I'll skip the excuses and simply say I'm sorry. This finale is long overdue.

In Which There Are Showdowns

Zuko had come to two conclusions. The first was that Katara was kind of cu—nice—when she wasn't yelling at him or trying to turn him into an icicle. The second was that Bill was crazy. Really crazy.

The top of the stairs had seen the end of the mist and rock that had decorated the maze in which Zuko and Katara had found themselves trapped. Instead, bright lights flashed in hues of the rainbow in a dizzying flicker and confetti fell from nowhere in the shapes of tiny dragon-mooses. At the centre of it all was Bill in the most gaudy, most disgustingly bright outfit Zuko had ever seen. The dragon-moose wore a lime-green suit that sparkled in the light with sequins. A purple and yellow polka-dot scarf had been tied around his neck, and he wore a green top hat with a purple and yellow ribbon that had holes inserted to allow his antlers to poke through. He seemed to be standing on some kind of raised podium, while behind him were floating images that featured snapshots of Zuko and Katara's trek through the maze. Upbeat music was blasting from out of nowhere, like an overly chirpy victory fanfare.

"What the hell?" Zuko muttered.

He came to a halt and stared at the scene before him, nose scrunched in distaste. The suit alone was enough to make him nauseous. Katara looked equally stunned. She blinked a few times, her mouth hanging open in an unattractive gape. Bill smiled and swept into a showman's bow.

"Welcome!" he said in a booming voice. "Congratulations on making it this far!" He raised his clawed finger, and a wicked grin curved his lips. "Of course, this is as far as you will go."

Katara snapped out of her daze and stepped forward. "Hold it! You said we only had to make it out of the maze and then we could leave. Well, we made it out of the maze!"

Bill made a tsking sound and waggled his finger at her. "I'm afraid you haven't made it out just yet. This is the final level, and this time you will have an opponent." He smiled again, showing off every one of his pointed teeth.

Zuko folded his arms across his chest. "You mean we have to defeat you."

"Got it in one!" Bill clapped his hands in mock applause. "Good to know you're not just a pretty face."

Zuko's cheeks warmed and he made a few spluttering sounds. Damn that dragon-moose always making him feel like he was on the wrong foot. Katara looked a bit amused at his reaction, but she sobered a second later. Ridiculous as the situation was, it didn't change the fact that they were still trapped.

"Fine," she said, planting her hands on her hips and jutting her chin. "If the only way to get out of here is to defeat you, then we'll just defeat you!"

"Such confidence," Bill observed with a smile. "I wonder how long it will last."

Zuko heaved a sigh. "Let's just skip the taunts and get on with it."

Bill's smile didn't so much as crack. He clapped his hands together, setting off pink puffs of smoke and more confetti. The ground rumbled and then shot up from underneath Zuko's feet, making the firebender lurch and shift his feet to keep his balance. When the movement stopped, Zuko found himself standing with Katara on a floating platform inside an open-roofed dome that was lined with rows upon rows of tiered seats. Said seats were filled with what looked like paper cut-out figures with silly faces scribbled on them in ink. Zuko didn't know what was stranger: the fact that he could actually hear cheering coming from the paper crowd, or that Bill had changed into a lime-green, sparkly loincloth. Actually, the latter was just disturbing.

A green caterpillar joined them on its own platform, wearing a whistle round its fuzzy neck. Katara made a choked noise and pointed her finger at the caterpillar.

"You!" she exclaimed. "You're the one who gave me that weird tea and got me drunk! So, you've been working with Bill this whole time!"

The caterpillar raised one of its bushy eyebrows. "You only figured that out now? I always thought humans were obtuse."

"Kuàilè," Bill said in a warning voice. "Play nice. How can the humans consider you an impartial referee if you keep making snarky comments about them?"

Zuko repressed a snort. "Your name is Kuàilè?"

For a spirit whose name meant "happy", he'd never seen a living creature with a grumpier expression. The caterpillar had a permanent scowl that put even Zuko's own broody frowns to shame.

Kuàilè fixed his glare on Zuko. "You got a problem with that, Prince Hot Stuff?"

Zuko raised his hands in a gesture of denial. The last thing he needed was to start an argument with a cantankerous caterpillar. That was also why he decided not to question how the caterpillar was supposed to use the referee's whistle hanging round its neck. He remembered from his encounter with Pagus how sensitive the maze inhabitants seemed to get when the issue of their lack of hands was raised.

"Anyway," Bill said, bestowing the two teenagers with a jaw-cracking smile. "Kuàilè will be the host and referee for our showdown. I hope this works for you."

"It doesn't work for me," Kuàilè muttered in a long-suffering voice.

Bill somehow managed to smile even wider. "Do you want me to raise your rent again?"

Kuàilè paused and then a gong and gavel appeared out of nowhere, hovering in the air in front of the caterpillar. He used his tail to curl around the gavel and hit the gong, making the dome echo with a deep, ringing sound. Apparently, the whistle was just for show.

"Ladies and gentleman," Kuàilè began in a monotone, his expression as blank as an unmarked slate. "Welcome to the Labyrinth of Illusions' annual 'Escape or Die and Be Trapped Here Forever' showdown. Our challengers are—"

Bill cleared his throat.

Kuàilè heaved a dramatic sigh, but then he plastered on a grin and his voice shifted into the jaunty tone of a game-show host. "Our challengers are Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe versus our very own Master of Illusions, Cuòjué Bili-Shi-Jing!"

The noise of the crowd grew louder, though the paper figures remained immovable. Zuko tried very hard not to facepalm. This was ridiculous.

Kuàilè cleared his throat and began explaining the rules of the "showdown". The aim was to clear the ten challenges and earn points. The team with the highest points at the end would be declared the winners. Naturally, Zuko and Katara would be representing Team No Hope while Bill ("Being an all-powerful spirit," as he pointed out with a pointy-toothed smile) would represent Team Awesome by himself. It was only fair that way.

Katara gave Bill her best stink-eye. "Why are we called Team No Hope while you've got Team Awesome?"

"Because it's the truth," Bill responded without missing a beat. "You have no hope, and I am terribly awesome. Just listen to my fans."

As if on cue, the paper crowd started cheering louder. Katara's expression became even less impressed.

"Change the name," she said flatly.

Bill sighed and waved his hand at Kuàilè in a sign of permission.

"Very well," Kuàilè said, not sparing a glance at the teenagers. "It's Team Awesome versus Team Idiot Humans. Now—"

Katara opened her mouth to argue, but Zuko grabbed her arm to get her attention.

"Just let it go," he muttered. "We're wasting time here. Look, the sand in the hourglass is still falling."

He pointed at the giant hourglass that hovered at the top of the dome. Sure enough, crimson sand continued to trickle down and gather in a pile at the bottom of the glass. Some of the colour drained from Katara's cheeks.

"What is this?" she demanded. "We're still running on a time limit?"

Bill made a show of acting innocent, complete with exaggerated blinking and covering his mouth with his hand. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? Even if you manage to get more points than me, if you run out of time while completing the challenges, you'll still be trapped in my maze forever." He gasped. "Oh dear, and it looks like you don't have much time left either."

Katara audibly swallowed. Zuko was glad she let the matter of their team name slide. They really couldn't afford to waste time.

"If you're done with the interruptions," Kuàilè said, scowling at them in his trademark I-Will-Kill-You-If-You-Don't-Shut-Up expression.

Bill, Zuko and Katara dutifully fell silent, though Bill did throw Kuàilè another warning smile. Grumpiness was a no. Gameshow host cheer was a must. The caterpillar took the hint and tried to inject some energy into his tone as he explained the rest of the rules and what to avoid so as not to be disqualified (no leaving the ring, only one participant from each team at a time, no singing the "Funky Dunky Toad-Monkey" song).

"'Funky Dunky Toad-Monkey'?" Katara questioned.

Bill visibly shuddered. "That song was stuck in my head for half a century thanks to that squinty-eyed airbender brat." He cringed. "No! I can hear the tune again even now. Quick, Kuàilè, change the subject!"

Kuàilè's lips twitched upwards in a vindictive little smile, but he obliged all the same. He explained that the prizes up for grabs were free passes back to the Physical World, a stuffed dragon-moose wearing a monocle, and commemorative shirts bearing the words: 'I conquered the Labyrinth of Illusions and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'. Needless to say, Zuko and Katara were going for the free passes.

"Let the showdown begin!" Kuàilè declared, and then used his tail to grab the gavel and hit the gong.

Confetti and lights burst from out of nowhere, even as the platform extended into a battle arena. Bill now stood on the left side under the banner "TEAM AWESOME", smiling his pointy-toothed smile, and looking garishly horrid in his loincloth. Zuko and Katara were on the right-hand side with their own banner: TEAM IDIOT HUMANS. A scoreboard had also appeared which had their team names inked on top and a big zero next to each name. Zuko tried to ignore the prickle of nerves wriggling around in his stomach. There was no saying what kind of challenges Bill would throw at them for this ridiculous showdown.

"Participants for Challenge One, please take your place!" Kuàilè ordered.

Katara stepped forward. "I'm going first."

Zuko blinked. "Hey, wait a mo—"

But he never did get to finish his sentence. As soon as Katara stepped over the line and into the main part of the arena, loud, chirpy music started playing again and drowned out his voice. A floating screen appeared next to Kuàilè, swirling with mist.

"Alright, let's see what the first challenge will be," Kuàilè said, his smile so forced it was more of a grimace.

As if on cue, the mist started swirling faster on the screen and then cleared, revealing the words Water, Earth, Fire, Air. The paper crowd ooohed and cheered. Zuko just blinked. The first challenge was a children's game.

Katara moved to stand opposite Bill in the middle of the ring. She planted her hands on her hips, raising her chin in a defiant tilt. "You're going down, Bill!"

Bill chuckled. "Show me what you've got, waterbender."

Kuàilè hit the gong to signal the start of the challenge. Immediately, Bill and Katara began chanting the elements and shaking their fists in time to each word. After "air", they both brought their hands out in their chosen element. Katara was making the symbol for water, while Bill was making the symbol for air. The crowd erupted into an explosion of cheers.

"I lost," Katara said, letting her hand fall back to her side. "I can't believe I lost."

Bill cackled and punched his fist into the air. "Works every time. You benders are all the same, always choosing your own element. So predictable."

Zuko just groaned and watched as ten points replaced the zero next to Team Awesome. Katara trudged back to Team Idiot Humans' corner, her shoulders slumped.

"Sorry," she muttered.

Zuko made a noise that might have been a sound of comfort, but mostly he was distracted by Bill skipping around the ring and doing some kind of victory dance. Alright, that little dragon-moose punk was really getting on his nerves. Time to get serious.

Kuàilè called for the two of them to take their positions in the arena. Zuko glared at Bill, even as the screen swirled with mist and cleared to reveal the next challenge. This time it was a game of Twisty Elements. Like magic, a large white mat appeared and unfurled itself next to them. Lined along the mat in six horizontal rows were the symbols of the four elements printed onto their representative colour: blue for water, green for earth, red for fire, and yellow for air. A spinner board with the same symbols repeated in a circle, along with the words and sections to direct which body parts they needed to use, was now hovering next to Kuàilè.

"May the best dragon-moose win," Bill said with a grin.

Zuko ignored the comment. The gong boomed, and then Kuàilè used his tail to spin the little dial, which whirred round and round before landing on the symbol for fire in the left foot section. Zuko put his left foot on the bottom red spot while Bill did the same on the other end.

"Good luck, Zuko!" Katara shouted from their corner. "You can do this!"

"Don't let your girlfriend down," Bill teased.

"She's not my girlfri—"

"Right hand, air," Kuàilè intoned.

Zuko planted his hand on one of the air spots. Bill matched him, still grinning. As the game went on, the two of them gradually got more tangled with each other. Zuko was glad that he had spent so many years honing his body to be strong and flexible. Bill probably should have struggled more, given his hoofed feet and smaller frame, but Zuko could have sworn the dragon-moose was cheating.

"Left foot, earth," Kuàilè called.

Zuko stamped his foot onto the closest spot, which, unfortunately, put his face next to Bill's hairy butt. The only other green symbol left was right at the other end, too far away for Bill's stumpy leg to reach. So, of course, that same stumpy leg suddenly extended longer than was dragon-moosely possible, almost as if made of rubber, and allowed Bill to put his left hoof on the green spot.

"I knew it!" Zuko exclaimed. "You've been cheating this whole time!"

Bill cackled. "Who says I'm cheating? My body is just extendable. Nothing tricksy about that."

"Kuàilè!" Katara complained, turning accusing eyes on the caterpillar. "You're supposed to be an impartial referee. Surely this can't be fair!"

"I don't see why not," Kuàilè said with a shrug. He was currently sipping tea and glancing at a scroll. "There are no rules against having a stretchable body."

Zuko swore. He knew he had no real hope of winning. Still, he had never been one to give up, so he gave it his all right until the bitter end, even trying a few dirty tricks of his own (like tickling Bill when Kuàilè wasn't watching). Alas, no amount of stubbornness or dirty tricks could compete against a stretchy, cheaty body. Bill won, and ten more points were added to Team Awesome.

The next challenge ended in much the same way. Bill did whatever the heck he liked, Kuàilè sipped tea and read scrolls, and Katara returned with a downcast expression while Team Awesome got all the points.

"This sucks," Katara declared, once Zuko had returned to their team corner after losing an arm wrestling battle (Bill had quadrupled his size, not to mention strength, making it impossible for Zuko to beat him). "Bill clearly keeps cheating and Kuàilè isn't doing a thing to stop him. We're never going to get out of this place at this rate."

Zuko clenched his hands into fists. "Don't worry, Katara. We will get out of here."

Katara didn't seem very impressed by this statement. She obviously didn't understand that dealing with a cheating dragon-moose was nothing compared to the crap Zuko had been forced to deal with in the Physical World his entire life. No, he did not give up easily, and this was just one of many obstacles that he would overcome. Though he did have to admit that he was getting frustrated. Very, very frustrated.

The next challenge began with the clanging of the gong. This time Katara and Bill were playing Janus Says: a game where the leader held up a flag, white or red, and the contestants had to quickly raise the matching flag. Once a flag had been raised, the choice could not be changed. There was only a few seconds to make the decision as well. The first person to make a mistake would lose. Kuàilè had brought in a special guest to act as the leader: a two-headed sloth named Janus, who happened to be the same spirit who had been at Kuàilè's tea party. Already the heads were arguing with each other. It was like being stuck around Pagus and Magus again.

Zuko sucked in a breath as he watched the game. Katara was actually holding her own against Bill. Perhaps it was because there was no real way for Bill to cheat. All either of them could do was raise their flags and hope they didn't make a mistake.

"Come on, Katara," Zuko murmured. "Please win."

They could not afford to lose any more challenges. Bill was already forty points ahead. Fortunately, the spirit of luck seemed to finally smile upon them. Janus raised both flags at the same time, then lowered the white, then quickly brought it up again while lowering the red. The white flag was left remaining. Bill's jaw dropped: he was holding the red flag up while Katara held the white.

The gong clanged and Kuàilè declared Team Idiot Humans the winner. Ten points were added to their score on the board.

"We won!" Katara yelled, running back to the corner and throwing her arms around Zuko in a hug. "We finally got some points!"

Zuko stood there a bit awkwardly, not sure what to do with so much cute girl in his space. Luckily (or perhaps not so luckily) Katara released him a second later and turned to Bill, pulling down her eyelid and poking out her tongue at the dragon-moose. Bill sniffed and acted like he couldn't see her.

"Go get him, Zuko!" Katara said, turning back to grin at the firebender. "We can do this!"

Zuko just swallowed. The way she was smiling, so warm and happy—as if they were actually friends and not just assigned team mates—made him feel like a whole lot of butterfly-mantises were fluttering around inside his stomach. It took Kuàilè calling his name to make him snap out of his daze.

Blinking, Zuko tore his gaze away from Katara with an effort and made his way to the middle of the arena. The usual routine began of choosing the challenge. Zuko really, really hoped that he'd get something easy. Too bad his luck had never lasted long.

"Dance Off," he read, and then scrunched his nose. "What the heck?"

Bill rubbed his clawed hands together with glee. "Poor princeling. I hear the Fire Nation banned dancing during the last hundred years. Do you even know how to dance?"

Zuko blinked. Then he blinked some more. "Dancing?"

Katara faceplamed. "I clearly celebrated too early." She glanced at Kuàilè. "Are we allowed to switch places?"

"Not unless you want to get disqualified," Kuàilè responded blandly, flipping over his scroll.

Katara groaned. "Alright, Zuko, you're just going to have to try your best! Dancing is actually easy if you don't overthink it. Just listen to your body and move to the music."

Zuko pulled a face. "Listen to my body and move to the music? To hell with that!"

Bill flashed his teeth in a grin. "Do you forfeit then?"

Zuko gulped. Nope. No forfeiting. He would just have to dance. Even if it sounded horribly embarrassing.

Kuàilè explained the rules in his usual monotone, interspersed with some energetic phrases whenever Bill glowered at him. In short, music would play and Zuko and Bill would take their turn dancing to the tune, except for in the final round when they would dance at the same time. The crowd's cheering would determine point scores. The person with the most points would win.

The gong sounded and then music started to play: a strange blend of instruments that sounded both familiar and foreign to Zuko. Bill started first and began moving on the spot, spinning on his hoofed feet, wiggling his hips, and moving his arms in time to the beat. The dragon-moose looked completely ridiculous, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it and cheered happily enough. Bill ended his sequence by doing the splits, then leaping up and pointing his finger at Zuko.

"Um." Zuko stood there awkwardly.

Aw, hell. What the heck was he supposed to do?

The crowd got restless. A few boos began to rumble through the paper figures. Zuko saw Katara standing with her face hidden in her hands, unable to watch such a useless performance from her team mate. He gritted his teeth and rolled his shoulders. Fine. This went against every bone and fibre in his body, but fine.

Zuko inhaled a breath and closed his eyes. He listened to the drums. They seemed to guide the rest of the music, determining when the movement should be slow or fast. No doubt it would be the same for his body, if Katara's advice was to be believed. There was no way in heck he was going to pull the same moves as Bill (just the thought of doing the pelvis thrust thing made Zuko want to die of embarrassment) but there was something the prince did know, and that was sword fighting, martial arts and firebending. He exhaled and began to move.

The crowd ooohed and aaahed. Zuko had been clumsy as a child, but there was nothing awkward about him now. He moved with rare grace, completely in tune with his body and the rhythm that guided him as he blended the different fighting styles he had mastered with the music. He imagined swords and fire in his hands; he saw opponents that came at him from every side, making him duck and flip, parry and strike, shifting and changing into stances with a silky yet forceful fluidity. The crowd cheered, getting louder and louder. Some of them even wolf-whistled.

Zuko ended his sequence in the stance for a powered fireball: arms extended towards Bill with his right hand held palm-up and resting on his left hand. His expression was fierce: a silent "Come at me, bro!" that was charged with enough fire to make up for Zuko's current lack of bending. In his mind, this wasn't just a silly dance off anymore. This was a battle, and there was no way he was going to lose.

The music changed, shifting into a faster tempo. Bill performed his part of the dance, doing lots of strange sliding things with his feet, and making odd loops and stilted movements with his arms. Zuko countered with a particularly complicated dual-dao move, spinning round and round like a tornado as if to fight off arrows. He rolled to dodge an invisible attack, then twisted on the ground in his trademark counter-kick, letting imagined flames rise around him as he rose up and stopped inches from Bill's face. The crowd roared in his ears, thundering and screaming.

Once again the music changed to signal the third round: a simultaneous dance off. Bill began with some odd leaping thing, spreading his arms and legs as he jumped around on his tiptoes and twirled an impossible amount of times. Zuko didn't even hesitate, pulling out all the stops as he drew upon every advanced firebending technique he knew to weave a fierce "dance" that was as unforgiving as it was mesmerising. By the end, they were both breathing hard, but the crowd was chanting Zuko's name over and over.

Kuàilè hit the gong to end the round. Bill slumped to his knees, his eyes wide with shock.

"I don't believe it," he muttered. "I lost. How? How could I lose to an uptight stiff like you?"

Zuko blushed. He could see Katara waving and cheering for him out the corner of his eye. His unscarred cheek darkened and he found himself wanting to retreat into a shell like a turtleduck. Maybe he hadn't danced like Bill, but there was something still so awkward about being on display while moving in time to music.

Still with his face burning, Zuko walked back to his team corner and joined Katara. "Please don't ever mention this to anyone," he murmured.

"Come on, you were great," she told him. 'There's no need to feel embarrassed."

He noticed that her cheeks looked a bit pink as well. Huh.

Kuàilè cleared his throat. "Yes, yes, Prince Hot Stuff has some moves. Now let's get on with the rest of the challenges."

Bill heaved himself back into a standing position. "You're right. There are still four more challenges to go. Too bad for Team Idiot Humans that I'm in the lead."

"Only by twenty points," Katara retorted.

The dragon-moose grinned. "You won't beat me again, little girl. Your winning streak is over."

Just as Bill predicted, Katara lost the next round. Zuko also lost the one after that, which should have been the end of it, except that Kuàilè declared the next challenge to be a bonus round and worth forty points. Katara won, much to Bill's disgust.

"Why are you offering bonus rounds?" Bill demanded, glaring at the caterpillar.

Kuàilè shrugged. "I thought it might spice things up."

Zuko let out a sigh of relief. They were now tied with Bill for sixty points. There was only one challenge left. If he won now, it would all be over and he and Katara could go home.

Katara clasped his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Go and win it for us, Zuko," she said with a smile.

He nodded and moved to stand in the middle of the arena. Bill faced him, still a scarring sight in his sparkly green loincloth. Kuàilè set the mist screen in motion. Words formed, but they were not the words Zuko wanted to see. The final challenge was some kind of quiz game. They didn't have enough time for such nonsense. The bottom of the hourglass was almost full.

"The rules are simple," Kuàilè explained. "You ask your opponent questions that they then must answer correctly. Get an answer wrong or fail to answer and you will lose."

Bill smiled. "What a shame. It looks like this is the end for Team Idiot Humans."

Zuko didn't so much as flinch. He knew that Bill was some kind of amazingly powerful spirit and had the ability to see, at least to a point, into people's hearts and minds. There was no doubt that Zuko was at a disadvantage, but being the underdog was nothing new to him. He'd always had to struggle and fight, and that had made him strong. It had given him the ability to create his own luck.

And right now he had a brilliant idea.

The gong sounded and the quiz game began. They flipped a coin to decide who would go first. Zuko won the coin toss, but he could tell by the smile on Bill's face that the dragon-moose had allowed him to do so. Probably wanted to rub it in about how all-knowing and powerful he was. No matter. This was exactly what Zuko had wanted.

Zuko exhaled and met Bill's slit-like eyes. "How does the song 'Funky Dunky Toad-Monkey' go?" he asked calmly.

Bill snorted. "That's easy. It's like this."

The dragon-moose started singing a truly awful song: one so catchy and horrible that Zuko could understand why it might have got stuck in Bill's head for half a century. The clang of the gong put an end to the torture.

"Disqualified," Kuàilè declared in his usual monotone.

Bill blinked. In slow motion, his eyes widened and his mouth twisted as he realised what Zuko had done. "You tricked me!" he accused, pointing his finger at the firebender. "You knew that song had been banned!"

Zuko shrugged. "I only asked a question. You were the one who started singing."

Bill let out a wail and collapsed to his knees, smashing his fist against the ground and bemoaning the fact that he had lost because of that cursed song. Worse, it had got stuck in his head again, and now he would probably be stuck with it for another fifty years.

"Curse you, Funky Dunky Toad-Monkey!" Bill moaned, gripping his ears as if to ward off the tune. "Curse you to Kao's lair and back!"

Kuàilè clapped his hands in false cheer. "Hooray for Team Idiot Humans," he deadpanned. "You may now choose your prize."

Katara moved to stand beside Zuko. "Obviously, we're going to take the free passes to the Physical World." She flicked her hair over her shoulder. "That one is a no-brainer."

"You sure you don't want the dragon-moose plushy?" Bill asked, getting back to his feet. "It's a limited edition."

"Not interested," Zuko said flatly.

Bill held up the T-shirt. "What about this? It's so stylish and—"

"Just give us the passes!" Katara snapped.

Bill's shoulders slumped. "Fine. I suppose I can let you leave. You did beat my labyrinth, and I am a dragon-moose of my word."

Even the hourglass had disappeared. It was like a weight had been lifted off Zuko's shoulders. The race to escape had finally come to an end. He and Katara could go home. He could—

Zuko twitched. Home. Odd how he felt no joy about returning to the palace. It was his home, but that was just a label that didn't mean anything to him now, because Uncle was in prison and his mum no longer sat by the turtleduck pond. Everything had changed. Everything was wrong.

"Hey," Katara said gently, resting her hand on his arm. "You okay?"

Zuko sucked in a breath. Her touch was oddly reassuring, making him feel like he had solid footing again. The life he lived at the palace didn't make sense to him anymore, but Katara did. Because somehow she had become a friend to him in this crazy place. Because somehow, by being with her, he had been reminded that there was another destiny for him out there if he was brave enough to choose it.

"What are you so afraid of, Zuzu?"

"I am not my father! I know that none of this is real. You're just illusions created from my own fears, but either way it doesn't matter. You have no power over me. I'm not afraid anymore."

"Zuko?" Katara frowned up at him in concern.

He smiled: a warm, sincere smile. "I'm fine. Let's go home, Katara."

Pink dusted her cheeks. "Okay."

Bill whipped out his pitchfork. "Alright, two free passes back to the Physical World coming right up!"

Zuko's smile cracked. "Hold on—"

"You're not going to—" Katara began, face paling.

Bill just cackled and swung his pitchfork. Sure enough, Zuko felt a force drive into him, sending him plummeting forward straight into a gap that appeared in the wall. Purple light engulfed him, and he once more experienced the odd sensation of falling forwards instead of downwards. His body squeezed and compressed, his ears popped, and just when he thought he couldn't take it anymore, he emerged from the light and found himself back in the Physical World.

"Katara!" he exclaimed.

But of course she wasn't there. He was in the palace, sprawled on the floor in his bedroom, and a female servant was staring at him with googly eyes. She let out a small "meep" noise and ran from the room, no doubt frightened from the fact that he had just appeared out of nowhere. Zuko sighed and flopped onto his back.

"I hope you made it back safely, Katara," he murmured.

It was kind of frustrating that he hadn't been able to say goodbye, or at least thank her for her assistance in the maze. Then again, she had been wearing that red outfit and the gold jewellery. A tiny smile curved his lips.

"So, you and your friends are in the Fire Nation, huh?" He got to his feet and moved to the window, glancing out upon the city and the lands beyond. "Next time we meet I promise I'll make the right choice."

Because he knew there would be a next time. In fact, he was going to make sure of it.

.

.

.

OMAKE

Kuàilè stared at his friend, Bill, who had shrunk to caterpillar size and was sprawled out on the armchair with his hairy hooves resting on the footstool. Every now and then Bill would start humming an awful tune, only to stop and screw his face up in frustration.

"Damn that song!" Bill muttered. "I still can't get it out of my head."

"Serves you right for messing with humans," Kuàilè retorted. "I warned you not to get involved."

Bill waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "It all turned out in the end. The little princeling realised that he needed to side with the Avatar and help restore balance to the world, the girl was able to forgive him for betraying her in Ba Sing Se, and if I'm reading my tea leaves correctly, Steam Babies are now in the cards for the future!" He puffed out his chest with pride. "I am the greatest matchmaker ever!"

"You are insane and a bother. Next time leave me out of your plans." Kuàilè pursed his lips. "Why'd you try so hard to win the challenges anyway if you had always planned for them to return to the Physical World?"

"I can't help it." A shrug. "My mother did say I was always too competitive."

Kuàilè rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

Bill opened his mouth to retort, but then he pulled a sour-lemon face and clutched at his ears. "Curse you, Funky Dunky Toad-Monkey! Curse you forever!"

Kuàilè just sighed and sipped his tea. "Maybe it's time for me to look for a new place to rent."

The End

Notes: All the challenges featured are based on real games. The song is just something I made up, but imagine a mix between the 'Trololo' song, Navi's 'Hey, Listen' on repeat, and 'This is the Song That Doesn't End' and you'd be close enough. Poor Bill.

In any case, I must apologise to Allison for taking so long to finish what was supposed to be a Christmas gift for 2013. I hope this cracktastic finale made up for the wait.

You've probably forgotten by now, but here were your prompts:

Advocaat's Wish-List:

1. Drunk!Tara (Or Zuko)

2. Love Potion

3. Silliness

4. Ember Island shenanigans

5. A dragon-moose and a pitchfork (have at it!)

I ended up using Drunk!Tara, silliness, and a dragon-moose and a pitchfork. I hope it was everything that you wanted. :)