Nothing But Flames---THE END

So let the flames begin, so let the flames begin....

In only thirty minutes, the clock would strike midnight, announcing that the dreaded day has finally arrived. Katara was surprised at how fast the time went by. But most of all, she hated that the time would pass quickly when she wished it would stop, and how slow it would pass when she wished for it to fast forward. Nervous sighs erupted from her throat as she walked down the hall in a process to get to the bathroom. Her mind was spinning so crazilly, she hadn't noticed that Zuko was coming out just as she proceeded to go in. The abrupt clash of bodies finally brought her to reality.

She stared up at her boyfriend like he was a foreigner she'd never seen before. His eyes were still and direct, the complete opposite from her big, lost azure eyes, darting around in confusement. Zuko's stare was unbreakable, even though Katara couldn't look him in the eyes.

Katara lowered her head, so that her eyes would not meet Zuko's any longer. She redirected her gaze towards the floor. There was nothing she could say to him. No, that was a lie. There was so much she could say to him at that moment. Because they may not have another moment like that if Jet continued with his plans.

"Zuko...I," she started slowly.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting lately. It's just...this whole thing is complicated. I hate that I've dragged you into this mess," Zuko cut in, resting his large hand on the side of Katara's face to bring her eyes to his.

"Zuko, I don't care who's to blame for this, okay? Stop blaming yourself," Katara answered, staring up into his honey brown eyes.

"You don't understand," Zuko sighed, "I could lose you tonight, Katara. That's hard for me to accept."

Katara jumped up and kissed him. Zuko was shocked, but he eventually got over that and responded to the kiss. When they finally broke away, Katara spoke, "Didn't you tell me not to speak like that? You can't speak like that either. Even if these are our last moments together."

"Aww, what a great sappy moment, you guys," Nui said from the other end of the hallway. Sokka was standing next to him, watching the two with his childhood friend.

Katara looked away from Zuko and laughed at the two guys.

"You two better not have been doing something that I wouldn'tve done," Sokka lectured, his statement pointed at Zuko.

"Sokka, still!?" Katara sighed, running up to her brother and grabbing him in an excruciatingly tight hug. "No time for that."

"I just want you guys to know, whatever happens tonight, I'm with you guys all the way," Nui said after Katara released her brother and Zuko walked down the hall to join the group.

"Yeah," Zuko agreed, hi-fiving Nui.

"We're all in this together, right?" Sokka said. The group went silent for a moment. Sokka looked at the three faces staring at him. "What?"

"Sure, Troy," Katara said sarcastically, then laughed as she said, "This isn't High School Musical."

Sokka smirked. "Alright, alright, I get it."

"I love you guys," Katara said as she reached her arms as far as she could to touch all three guys and grab them into a group hug. "No matter what," she added.

After the group hug, the four teens went into the spare room and talked for a couple minutes----the conversations varied in topics. Before they knew it, the clock had finally struck twelve midnight. And then their problems began.

The mirrors burst into thousands of endless reflecting shards, exploding all around the four people in the room as two silhouttes of young men appeared before them. One stood tall and lean, with two weapons clutched at his side, and the other was obviously shorter than the latter, positioned like he was ready to fight. The four in the room jumped from their relaxed positions and stood on the mirror-cluttered floor. A couple shards stuck through the skin of Zuko's bare feet, and pierced holes through the fabric of Katara's white socks, but the stinging pain wasn't anything compared to what was about to happen.

The taller silhoutte stepped out of their shadow, with a lop-sided grin decorating his face. Chestnut-brown hair matted the guy's forehead. It was then the accusations of the man were confirmed. He was definitely Jet---no doubt about it. Katara winced in abhor once she realized that what was happening was not a horrific nightmare---but a terrible event of reality occuring right before her.

"So obvious, Zuko. Did you believe for a moment you could escape me by coming here? To your uncle's tea shop?" Jet questioned, without a fair greeting to the group of teens in various positions in the room. The two friends-turned-enemies stared deathly cold glares at one another before Zuko took his turn to speak.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked simply. Jet chuckled, a sound filled with nothing but humorless mockery. He left Zuko's question unanswered as he made a swift attempt to land a blow on Zuko's face. Luckily, Zuko saw the move before Jet could make it possible and countered it, clutching Jet's forearm and twisting it back. Jet winced in pain and discreetly bent to knock Zuko on the floor with a floor sweeping kick. Zuko fell onto the ground, mirror shards seeping through his skin. He reached to pull them out, but Jet was already darting towards him with two fish-hook shaped knives pointing in Zuko's direction. Zuko instantly forgot about the pain caused by the mirror shards and defended himself by blocking the attacks Jet made.

When Jet found an opening to stab Zuko, Katara made a rush to help him. Swiftly, a tomboy-ish looking girl emerged from the doorway to defend her leader against the forces of Katara. The girl was armed with her own weapons, strapped by a heavy-duty rubber band on her left calf. Katara was defenseless---her only weapons being her fists.

The lack of weapons didn't stop Katara from landing three successful blows on the tomboy----a kick at her right knee, and two punches at her chin and her left set of ribs. The girl, who was obviously used to fighting others, seemed unharmed by the attacks Katara delivered to her and instead punched Katara in her stomach while she pulled a weapon from the place on her calf.

Katara coughed momentarily, but the punch was nothing. After all, she did hang around a lot of boys. And Toph, who could punch just as hard---and maybe even harder---as a guy. She's had worse. Katara was about ready for any attack the tomboy had prepared for her, but the girl disappeared from her sight momentarily. Pain shot up from her upper arm, and she felt blood trickling down her skin. The tomboy had grazed Katara's skin with a knife. The gash filled with blood, and the pain was erupting quickly. But Katara still had to fight. No matter the pain she had to endure, no pain would be worse than dying.

The girl stepped back into Katara's range of eyesight. She was almost smirking devilly, but Katara was glaring deathly cold daggers at the girl as she watched her blood pour from the deep cut. Katara pushed the pain aside and began to charge after the girl.

On the other side of the room stood Nui and Sokka, who watched the two duels unfold silently. They were poised and ready to fight, but Zuko announced when Nui and Sokka wanted to team up with him to defeat Jet, that this fight should only by one on one with Jet. So neither boy knew what to do to make themselves useful during the night battles.

Sokka stood in the glint of the smashed windows with clear view of the outside world around the tea shop. At the corner of his eye, he saw movement that did not belong to any flying plane or helicopter. Curiousity overwhelmed him, and he had Nui follow him out of the shattered windows of the spare room. The two young men discreetly walked around the building where there was a shadow gracing the roof of the small building. Sokka furrowed his eyebrows then glanced at Nui.

"What?" Nui asked.

"There's someone up there," Sokka stated, his eyes placed firmly on the rooftop. Nui glanced above.

"What are you planning on doing?" Nui asked his almost life-long friend with a questioning look.

"I'm gonna go up there," Sokka stated plainly.

"How?!" Nui asked him with eyebrows up high.

Sokka redirected his glance to Nui. "You're gonna boost me up there."

Nui just stared at him a minute in silence. "You're not serious, are you?"

"As serious as a heart attack," Sokka grinned. Nui looked at him once more before letting out a low groan as he walked over to the corner of the building. He crouched down and intertwined his fingers together so that it could fit one of Sokka's feet.

Sokka walked over, and saw a small ledging above where Nui was positioned. He put one of his feet into the palms of Nui's hands and began to hoiste himself up, along with the help of Nui.

"Would you hurry it up already? Holding you up here isn't exactly easy. You're not that light, you know," Nui complained after Sokka took a moment of hesitation before he decided how he was going to get on the roof. Sokka glanced down at Nui, who was struggling to hold him up. He grabbed at a brick protruding the wall to help better himself of making it atop the roof.

"Fine, fine," Sokka replied as he grabbed hold of the roof. He balanced himself on the ledge as he climbed ontop of the roof. After Sokka was on the roof safely, Nui watched him walk off to approach the shadow he thought he'd saw.

Nui stood on the damp grass, wondering if he should go up there to join Sokka. And even if he could get up on the roof with him. Nui scratched his head as he pondered the thought, and then something caught the corner of his eye. He glanced to his side, and saw nothing, so decided that maybe it was just some flying creature. Then it appeared again and Nui creeped over to where the silhoutte was moving.

After nearing the shape in subject, Nui noticed that it was grasping something in it's hand. And that something was overflowing onto the ground like water from a faucet. Nui scrunched up his face, wondering just what the substance was that was soaking the ground. Not until the silhoutte illuminated himself by the glare of the streetlights did he realize that the subject wasn't just some wandering person strolling the tea shop at night. It was one of Jet's followers. Leaking a bottle of gaseline around the tea shop.

Zuko managed to get the intruder into a headlock, with Jet's hands clawing for release. Of course, Jet wasn't going to give up without a fight. He elbowed Zuko in the ribs simultaneously, causing Zuko to slightly lose his deathly tight grip on Jet as he coughed heavilly, searching for air. A cold smirk graced Jet's face as he wrapped the curved end of his knife around Zuko's arched neck. He yanked Zuko upward so that he and Jet were eye-to-eye. Zuko coughed a couple more times before realization took in.

The metal wrapped around his neck was shockingly cold, like the ice-cold water poured on bare skin. Zuko glared at Jet with his one good eye, before he kneed Jet in the groin. Jet dropped his grip on his hook, and held at his private as it throbbed and ached in pain.

Jet's fish-hook was still hooked on his neck. He took the curved knife from being caught on his neck and gripped it in his hand like a sword. Luckily, he knew how to handle weapons like this. Of course, the weapons he handled were larger...but this would do for now. Beggars can't be choosy.

Even though Jet was in agonizing pain, he still struggled himself up to fight Zuko. Writhing in pain would have to wait. He had to kill him. He just had to.

The battle between Katara and the tomboy moved into the cafe area where the tea Zuko's uncle made was served to the customers. The two girls were knocking down tables and kicking around chairs to land cuts on one another. In the ten minutes they'd been dueling, Katara had managed to make six successful wounds on the other girl's body----two gashs decorating either side of the girl's stomach, one cut across her face, and a fresh wound gashing blood across the skin of her shoulder, just barely missing her throat.

The girl was also successful in cutting Katara. There were the first two cuts she delivered early in the battle, then four others: one minor one across the back of Katara's neck, another bloody gash across her back, cutting off the fabric that once protected the skin; and a gash on either one of the backs of Katara's legs, deep enough for the white tissue to be visible.

They were both enduring unfathomable pain; but each held an unpenetrable poker face, like they'd been playing blackjack all their life. Neither one let the girl see how much pain they were really suffering. How bad that burning sensation felt as it seeped to parts unharmed by the battle. The need of quitting was stronger than anything they could imagine.

But neither could quit. For Katara, it was a fight for life or death. She had to keep fighting. She had to forget the pain of her wounds. For if she didn't, the agony of death would come upon her and swallow her up into its black hole of nothingness.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nui snarled at the guy pouring gasoline all over the shop's exterior and windows.

The guy in question glanced around his shoulder, where Nui was glaring deathly cold daggers at him. The follower didn't answer, but instead continued pouring as if he had heard nothing.

Nui scoffed, a sarcastic grin flickered on his face. "So we wanna play the quiet game, huh?" he said, then answered his own question, "Fine. We'll do it your way. Your mistake."

Nui swiftly knocked the gasoline bottle from the guy's hands, earning a shocked expression from the follower. Nui went for the kill----sending blow after blow, kick after kick, even attempting to headbutt the person who jepordize the lives of him and his friends.

Of course, the fight wasn't easy. Even though Nui had the advantage of being taller and evidently older, the boy wasn't going down without putting up what he had to offer. Nui delivered his attacks, but they were also countered and defended by the boy.

But he didn't care. This boy was messing with his life. With his friends' was determined to make sure nothing went terribly wrong. Trying to make sure no one would die. And this boy interferred with his plans. He was making his life and the people he cared for lives a living nightmare. Nui was headstrong. And nothing would shake him out of the feeling of wanting this person to die, even if he wasn't the head guy in charge. He would murder him.

"Get over it, Jet! Katara doesn't want you!!" Zuko yelled as he blocked an incoming attack from the fearless leader sending blows similtaneously aimed for him.

"I don't give a shit about her. I came here to kill you. She's just bait," Jet snarled, eyes darting wild and angrilly between his hook weapons and Zuko's face.

"So its between us, huh? What, are you still not over it?" Zuko replied with just as much ferocity as Jet had.

"HELL no, I'm not over it. You ruined my life, Zuko. My. Fucking. Life. That's not shit you take lightly. You turned the school against me. You made me live in a damn pysocho ward for a fucking year. You stole my girlfriend. How the hell do you expect me to be over it?" Jet lunged for Zuko, but Zuko had quickly dodged the attack, leaving Jet backwards on the ground.

"It isn't that serious to be doing all of this!!" Zuko yelled, kicking Jet once before jumping on top of him and headlocking him once again.

"Yeah?" Jet struggled to say, under the pressure of Zuko. "Do you know---no, do you have any idea how bad you fucked up my life??" Jet had snarled, and by the end of it, he had Zuko on the ground with his tanned-hands wrapped around his neck. Jet's eyes were glazed over, but he refused to let his emotions go. He refused to cry and show his weaknesses to Zuko.

There was a loud scream from the other room that made both men turn towards the doorway. Shuffling noises became evident and then a figure appeared. "Get off of him."

"Who the hell are you?" Sokka asked the intruder who was circling the roof. The intruder jumped, unexpecting to hear a voice so close to him. The intruder only laughed---a sound deep, throaty. Sokka was already pissed to the extreme; his patience had already ran out the minute he saw one of Jet's gang members swing for his sister.

"I asked a damned question, idiot," Sokka snarled, balling his fists.

The intruder turned to face him, a bottle of gasoline open in his hand. "Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" he asked sarcastically.

Sokka laughed a minute. Humorless. Before notice, he'd pushed the intruder off the roof, the gasoline spilling on him as he screamed and plunged towards the ground. Sokka watched the guy fall, landing on figure on the ground.

A sadistic grin appeared on his face. "Who's bad?"

The boy was attacking Nui quicker than he started out. Nui's attacks were slowing down---he delivered his attacks full blown at the beginning of the battle. He had to catch his breath. That was the reason why the boy was gaining on him.

Nui's breath was short and labored. His energy was dying out, and his ability to counter or defend the attacks coming at him was weakened. The boy delivered blows non-stop. Punch after punch. Kicks and the whole nine yards.

As he went to counter an attack coming at him from his muted challenger, something caught the corner of Nui's eye. He looked up, and at first, he'd thought his eyes had deceived him. But, no, there was something big falling from the roof. Nui furrowed his eye brow for a quick second, before darting out of the way, leaving a stunned intruder crushed under a larger intruder.

Nui heard bones crack.

"Katara...." Jet purred, with an almost seductive glaze in his eyes. Katara stood, unbalanced, in the door way. Blood trickled down her body, thick and slow. Her hair stuck to the sides of her face in blood-matted clots---the loose hair swaying wildly back-and-forth before her face. Cuts were slashed in countless places all over her body, but yet she stood to the best of her ability to face him. "You shouldn't have come in here."

As discreet as a snake, Jet had Katara's arms locked in a position that disabled her from using her arms. She didn't have enough energy to fight him off, all of it was almost lost in the duel she'd just come from.

"But I guess that's what I like about you. You don't listen," Jet teased, tightening his grip on her.

"Let her go, Jet. You said it yourself it's only between me and you," Zuko said, pushing himself up from off the ground. Jet looked towards Zuko.

"I know what I said. This is what I'm doing," he snickered, "How much do you wanna live Zuko?"

Zuko, baffled by the question, stumped over and glared at Jet in confusion. "What?"

Jet gave an annoyed look at him, "It's a simple question. How. Much. Do. You. Want. To. Live?"

Zuko didn't reply to his question. Jet, obviously impatient, tightened his grip even further on Katara to the point where it felt like her bones were cracking. She wimpered in his clutch.

"Fine. We'll make a deal. Either one; I kill Katara in front of your face, or two; you both just burn in flames. Which one sounds good to you?" Jet smirked.

"Stop dragging her into this," Zuko snarled, "If you want to kill somebody, kill me."

Katara's eyes bugged at his bold statement. What is he doing? "Zuko...no..." she managed to stutter out.

"Stay out of this, Katara. You want someone to die? We'll fight until that happens," Zuko challenged.

Jet cocked his eyebrow, unlocking Katara's arms and thrusting her onto the ground with a thump. His eyes were darkly hungry, pupils dilated and boring holes into Zuko's own orbs.

Katara looked at the two boys---no men---hunched before her. She couldn't believe it. All of this time she thought that it was because of her that this had all happened. But, the two boys already had a dark history with each other before she had even came along. It was obvious this wasn't just some fight. This was a battle of pride.

She pushed herself up, slowly, the pain erupting in her arms and legs as she tried standing up again. "Please, Zuko," she begged. Zuko cut his death glare at Jet to glance at his girlfriend battered and bloody by his side. "Don't.."

"It's the only way for this end. Don't worry, Katara ," Zuko replied, trying to put a smile on his face for her. She cried then, the tears flooding her eyes, and spilling on her blood-crusted cheeks. He grabbed her in a hug, then told her, "You have to get out of here. I don't want you to see this."

She looked at him through blurry eyes, before nodding her head and limping out of the doorway to leave the two blood-thirsty teens to their death battle.

"You will die here tonight, because I'm gonna rip you to fucking shreds," Zuko snarled, once Katara had left the room. Jet cackled.

"You? Get real, Zuko. You won't get the chance; you'll be burning to ashes."

"Fuck you, Jet," Zuko replied with venom obviously dripping from his tongue as he rushed to Jet, instictly grabbing the hook Jet had pulled out to defend himself. Zuko twisted it with his bare hand, twisting Jet's hand in the process. He'd let go with a grunt, and Zuko took the hook and used it as a weapon against his opponant. The two were fairly matched-----each in the possession of a weapon and their strength.

Zuko struck and struck---each harder than the first, more force than the second. His motivation was to keep Katara safe, happy. The only way to do that was to make sure this guy in front of him was dead. Zuko's eyes were dark, almost devishly evil as he dodged and countered every attack Jet had made with the little strength they both had left.

There was no way Jet would be able to beat Zuko. He was too determined to not be defeated. Yet Jet pressed on, getting slashed and hit each time. He knew, for his health, he should have quit. But his pride would not allow him to do so. He would not quit, there wasn't a way in hell he would even think of doing that. Jet had got a couple of shots on Zuko, but they were minor. Didn't compare to anything Zuko had on him.

"This is it, Jet," Zuko breathed out, watching Jet stagger backwards, blood splatting across the wooden floor. Jet looked up, surprising Zuko when he let a slow, devilish smirk spread cockily across his face.

"Oh no, my friend," he'd said as he reached into his ripped pocket. There was something small and rectangular-shaped clutched in his hand. Zuko looked at it, confused. What was Jet pulling?

"Your death has just begun."

Jet pressed on the rectangular shaped object, an reddish orange light danced in middair. He let go of his hold on it, but the orange light still danced. He glanced at Zuko as he threw the object out of the busted window. Zuko realized what the object was once large, violent flames burst out once the object had hit the ground. It was a lighter.

Zuko's eyebrows furrowed, fury boiled in his blood as it pulsed through his veins. "Bastard!"

He rushed towards Jet, his hook pointed straight in front of him. And aimed at his heart.

Katara barely made it out the shop, she was drained completely. Like the Energizer Bunny's batteries had finally died. Lifting her foot was like lifting a ton of bricks, every step was more agonizing pain. Her eyes found a large body splayed across the ground as she staggered forward. If she looked closely, she would have realized there was a body under the one she saw.

"Katara! What happened to you?" she heard someone yell from some side around her. She looked to her left, and saw Nui advancing towards her.

"I fought...one of the people with Jet," Katara managed to utter. Nui was injured, she noticed, but the injuries weren't as plentiful or damaging as the ones gracing her body.

"Damn...you look pretty beat up," Nui said, surveying his friend.

"Shut up...I won," Katara commented.

Nui chuckled lightly, then his tone got more serious. "I'm just glad your okay."

"What...what happened to Zuko?" he asked, bracing himself for the worse.

"He's...he's fighting Jet. He doesn't want anyone to interfere," Katara informed him. By the end, she was bawling, losing her balance in the process. Nui steadied her, holding her lightly as she cried on his shoulder. "I'm scared, Nui...Zuko could die tonight, because he's trying to protect me. I don't want him to die for me!" she cried out. Her body was in pain as her chest heaved up and down as she sobbed hysterically on Nui's shoulder.

"Katara? What the hell...who did this to you?" Sokka's voice suddenly said. The two looked around to find Sokka, stunned, walking up to his sister.

"Shit dude, you scared me," Nui said, recovering over the fact of having Sokka pop up out of no where. "Where'd you come from?"

"I climbed off the roof, but that isn't important," Sokka briefly stated, then turned toward his sister, "Who did this to you, Katara?"

Katara repeated to Sokka what she had just told Nui, her voice still cracked from the tears she had yet to recover from crying.

"Are you okay?" he asked worridly.

"I'm fine, Sokka, just tired and sore," she reported to him.

"Good," he said, then looked at his sister, "I don't know what I would've done if I'd lost you."

Katara moved over slowly so that she could embrace her brother---even though it was painful for her to do so. "I love you, Sokka."

"I love you, too, sis," Sokka replied, watching over his little sister.

"You guys, I don't mean to break up this little Kodak moment, but the shop is on fire," Nui said, staring blankly at the flames rising from the back of the tea place.

Sokka's head snapped back. The place was engulfed with flames, dancing and rising in blood-red and orange flames. The sight was quite horrible. Katara pushed herself from off of Sokka, making a pathetic attempt to run.

"Katara! Where are you going?" Sokka called out, watching his sister stagger forward.

"Zuko's in there! I can't....he can't...he'll die if he won't get out of there!!" Katara screamed at her brother, even though they were only a couple of feet apart.

"No, he won't," Sokka stated, matter-of-factly. Katara looked at him, "How do you know that?"

"Because he loves you. Somehow he'll figure out a way to get out of there. That's the type of things you find yourself capable of when you're fighting for the ones you love," Sokka said, his tone indicating he held knowledge as to what he was telling her.

"So what are we going to do, then?" Katara asked her brother, after she broke the silence that occured between the three of them.

"We're going to wait," Sokka said calmly. Katara and Nui stared at Sokka. "For Zuko."

Jet fell down in a lifeless heap onto the wooden panel. Zuko glanced at Jet on the floor, then back to the flames erupting behind him. Sweat clung to his bloody body, his hair matted and damp with perspiration. Zuko looked to the door, the walls were ablaze in violent, hellish flames. He shook away the fear that seemed to engulf him, then ran through the opening and into the cluttered cafe area. Chairs and tables were strewned across the floor; there was even blood splattered across the floor.

Zuko racked his brain for the quickest way out of the shop safely and alive. While darting his eyes across the inferno hell, his eyes locked on one heap on the floor. Zuko focused his eyes, noticing that the heap was a person. They were battered and bloody, motionless. Dead. Must have been Katara's opponant, he thought.

The fire around him started to seep through his head. He started to get woozy, staggering towards an opening free from fire. His vision blurred, and it became harder and harder for him to focus on his goal. Which was to get out of there. Zuko felt like he had a fever, the heat was unbearable for him. He fought the urge to collapse, fought with all the will and strength left in him.

There was definitely no way in hell he wouldn't get out of here. No way he would disappoint her. He couldn't do that, not after all that she had went through tonight. All his reason to push further were right beyond that opening. He just had to get there.

Two o'clock in the morning. Katara leaned on her brother, staring at the flames bursting out all around the shop. She watched the shop, hoping for some sign of movement----any sign to where Zuko was. At least indicating he was alive. That was all she had hoped for.

"What if...what if he doesn't make it out?" she asked softly, looking down towards the ground.

"He will," Sokka assured, "He has."

Katara cocked an eyebrow at her brother. Sokka motioned towards the shop, ablaze in fire. There was a leg, she saw, move from an opening of the shop. Her heart leaped. There was another leg in motion. And then, she saw a head of shaggy black hair.

"ZUKO!!!!" she'd shouted, desperately trying to run to his side, falling down every couple of seconds in the process. Zuko had collapsed on the ground once his body made it out the only free opening. He was coughing violently, blood splotting out every few seconds.

"Zuko...I almost thought...I almost thought I'd lost you. I can't....I couldn't...I'm so happy you're alive!" she sobbed, her tears falling on his bare, bloody and scarred skin.

Zuko tried smiling, ignoring the pain inflicting him. "I had to make it out. I wouldn't lose you, Katara. I wouldn't let that happen."

Katara smiled, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Just where do you two think you're going?"

The two siblings turned towards the living room, where their father, Hakoda, was posted on the sofa, drinking a cup of coffee with today's newspaper in his other hand. His thick brown eyebrow was quirked up at his children, watching them as they turned away from the front door.

Sokka sighed. "The park; we're meeting a couple friends there."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Hakoda asked, directing the question to his daughter.

"Dad...I'm fine," Katara said.

"Are you sure? I mean, shouldn't you be resting in bed and recovering from the incident?" Hakoda asked, skeptical about the whole idea of letting either of his children leave the house.

"It's been almost three months since the fire at the tea shop. I'm okay," Katara assured, leaning down to pat her father's broad shoulder.

Hakoda looked at Katara one long time, then at Sokka before he set his coffee down on the coffee table and heaved a deep sigh. "I'm really against the whole idea of you two going anywhere----what with everything that has been going on while I was overseas. And especially after the whole ordeal that had both my children's lives in jeapordy," Hakoda started, glancing between his children as he made his statement. Katara sighed, looking down at the floor as the memory creeped back inside her mind, still fresh as ever. Sokka had the feeling they wouldn't be able to leave the house no matter what him and his sister pleaded. He huffed, beginning to take off his jacket just as his father began back again.

"But, I guess you two are going to have get out the house sometimes, so-----"

"Thanks, Dad!" Katara exclaimed, leaning down again to hug her father. She began to head towards the door, along with her brother before their father made one more statement.

"Now, you two promise me you're going to stay safe," he said. Sokka huffed again, all the while his sister had a huge grin on her face.

"Promise," they both said in unison, rushing out the door.

"Whew, man," Sokka said, "I thought we'd never get out of there."

"Why are we at the park, again?"

"Yeah, I agree with Sparky. It's freezing out here," Toph complained.

Nui rolled his eyes, "You guys are a bunch of wimps; it's not even cold out."

"Easy for you four over there to say-----three of you have lived in like, blizzard weather for half your life and Twinkle Toes has some freak obsession with air and crap," Toph said.

The group laughed at her statement, watching Toph and Zuko shiver from the cold weather. Aside from everybody else, Katara was a little spaced out. Her mind was focused on something else, and she couldn't help thinking about that fire...the fire that had almost took her's and most of her friends' lives. The fights in between those fires that took Jet's life and the lives of two of his companions. All in order to protect one another. She hadn't realized how strong the bond between her and her friends were until they were set against the most chaotic time of their life.

Her eyes were distant, hardly even registering the faces before her. She went to sit under a tree----hoping that the rustling of the tree's leaves would somehow calm her thoughts.

"Hey, what are you doing down here?" Zuko asked his girlfriend as he stared down at her still body sitting on the grass.

"I'm sorry," Katara replied lowly. Zuko cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I don't know..." came her reply. Zuko smirked, before a chuckle had escaped his throat.

"You worry too much, c'mon," he said, outstretching his hand for her to grab in order to get up. "It's over, we won."

"I know but...it's just..." Katara started, then trailed off.

Zuko went serious for a moment. "We can't change the past, Katara."

Katara still looked distant, her eyes kept trailing off behind him, like she was still thinking about the incident. Zuko stared at her for a long while in silence. He kissed her, then grabbed Katara close to him in a suprisingly warm hug, "I love you."

"I love you, too," she cried softly on his chest.

"Hey you guys, let's take a picture!" Suki called out.

"Yeah, so that means you and Emo Boy have to stop being sappy over there," Toph joked, pointing to Katara and Zuko as the two walked back to the group.

Suki ran to some random person jogging down the trail and politely asked him to take her friends' picture. Suki stood beside her boyfriend, Sokka, a huge smile on her face and a grin on Sokka's; Nui had bunny ears behind Sokka's head; Aang waved with a grin plastered on his face; Zuko hugged Katara close to him at the end of the group; and Toph let a small smirk appear on her face as she sqatted in front of everybody, being the shortest one out of them all.

The flash clicked, and the teens released their poses as Suki went to the person and thanked him kindly, taking her digital camera back to the group to show it to her friends.

There was alot of chatter about the image, especially Sokka complaining about the bunny ears behind his head. Katara couldn't help but laugh at her friends, holding Zuko closer.

That random person may have not noticed how strong their friendship was in the thirty seconds it took to take the picture. He didn't know what they've been through in the past couple of months, or the meaning behind the scars across their bodies. And that's what made the photo so special to Katara when she plastered it to her wall, because it was something that her friends had went through with only each other to rely on. It may not have been all of them who were there during the battle, or the time they spent in Iroh's old tea shop. She loved them all for being there to make memories.

"Hey, stop spacing out, 'Tara," Nui said, waving his hand in front of Katara. She giggled, snapping out of her trance.

"Here's you all's tea. Enjoy," Iroh said, placing the tray of tea in the middle of the table.

"Thanks, Iroh," Nui smiled. Iroh bowed.

"So, is it good to be back?" Sokka asked with a grin on his face.

Iroh had a warm smile on his aged face as he replied, "It's wonderful." He walked back to the kitchen, smiling the entire time. Hey, even though his old shop had burned down in the fire, Iroh was able to still have his tea shop, just at a new, refurbished location.

"Aw, I'm happy for your uncle, Zuko," Suki gushed, taking a sip from her cup.

"Yeah," Zuko said, "I'm happy for him, too."

A/N: Disclaimers for Avatar and its characters and the song by Paramore 'Let the Flames begin, I own nothing. So...I guess it's over now, huh? AWW MAN. Gosh, you guys, it's been so long, like a year...oh man, dudes...i'm going to stop babbling now, but for one last time, click that button and leave a review please!

=)