mai stated.

"Why did you draw me in a strait-jacket?" Azula asked.

"And why did you paint me Firebending?" Suki concluded.

"I thought it looked more exciting that way." Sokka explained.

Momo leapt up on the table and started chittering at the Water Tribe boy.

"Oh, you think you can do a better job, Momo?"

"He's arguing with a lemur?" Roku thought aloud.

"And people say I'm crazy." Azula responded.

"Hey, my belly's not that big anymore." Iroh said. "I've really trimmed down."

"Well I think you all look perfect!" Toph exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh.

As Ursa and Roku laughed, they looked out at the sunset. Mother and son exchanged glances for a moment and silently told each other that they knew just how lucky they were.

Redbayly:*Sniff* It's so beautiful.

Toph: I was expecting you to play up the Hakoda and Ursa romance a little more.

Redbayly: I didn't want to run the risk of weirding out my readers any more than I already did.

Toph: Why would they get weirded out?

Redbayly: You know, it's just the awkwardness that Zuko's mom and Katara's dad are together when Zuko and Katara themselves are together.

Toph: Ah. I get it. But still.

Redbayly: Well, how about we leave it to the imaginations of the readers?

Toph: I suppose it's not as bad a cliffhanger as the one Bryke left us with. You know, the one where they never told us where Ursa actually is.

Redbayly: Precisely. Well, it's been fun writing for you all. I plan on doing more series rewrites in the future. I've got a couple ideas in the works and I hope to start getting them out soon. Thank you to everyone who saw this story through to the end. You've all been great. Bye.