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Rebuilding	By : voyager Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Slash - Male/Male > Aang/Zuko Views: 2675 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender is the property of Nickelodeon. I don't own or profit from the characters or settings of this story. Warning: Deals with adult situations, and characters dying

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
Chapter 16: The End of One Story

And the Beginning of Many Others

Set 46 years after the end of the war

Principle characters ages are Zuko & Haru: 64; Sokka & Azula: 63;

Suki & Katara: 62; Aang, Teo & Toph: 61

Aang and Zuko's kids: Tenzin: 45; The twins: 44

Warning: Deals with characters dying, foreshadows Legend of Korra.

Zuko woke with the sun, as he always did; and reached beside him, expecting to find Aang, also beginning to wake up. The firelord was puzzled to find that Aang wasn't there, and the sheets were cool; Aang must have been out of bed for some time. Zuko came out to the balcony of their suite in the palace, and found Aang sitting there, watching the sun come up.

"Good morning, Zuko," Aang said without turning. Zuko found himself smiling, even after all these years, they were still so in tune with each other that they could practically sense one another's presence. "How long have you been up," the Firelord asked the Avatar. "A couple of hours, I've had a lot to think about." Zuko could tell from his partner's disposition that whatever he'd been pondering must be weighing heavily upon him. "Tell me what it is, Aang; it's been a long time since you've tried to keep anything from me."

"I talked to Roku, last night, in fact, that's why I woke up early; he called to me in my sleep." "I went into to the spirit world to meet him;" Zuko nodded his understanding, he remembered the first time Aang had taken him into the spirit world, nearly forty-six years ago, before the end of the war. Zuko waited patiently while Aang collected his thoughts.

"Have you ever wondered how I was able survive, frozen, in an iceberg for a century," Aang asked Zuko. "I never really thought about it, Aang," he answered, "I guess I just assumed it was some special ability connected to the Avatar state." "That's partially true," Aang began, "It was the Avatar state that kept me alive, because only part of me was frozen in the block of ice, but that was just a shell, but what I really am, my mind and spirit, were on another plain."

Zuko nodded, but didn't really understand. It was his opinion that no one truly understood the mysticism of the Avatar state, the spirit world, or the reincarnation cycle; with the possible exception of the Avatar, himself, or perhaps Zuko's late uncle.

Aang continued with his explanation, it was hard for him to say this; however, he knew it would be even harder for Zuko to hear it. "For every year my spirit self was freed from my physical body, it aged slowly, roughly half a year, despite being preserved in ice." Zuko did a quick calculation; and then felt a lump form in his throat, "So that means your natural life has been shortened by roughly fifty years?" Aang, who felt a similar lump forming in his own throat, just nodded. Zuko knew what it meant; many Air nomads lived to be well over a hundred, thanks to their healthy diet, and ability to transcend the pressures and stresses of the world. At his current age of sixty, Aang had nearly come to the end of his journey.

Zuko stood there in silence, and tears formed in his eyes; he wrapped his arms around Aang and held him tight. Aang kissed Zuko, on his scarred cheek. Where some other people saw an ugly blemish; Aang saw beauty. It was the perfection of imperfection, and it was balance, dark and light, good and evil, yin and yang.

Several hours later, Firelord Zuko sat in the throne room listening to his council of ministers deliver their daily briefings. That is to say he was hearing them, but not really listening to them. His mind was elsewhere, and many years in the past. He was recalling a moonless night; he was wearing a blue gargoyle-like mask, and dressed in clothes even blacker than the night, sneaking into a heavily guarded fortress to rescue Aang. Aang wasn't really his enemy, Zhao was. But at the time, Zuko considered the Avatar to be the greater threat, and ironically his only salvation.

The Firelord's councilors saw a faint smile playing across his face, and wondered what had amused him. None were brazen enough to dare to ask what Lord Zuko had on his mind that put a smile on his face. What happened next more than puzzled the councilors, it shocked, and worried them, a single tear was running down Zuko's unscarred cheek.

Zuko's mind snapped back to reality when he realized that everyone was silently staring at him, and he felt the moisture on the right side of his face. He wiped his eyes, and declared the meeting adjourned. The ministers wanted to know what they were going to do about the rest of the morning's agenda; Zuko's answer was short and to the point, "To hell with it!" The Firelord stalked out of the room. Zuko had always rejected the curtain of fire that traditionally separated the Firelord from his subjects, but now a white-hot wall of flames sprang up behind him as he left the room. No one dared to try to follow him.

Zuko went to his private office and gave his assistant strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances for at least an hour, if not more. He wrote several copies of a letter to their family and friends, asking them to come to the Fire nation with all possible haste, if necessary, he could send his latest generation airships to give them a ride.

The first letter was to go to his and Aang's eldest son, Tenzin; he had decided against life at court, choosing instead to follow in his second father's footsteps. At the age of 15, he told his parents that he wanted to go to the rebuilt southern air temple and pursue the path of an Air-nomad. Zuko had been against it, but Aang was proud of their oldest child, and honored that Tenzin would continue that tradition in their family. Tenzin's brother, and sister; Lu-ten and Ilah, remained in the Fire-nation, learning the responsibilities of life at court.

The second letter was to be sent to the Southern Water-tribe, to Sokka and Suki. Sokka was now the chief of the southern tribe. He had succeeded his father when Hakoda decided it was time to step down about ten years ago. Hakoda now took on the role of elder statesman, and advisor to his son.

The third and fourth letters were going to the Earth Kingdom. Toph and Teo's family, and Haru and Katara's families all lived there. In fact, Teo had been one of the senior design engineers on the Republic city project, and Haru was one of the construction foremen.

After several drafts, Zuko finally got the letters written. His progress was slowed by the tears which fell as he tried to write, and smudged the ink. After the fifth draft, he was finally satisfied, and sealed the parchments with wax and the royal seal of the Fire-nation. He went to the aviary and chose his four swiftest messenger hawks. He attached the messages to the bird's legs and sent them on their way. Zuko just prayed that there was enough time for the hawks to get to their destinations, and their family and friends to get here; before it was too late.

The first to arrive was Aang and Zuko's oldest son, Tenzin riding a young sky bison. Once the Air-nomads had begun rebuilding their culture, they sought out the small remnant populations of feral sky bison and began domesticating them again. Tenzin, wearing the orange and yellow robes of an Air-nomad ascetic, was greeted by his siblings in the garden; dubbed the 'Queen's Garden' by Zuko, in honor of his mother. Ilah and Lu-ten wore the formal attire of a prince and princess of the Fire-nation. Their father and aunt had once worn similar outfits. Despite choosing to take a different path in life than his younger brother and sister, Tenzin loved and respected them, and they, him. The three of them had tears in their eyes as they embraced and walked towards the palace doors, to see how their second father was doing.

Aang was in the library, putting the finishing touches on the memoirs he had been writing for the last few years. He had hoped to add many more chapters, but now it seemed that that wouldn't be possible. He looked up when he heard Tenzin's voice from the doorway, "Father," Aang got up from his seat and walked over to his oldest child, and put his hands on his shoulders. Tenzin wouldn't look up. "Tenzin," Aang said quietly, "look at me." Tenzin looked up with shining eyes, and Aang pulled him, and his siblings into a tight embrace. "This isn't goodbye," he told them, "this is just the ending of one journey, and the beginning of another." Ilah was crying, Tenzin and Lu-ten were just barely holding their tears in. "I want you all to remember that I've always been very proud of you."

Within a day after Tenzin's arrival, the airships carrying the rest of the family began to appear in the sky over the capitol. Zuko went out to the recently constructed airfield to meet them. Katara rushed to him and hugged him tightly, and asked "Zuko, is it true?" He took a deep breath and told them that yes it was. He explained what Roku had told Aang, and asked them to try and make this as happy an occasion as possible, under the circumstances.

There was a dinner that night, Aang had specifically asked for a celebration of his life, and what they had all achieved together. The last thing he wanted was a wake, with a bunch of sad faces. Later, after the others had gone to sleep Aang slipped out of the palace and went into the garden where Tenzin's bison, Oogie was resting.

Aang moved slowly and stiffly up to the bison, and patted him on the nose. Oogie reminded him so much of Appa, who had passed away some years before; his life also dramatically shortened by a century locked in ice. Aang had locked himself away for a week after that, and he would see no one, not even Zuko.

He was about to air bend himself up to the bison's saddle when he heard a quiet voice ask "Weren't you even going to say goodbye to me?" It took Aang a couple of tries before he could turn to look, and say, "No goodbyes, Zuko, just good memories." The two of them hugged each other and stayed like that until the first rays of the sun began to peek over the horizon. It reminded them of the first time they shared an intimate embrace, back at the western air temple, many years before. They separated and Aang took his place at the reins, and for the last time, uttered the familiar command, "Yip-yip." Oogie took to the air, and soared in to the morning sky.

Zuko stood there watching, with tears in his eyes until he couldn't see the bison any more. He felt a hand on his arm, and turned to see Katara, and his and Aang's sons, and daughter standing there. Like him, they too, had tears in their eyes.

Aang flew on for a while, he wasn't really sure how long, and he didn't really care. He was feeling more and more weary, and his arms, holding the reins, were feeling heavier and heavier. Finally, he knew it was time, and jumped off the bison's back into the dawn sky. He didn't fall, nor did he Air-bend to keep himself aloft. His physical body just seemed to…disperse in the wind, and he became a being of pure spiritual energy. Oogie, finding himself without a rider, and not knowing what else to do, turned back towards the fire nation, and his master.

An extensive search was undertaken for the body of the Avatar, but Zuko knew it wouldn't turn up anything, but each morning he went and sat on the balcony looking at the sunrise, hoping with a wistful look on his face that he'd see Aang flying towards him.

Epilogue

A week and a half after Aang's disappearance, the rest of the family was preparing to go back to their lives. They had to move on, even though it was terribly difficult for any of them to admit that Aang was gone. As they were about to go their separate ways, Princess Ilah came running out, "Tenzin, something is very wrong with father!" Tenzin looked at his sister, and then at his 'Aunt' Katara; they both had dread in their eyes. First Aang disappears, and now something was wrong with Zuko, it was almost too much to take. The family gathered in Zuko's bed-chamber, his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. As they watched a faint breeze began to blow through the open window and gradually grew stronger. The breeze coalesced, and the spirit of Aang appeared in the room.

"Zuko and I were connected in life, even though we didn't recognize it, at first." "It seems that we're also connected, now." The firelord took one more shuddering breath, and then was still. Aang's spirit form turned towards something manifesting itself beside him, it was Zuko's spirit. Everyone looked on in awe at the Avatar and the Firelord together in the afterlife, as they had been in life.

Aang had one last word of wisdom for his children and the rest of their family. "There is a storm coming, a conflict between benders and non-benders." "You each must do whatever you can to teach, and educate people to look past their differences and work together." Aang's spirit continued, "This family, our family, is proof that not only can benders and non-benders work and live together, but that we need each other." "In the end, I want that to be my; no, our legacy." "Farewell, and remember, no goodbyes, just good memories." Aang and Zuko's spirits vanished in a flash of blue and gold light. Katara hugged Ilah and Lu-Ten, while Suki hugged Tenzin. Toph, Teo, Haru, Sokka, and even Azula, all had tears in their eyes but warmth in their hearts.

Somewhere, far away near the South Pole, a baby girl named Korra had just been born. She would have a great life, and would be the heir to a great legacy, the Avatar's legacy. In the spirit world, Aang and Zuko were looking down and smiling.

The End

Author's note: There has been a lot of speculation about how Aang would pass away, and why he would die at such a relatively young age. This is my interpretation, inspired by 'Sleeping in Light', the series finale of B-5.

Acknowledgements

Thanks again to Mike DiMartino and Brian Koneitzko for giving us these remarkable characters, and such a rich story. Thanks also to the readers who've supported me on this as well as my previous story.

Thanks also to the other authors whose stories helped me to develop some of the ideas for this one. In particular I'd like to acknowledge Fairlady Z2005's story: "Call Down the Heavens," which provided me with the impulse to write my own interpretation of the end of Aang and Zuko's lives. I'd also like to thank Wohitzi for "The Knife," which served as my inspiration for the chapters in which Zuko tries to make amends to people in the Earth Kingdom.
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Rebuilding