This is an alternate ending to the show Avatar: The Last Airbender. I do not own this show or anything affiliated with it. This is just how I think the show should have ended. For many reasons, I believe Zatara is the best relationship developed on this show and should have ended with them being together.

Every part of the story is the same up until the point where Mai comes to visit Zuko in the palace after she was released from prison.

"You need some help with that?" Mai said.

"Mai! You're okay! They let you out of prison?" Zuko asked.

"My uncle pulled some strings. And it doesn't help when the new Fire Lord is your boyfriend," she replied.

At this Zuko pulled away from her. He turned around to speak. "Mai, these past few days have been really difficult. I made a lot of tough decisions. I was always looking to my father to restore my honor, but it was all in my own hands." He turned back around to face her. "One of the things I have regretted since I have become a new man, is hurting you. But it doesn't change things. It was a hard decision, but I know it was one that I can't take back. We can never be together because I can never again be who I was before. I only hope that one day you will understand and we can become friends again."

"Zuko, I have liked you since we were little kids, but I have always known that you were never happy because you weren't really yourself. I am proud of who you have become, even if it changes your feelings for me."

"So does this mean you don't hate me anymore?"

"I went up against your sister and was put in prison for you. I don't hate you."

Then they hugged and parted ways for Zuko's coronation.

At the coronation when he is being applauded by the crowd...

Zuko says, "Please, the real hero is the avatar."

Aang walks out and looks out into the crowd with a happy and hopeful glance. He sees Katara and she is smiling back at him, but her eyes are sad.

Fast forward to the scene in the tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon. Everyone is there as in the original show except for Mai. Everything happens the same up until the point where Aang goes outside to look wistfully over the city.

When Katara sees Aang go outside she follows him. She draws him in for a hug and begins to speak.

"Aang, ever since I found you in the ice, I knew it was my destiny to help you. We've come so far and grown so close over this past year. But I have to tell you the truth. You are my friend, my best friend. And that is so important to me. I don't think that we should be together."

"But Katara!..."

"I don't… I've never wanted to hurt you. You are my family and I don't want anything to change that."

"It won't change it!"

"I'm sorry Aang…"

Katara turns around and walks back into the Jasmine Dragon. Aang's eyes are filled with anger and sadness. He grabs his glider and flies off into the distance.

Katara is sitting in the corner of the teashop by herself with a sad look in her eyes. Toph walks up to her and sits down. Everyone else is out of hearing range.

"So you finally told Aang the truth?" Toph asks.

"What? How do you…."

"People keep forgetting that I see a lot for a blind person."

"Oh. Yeah….. I didn't want to hurt him. But he's so important to me and I've only ever seen him as part of my family, nothing more. But he doesn't understand."

"He will understand one day. Until then, he will just need space from you. But he won't be able to stay away from you forever, because you guys are family. We all are."

"Thanks, Toph."

"And don't worry. I'm sure there's someone else on your mind that you do want to be with, who also wants to be with you…."

At this Katara smiled and tried to hide it. When Toph walked away, she looked up and saw Zuko staring at her across the shop. He quickly looked away when she caught him watching her.

Later that night, they had all returned to palace. They were all staying there while some important decisions were being made about the future of their new world. Katara went out onto the steps of the palace waiting for Aang to return so she could talk to him again. She waited and waited. And then it got dark. She was about to get up and go inside when she heard someone coming near her. She bended her water out of the bag she carried with her into small ice crystals and pointed them at whoever had snuck up on her.

"It's me! It's Zuko!" he yelled with his hands up in the air.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I'm still jumpy when I see you from all of those times you tried to hunt us down." Katara laughed.

"Hey I already apologized for that!"

Katara sat back down on the steps and Zuko sat down beside her.

"So what are you doing out here anyways?" Zuko questioned.

"I'm waiting for Aang. I'm worried about him, I haven't seen him earlier since I told him…. " she paused.

"Since you told him what?"

Katara sighed. "Since I told him that we couldn't be together."

Zuko blushed and said, "Oh… I've always thought that you cared for him as much as he cared for you, especially after you threatened my life if I hurt him."

"I do care for him. Just not in that way. He's always been more like a brother to me and I don't want this to ruin our friendship."

"It won't ruin it. Destiny brought you to him, just as destiny brought me to you."

This time Katara blushed. She smiled at him and had a hard time remembering the Zuko she used to despise, the Zuko who hunted them down trying to capture the avatar. He was now a true friend to her, and a hope of the future.

It took Aang a long time to understand and come to terms with what Katara had said. But he knew he would rather have her in his life as a friend than not at all. Eventually things between the group had gone back to normal. Sokka and Suki were annoyingly in love. And Katara and Zuko seemed to be getting along very well for a change. Aang was even beginning to grow fond of Toph calling him "Twinkle toes." Because it was hard for him to spend as much time with Katara as he had before, he noticed he was spending more and more time with Toph. They practiced earth bending together, and she had even started to teach him how to metal bend.

Now that Aang had let go of the idea of him and Katara being together, he began to notice that many other girls were being so nice to him. But he wondered if it was only because he was the avatar, and if they would like him if he wasn't. But the one person he knew was true, because of all the sarcastic remarks she made towards him, was Toph. He had never really looked at her closely before. But he noticed that she was actually very pretty, and that he enjoyed making her smile and laugh. Maybe he could move on after Katara. Maybe there was hope for someone else in his life… besides he was only thirteen years old.

Zuko was glad when things between Katara and Aang had settled down. They were no longer awkward to each other and goofed off water bending in the river near the palace like they had many times before. He also noticed that the avatar had developed a kind eye for a certain blind earth bender. Things with the past war were clearing up and everything was falling together. He didn't want all of the decisions at the palace to end so quickly, because he knew it meant that his friends no longer had to stay there, but because he was now the Fire Lord, he had to stay. Not only this, but his feelings for Katara had only increased since she had been staying there with him. He had tried so hard to ignore them, to push them away. Fire and water don't mix. They were polar opposites. He would often times go out to the river at night when it was abandoned and throw flames at the water to see if anything would happen other than the fire burning away. As he threw more and more fire balls at the water, he was getting angry. Suddenly a familiar voice interrupted his anger fit.

"Nephew, no matter how many fire balls you throw at that river, you will not dry it up," Uncle Iroh stated.

"I'm not trying to dry it up Uncle. It just bothers me how fire and water can never be together."

"Ahh. I see. Maybe instead of seeing it as fire and water, you should instead see it as the sun and the moon."

"That isn't any better, Uncle. They chase each other across the sky but can never be together. Their love is forbidden."

"Oh but this, nephew, you are wrong about. It is true they are not together most of the time, but when they do come together, the whole world stares in awe."

"What are you talking about Uncle?! I can't make sense of what you say most of the time!"

"A solar eclipse. You can be together. Don't let fear control you. Listen to your heart. You have come so far to find yourself by listening to your heart. Don't ignore its calls now."

At this, his uncle walked back into the palace.

Zuko was always frustrated with how much his uncle knew about him without him even saying it. Was it that obvious? He knew he was right, but he just didn't know what to do about it. He yelled aloud and shot another huge blast of fire at the water. The water shot up into the air and sprinkled down on him as if in defense. Giving up, he fell to the ground wet. A beautiful high pitched laugh sounded behind him. It was Katara.

"You didn't think the water splashed you by itself, did you?" she asked as she sat down next to him and the river.

"Ha ha, I guess I did." He replied.

"I just ran into your uncle on his way inside and he told me you wanted to see me?"

Zuko blushed and cursed his uncle under his breath.

"Uh yeah… I wanted to talk to you…. About… well….." he just couldn't think of what to say, "I'm really happy that you decided to trust and forgive me after all I put you guys through before. Your opinion of me was always important. And…."

Katara just sat quiet and listened. She seemed to be enjoying that he was struggling.

Zuko continued hastily, "Well, you see, you're the moon and I'm the sun and people stare at us…. I mean… Ugh!"

He stopped speaking and looked down at the river. Katara was on his left side so he shot another fire ball out of his right hand at the water. His hand still had flames coming out of it when he felt it dissolve and heard a sizzle. Katara had bended water over her own hand and placed it on his. She let the water drop but didn't drop his hand. He turned to look at her and her huge blue eyes were smiling very close to his. She reached her other hand up to touch his scar, and he didn't flinch because it had never bothered him around her. She had once offered to heal it for him with her magical spirit pool water and he almost let her. But now he was glad that he still had it, because it reminded him of where he came from to who he is now. Katara spoke and snapped him back to the present.

"A solar eclipse" she smiled.

Maybe he leaned in or maybe she did or maybe it was both of them, but suddenly they were kissing and they had started a wild fire.

Zuko had never felt anything like this before. When he had kissed Mai it was pleasant, but this was different. This was agony. It was passionate and made him breathless. He only wished to get closer and closer to her, so she could extinguish the flame that burned deep inside him. All of the anger and fear that had once overcome his life and his soul was all but a memory. He knew now that this was a part of his destiny and that he could never be without her again.

Katara had always seen Zuko with anger or some sort of passion deep inside him. He wouldn't be himself if he didn't have that. But she never truly experienced it until that kiss. When they kissed, she felt a fire lit inside her that was unlike anything else in the world. It was different than anyone else she had kissed. It was passionate and made her breathless. It burned her from the inside out but she didn't want to run away. She wanted it to overtake her so she would melt into him.

She had slid her hands up to his face and behind his neck, knotting her fingers in his hair. And he had wrapped both his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. Not an inch would break between them and they continued there for minutes, exploring this new feeling and each other. Only after they had finally broken apart did they realize that they were being surrounded by a swirling dome of fire and water, mingled together in vibrant colors, with the beauty similar to that of a storm. Suddenly the barrier that they hadn't realized they were creating fell down around them and they stared into each other's eyes, seeing all of their future in one glance. Neither of them spoke aloud, but they both vowed then and there to never part from one another. Not even the spirits could keep them apart.