Summary:

Whilst Aang is dying, from Azula's lightning strike, he enters the Avatar state, and bequeaths his responsibility as Avatar to a reformed Zuko. With the cycle thrown out of balance, do those on the right side of the war still stand a chance of winning? After so many years chasing the Avatar, can Zuko live up to the legend?

I've had this idea for a month or more, and when I posted the summary at the beginning of one 'Fighting Free' chapter, a lot of people expressed interest. I wanted to get through more of Fighting Free before I officially began a new fic.

Please leave a review if you enjoyed the fic. Fans, please do not kill me. All questions will be answered in the coming chapters.

Katara let her tears flow freely, as she cradled Aang in her arms, as gently as one would hold a newborn child. She wanted to scream, to shout, but she could not. Not in front of Aang. Not while he still breathed. He had to see her keep on smiling.

"Katara?" Aangs voice was weak, barely a whisper.

"Aang...you need to save your strength. Don't speak. I'll..."

Katara's voice trailed off as she swallowed desperately to keep her emotions inside, instead holding Aang tighter, never wanting to let go. Katara knew that hope was futile. Even her healing could not bring Aang back. There was not enough time. Without the spirit water...there was no hope for Aang.

Katara blearily looked up, through tear-glazed eyes, to see Zuko and Iroh still struggling against Azula. Azula. The mad princess who had taken away someone whom Katara loved deeply. She had taken away the future of one of the kindest people Katara knew. Azula had taken the life of one who had turned Katara's routine life into one of excitement and adventure. She had caused the death of someone Katara viewed as family. As a brother.

Katara turned away her gaze from Zuko, who momentarily locked eyes with her, and looked back down at Aang. The air-bender's breath had quickened, a sign that the end was near. The short, pained breaths felt like daggers through Katara's heart, the barely audible sounds heartbreaking to hear.

"Katara..." Aang swallowed, a thin line of blood rolling down his chin.

"Aang.." Katara didn't have the heart to tell him to be quiet, to save his strength.

For both she and Aang knew that death was inevitable.

"Katara." Aang looked up at the waterbender.

"What is it, Aang?" Katara forced a smile onto her tear-stained face.

"I need you to..."

"To do what?"

"Could you...get Zuko for me?"

"Why, Aang? He can't...he can't heal you."

"I know...but he can do something...else."

"I..." Katara was bewildered. Why would Aang ask for Zuko, even if he had apologized, in his dying moments?

"Please."

Katara gently stroked Aangs face, in an attempt to soothe the Airbender, before looking back up to the fight beyond them. The bodies of the Dai Li littered the ground in droves, but Azula was nowhere close to backing down. Katara took a deep breath.

But she didn't have to say a word. Stepping sideways, as a burst of blue flame grazed his arm, Zuko turned, and saw the look on Katara's face. The pure pain written in her expression told him that Aang was almost...almost out of time.

"Go." Iroh turned to Zuko. "Go!"

Firing several blasts of fire in quick succession, Zuko took advantage of Azula's confusion, and ran as fast as he could, over to where Katara knelt, with the dying Avatar in her arms. He paid no heed to the heat of close flames, trusting his Uncle to hold his sister at bay. Keeping his senses about him, Zuko quietly knelt down in front of Katara, his unscarred face full of anger and concern.

"Hey...Zuko." Aang coughed weakly.

"...hey, Aang." Zuko was unsure of what to say. Was he supposed to comfort Aang? Give him false hope?

"I...I need to ask you something."

"What do you...need?"

"When I die...the cycle starts again. But...the world needs it's Avatar now."

"You'll..." Zuko stopped himself from telling Aang he wouldn't die. He could tell the Airbender knew.

"If the Avatar doesn't...stop Ozai...by the time Sozin's Comet comes...that's..that's it."

"We'll..."

"I know you will...take him down. Which is why...I'm asking you...will you be the new Avatar?"

Zuko nearly fell over backwards. What on earth was the Avatar saying?

"That's not possible. There's a cycle!" Zuko protested.

"He's right." Katara spoke up. "Aang..."

"I...the cycle will be too late. I can give you the Avatars spirit."

"Even if that were possible, why would you choose me? Katara would be a better choice!"

"Me?!" Katara was shocked.

What Aang was saying was...impossible, surely! Disrupting the cycle of Avatars after centuries of the same balanced elemental cycle?!

"Katara can't." Aang shuddered. "You...you can, Zuko."

"Why?" Zuko was finding this hard to comprehend.

"You...you have a connection..it will let you accept the Avatar spirit."

"What connection?!"

"Avatar Roku...the avatar before me."

"I'm not related to him! I'm too young to remember him."

"He...he told me. Your mother..."

"What about my mother?"

"He was...he was her grandfather."

The cries of Azula did not reach Zuko, for this revelation had rendered him speechless. It took a few moments of wordlessness, before the firebender finally spoke up.

"So he..." Zuko ran his fingers through his hair. "What you're saying...it...that...giving up the Avatar spirit...but couldn't that kill you?"

"I'm dying, no matter what happens." Aang smiled sadly, feeling his body begin to shut down.

Katara held back a sob at Aangs words, barely able to keep her cries silent.

"Aang..." Zuko had no words.

He had caused the Avatar and his friends so much pain, he had chased them, captured them, threatened them...but here Aang was, in his last moments, asking of him something that would change the course of history. He was smiling. Aang was dying, but he was still smiling, believing that he could still use his spirit to save the world.

"Will you do that for me? Be the Avatar?" Aang pursued, blinking rapidly to keep his eyes open.

"I..." Zuko ran his fingers through his hair.

"Please." Aang knew he had only moments left.

"It..." Zuko swallowed in an attempt to regain his composure. "It would be an honor...Avatar Aang."

"Thank you." Aang smiled a genuine smile, before his eyes slowly closed.

"Aang?" Katara's eyes widened. "Aang!"

A second later, Aangs eyes snapped open, shining with the familiar light that Katara had come to admire so. Katara knew that this...this was the last time she would see Aangs eyes open, and despite the hope Aang had given her, a bittersweet taste lingered in her mouth. With the airbender in the Avatar state, away from pain, Katara finally allowed her tears to fall freely.

Aang's mouth opened, and a new light shone.

Katara and Zuko watched in morbid fascination as white tendrils began to escape the Airbender's mouth, like vines, twisting as they escaped into the air, the light in Aangs eyes beginning to fade as each one rose into the air.

Without warning, the spirit like tendrils escaped Aangs body in one burst, and immediately shot at Zuko, the beams of white light vanishing down the fire-benders throat, Zuko letting out a cry of pain, and crumpling in a heap on his side. Zuko's eyes squeezed shut as the light vanished, a white hot pain racing throughout his body in merciless waves. It felt as if his whole body were burning...he had not felt such a pure, raw pain, since the day he had been scarred.

As Zuko began to writhe in pain, Aang went limp in Katara's arms.

The heartbroken waterbender did not even have time to scream the Airbenders name, before Zuko's eyes snapped open, echoing the same white light that Aang had once shown so proudly. The white eyes looked alien on Zuko, but...as Katara kept eye contact...strangely fitting. As the light shone brighter, Zuko brought himself up, shakily, onto his knees. His hands reached up to his head, holding himself as if still in pain. Unable to speak, Katara grew choked up, when she saw the identifiable fear in Zuko's shining eyes.

Her own body shaking with the barrage of emotions, Katara reached out a trembling hand, to gently touch Zuko's face, in an attempt to ground the firebender, trying to help him clear his mind as the spirit energy burned within.

Several tense moments passed, the fight between Iroh and Azula beginning to slow, as the former regrettably began to lose steam. The fight had dragged on for too long, and against a great number of foes. Iroh gritted his teeth, pushing himself, as Azula moved forward with each chi-filled punch, her face morphing into a smirk when she noticed the slight decrease in the energy of Iroh's attacks.

The air around him was clear, and, as Zuko slowly stood, he found himself in the midst of a vast field of flowers, the plants shining with every colour imaginable, creating a kaleidoscope of shimmering beauty. Confusion filled Zuko's mind, and he slowly turned, eyes scanning the strange meadow, before he came face to face with someone very familiar.

"Aang?" Zuko was confused.

"Hey, Zuko." Aang smiled.

Here, Aang's wounds were healed, no sign of such a tragedy having ever occurred, and his nomadic robes had been restored.

"Where are we?" Zuko asked.

"The spirit world."

"The...it worked?"

"It is working."

"So...you're really..."

"Yeah."

Both carrying the weight of the night's experiences, the duo sat opposite each other, taking care not to crush the delicate flowers beneath them.

"I never got to apologize." Zuko admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"For what?" Aang blinked.

"For everything. Capturing you, Katara...chasing you for so long..."

"It's okay, Zuko."

"It is not okay!"

"Well, what you did was not okay, but...you were on the wrong path."

"I realized it too late."

"It's not too late. When you go back, you'll be able to do what I couldn't."

"If Katara hadn't used the spirit water on me, maybe you'd still be alive."

"Maybe. But we shouldn't trouble ourselves with what was. We've gotta focus on what is. What's happening now."

"You know, for a kid...you're pretty wise."

"I had a good teacher."

The edges of the meadow began to fade, paling as they vanished into a blank void. Aang shook his head sadly.

"You're going back...we don't have alot of time."

"There's so many things I need to ask you."

"Don't worry. I'll be there."

Surprising the firebender, Aang embraced Zuko, the latter stiffening, before returning the gesture. After a few moments, they moved to sit apart once more.

"Zuko, before you go..." Aang wiped the tears that had begun to fall. "I need you to promise me something."

"Anything."

"Promise me you'll take care of them. Katara, Sokka, Toph...Appa and Momo..."

"I'll make sure they're safe. I promise."

"Zuko..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you..."

Zuko forced his eyes closed as Aang's voice faded, feeling Katara's shaking hand against his now unblemished skin. Amidst the pain that clouded his mind, Zuko drew on his goodbye to Aang, and forced his way through the mist. Many moments passed, but finally, his mind cleared. He forced the pain back, gritting his teeth so as to control the agony. Slowly, he rose to his feet, keeping his eyes closed as he used everything within him to calm the anger of the Avatar's spirit within him. Katara let her hand fall, watching with baited breath as Zuko turned, in the direction of his Uncle, and Azula.

Full of concern for Zuko, who only moments ago had been near screaming in an unseen pain, Iroh turned around, only to have confusion pass through his mind when he noticed Zuko's closed eyes. Parrying another blast from Azula, Iroh called out.

"Zuko!"

Recognizing his Uncle's voice, Zuko finally summoned up the courage to open his eyes, feeling a pulse in his mind as the light of the Avatar spirit shone through his once amber eyes in a bright, purifying light.

"Nephew?" Iroh could barely speak.

Still shocked herself, Azula forced herself to look away from her brother. Whatever was happening, had given her an opening. A sinister smile found it's way onto her face, and she began the fluid motions that Zuko, despite his warring mind, instantly recognized. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come.

With a sharp burst, Azula thrust out her right hand, bright white sparks emanating from her poised fingers before a bright, blue light escaped, and burst forth, ripping through the air towards the distracted former general.

Without hesitation, Zuko, hands spread open, raised his arms, before pushing forward with all his might.

A torrent of whirling air rocketed towards Azula, audibly whistling as it clashed into her body with alarming speed, eliciting a screech from the crazed firebender as she was thrown backwards, sent flying by the sheer force behind Zuko's attack.

The speed was so great, that Iroh had only just caught it, feeling a shiver run down his spine when he looked from Azula's battered, bloody, and bruised body, to his beloved nephew.

The light in Zuko's eyes lasted for barely a few seconds more, before the reformed firebender collapsed to his knees. The glow faded as quickly as it had come, allowing Zuko to succumb to exhaustion, his eyes slipping closed as he fell onto his front, one arm in front of him, as if his body still wished to fight.

Overcoming his shock, Iroh rushed towards Zuko, calling his name, instantly gathering his nephew into his arms the minute he was close enough to kneel beside him.

As Iroh soothingly ran a hand across Zuko's burning forehead, Katara looked down at Aang's body, the harsh reality of his death still sinking in.

Voice full of sorrow, Katara spoke to Aang, although she knew...he wouldn't hear.

"Aang...it worked..."

Katara's voice faded as she allowed her cries to become audible, loud, gulping sobs escaping her mouth as she hunched over his body, rocking backwards and forwards as she began to lose the battle with her encased emotions.

Looking up at the crystal-covered ceiling, through glazed and tear-filled eyes, Katara let loose a raw, almost animalistic cry to the heavens.